Autumn Time Warp

I can't believe we are nearly to December. Sorry for the lack of posts this month. I certainly haven't been sitting on my duff! I am usually so excited for Christmas that I make sure my Christmas decorations are up by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. Not this year. I finally got my last Halloween decoration down today, though! So there is progress. Maybe Christmas can start going up sometime this week.

What have I been doing? Teaching lots of piano lessons, baking for Thanksgiving, eating Thanksgiving food, being with my family, getting spoiled for my birthday, taking care of sick children this week, and going to movies, among other things. I saw Breaking Dawn II (liked it; would go again); Lincoln (LOVED it and can't wait to go again); and Wreck It Ralph (charming and fun; will go see it again at the dollar movies). For the last movie I went with my parents, my children, and my sister and her family on Thanksgiving Day. I love going to movies on Thanksgiving Day. And I've decided that I like assigned seating in movie theaters.

I also read a book I got from Justin for my birthday: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. Fforde is a very witty, clever writer's writer from Britain. I loved reading his Thursday Next novels about a literary crimes detective who is able to go in and out of books and interact with the characters in those books. In her first case she has to figure out who kidnapped Jane Eyre from her novel to hold for ransom. Fforde also has a Nursery Crimes series in which the main detective has to solve the possible murder of Humpty Dumpty in the first book. This newest book is great fun too. The main character, Jennifer Strange, is a foundling working as an indentured servant running a magic agency -- the employees all have various magical talents who hire out for everything from organ donation deliveries via flying carpet to restructuring a homes entire plumbing system without using a single wrench. She handles the business end, trying to keep the company solvent. Suddenly everyone with pre-cognition talents is forecasting the death of the last dragon by the Dragonslayer, and Jennifer is up to her eyeballs in the whole affair. I hope there are more to come. Next book on my list is Reached by Ally Condie, the conclusion to her trilogy.

Okay. December. Here I come.

Recent Goings-On

We've been busy with school activities and Halloween...

Owen and some of his friends following their fall choir concert. Owen had a solo in "Ave Maria" by Bieble, which he sang beautifully. He's got quite a rich bass voice. We beg him to show off his low range by singing Sher Khan's solo from The Jungle Book. I've finally gotten used to the sound of his voice now it's done changing. For the first year I would feel startled hearing him speak from somewhere else in the house or on the phone.

Evan didn't sing; he had to stay there at school so I didn't have to make separate trips to pick him up and then go back later for Owen's concert. Evan didn't mind at all having the chance to hang out with his buddies. They get each other laughing and they can't stop!

Now that this Halloween has passed we'll be down to one trick-or-treater here next year. Liam loves the Artemis Fowl books and he chose to dress up as Artemis himself. If you're unfamiliar with these exciting YA fiction books they're appealing to both boys and girls. I'm the one who got my kids hooked on them. Artemis is a 12-year-old Irish schoolboy genius who has figured out how to connect with the underground faerie world and turn it to his financial advantage.

Bronwyn and her friends decided to dress up as masquerade queens, all inspired by this mask I've had in our costume trunks (we love costumes around here). She was determined to have a fancy gown to go with it and we looked at patterns to sew one. What she really wanted was going to be too expensive in time and money for me to justify sewing, so we decided to check out Hale Center Theater Orem's costume shop to see about renting something. This dress is what we found and Bronwyn was thrilled. And renting? It was a fabulous price and easy to do. They've got a great selection. What a great last trick-or-treating costume for her. She's aged out of that for next year. 

Speaking of Halloween, it was almost lonesome. Bronwyn and Liam went off trick-or-treating through the neighborhood, Evan and Owen went to friends' houses for fun and games, and Justin was at his mom's, leaving me here by myself! It was just a little weird. But the weather was amazing -- 75 degrees, a record. The mild temperatures meant that all of the cute little kids were able to show off their costumes and enjoy going door-to-door. 

Grey's River 2012

Justin was determined this year, no matter what, that he was going to Grey's River in October for the annual fall fishing trip. He missed last year due to being in the ICU for pancreatitis and the year before for neck surgery for bulging disks in his neck. Yeah, it's been a tough couple of years health-wise for him. He talked me into coming this year since he intended stay in a motel because he wasn't up to camping. I haven't gone in past years because I don't do camping in the cold. So I made reservations for us at the 3 Rivers Motel in Alpine, Wyoming. We split our family up between two rooms -- one with a kitchenette and one with two queen beds. It ended up being a great place to stay for a really good rate especially now that it's off-season. The kids got the double queen room (yikes! Kids alone in their own motel room! Worked out just fine) and we were kitty-corner to them in the kitchenette room that also had a sleeper sofa.

The daytime weather was perfect: clear, sunny, mid-60's. I needed my sweatshirt in the morning, but by mid-morning I was comfortable in long sleeves.

Can you see the wee beastie in the middle? Bronwyn and Liam spent an hour trying to catch these tadpole-like creatures.

Although their shoes and socks are on for the moment, those quickly came off. The water was icy cold, though, and both Bronwyn and Liam had bright pink hands and feet. This is the Lynx Creek section of Grey's River.

Evan shows off some of the critters living under the rocks in the river. Justin calls them hellgrammites. This is their larval stage. After a few years they crawl to shore, pupate over the winter, and only live long enough in the spring to lay eggs close to the water. They're pretty good bait!

Bronwyn and Liam try to warm up their wet, cold feet while Justin and the older boys get the rods rigged up.

Justin caught the first cutthroat trout, but asked Owen to show it off for the camera. This beauty was caught in Owen's Hole. Justin has named a hole for each of the kids and one of our nephews where they have each caught fish in previous seasons. This is usually a good hole for us; we can pull at least a couple of fish out. I got a couple of strikes but couldn't land anything. Argh!

Bronwyn is as avid a fisherman as her brothers, mom, and dad. She's not afraid to bait her own hooks either. We're on the riverbank at Owen's Hole.

Look at that clear, beautiful water! I enjoy fishing, but I think I enjoy the scenery and just being up the canyon as much as anything.

Owen caught this photo of Liam.

Justin gives instructions to Bronwyn and Liam on the shores of the Honeymoon Hole. We spent our honeymoon camping at this spot nineteen years ago. Lots of good memories here.

Evan caught the next trout of the day here in the honeymoon hole. I looked for my brother-in-law Aaron's fishing line that has been waving from the rocks across the river, but couldn't find it this year.

Ooooh. Fresh fish cookin' in the pot at the end of the day. Sooo good. And Justin's traditional potatoes turned out just right too.

It was a beautiful trip. Star Valley is gorgeous this time of year, and we had the river to ourselves. Staying in a motel was good for October (I love camping up on the river in the summer, though). Although the motel is older, everything was kept clean and the rooms are large. I would stay there again.

I might even be convinced to come again in the fall.

Soaking in the Sun

Autumn is my favorite time of year. As much as I love spring and renewing my love affair with my garden, I love the mellow, peaceful feel of autumn more. Spring is all about bustle -- vegetative explosions of color; preparing my bit of earth for another season of growth; hives awakening and building up; winter months of gestation finally giving birth. Autumn is more about settling in, settling down. I take stock of what grew well (or didn't), but I don't have to do anything about it for four or five months. Plants shut down, although there are always a few fruits or vegetables I try to nurse along until the cold snaps the growing season off. I don't have to be delicate about cleaning up the yard. I pull out the expired plants, put them in the compost pile, and let the ground (and me) rest for a season.

I haven't had time yet this fall to enjoy that mellowness. School started and everyone in my family started going six different directions a day, including me. I've hardly been outside in my yard to enjoy the moderate temperatures.

Today I picked all the peaches left on my O'Henry peach tree. It's a very late ripening tree and I have trouble discerning when the fruit is truly ripe. I finally decided this year that since half the fruit had fallen to the ground it was probably time to pick what remained. Seven and a half large bowlfuls later I stood looking around my yard and listening to the quiet. There were no children running around -- most were in still at school -- and since it was a weekday afternoon, there were no lawn mowers growling, no weed trimmers buzzing, no people sounds. I could hear birds and some crickets. Even my chickens quieted down.

After standing there mesmerized for a moment I decided this setting doesn't happen very often. I set aside my ambitious plans for other yard work, grabbed a book about honey bees my sister found for me in a lovely used bookstore in Portland, and plopped myself in a lawn chair with my feet up on another lawn chair. The air was a little cool in the shade, so I moved myself to have the sun at my back and be able to hold my book in the shade. After a few pages I set the book down and closed my eyes to listen some more.

I dozed instead. My hair and skin absorbed the just-warm-enough sun while my ears sopped up the stillness. My brain wound down, soaking in warmth and languor until it quietened.

I slowly came to a long while later, my brain gradually focusing on where I was. It has been a while since I felt so mentally refreshed. I hope the weather and this feeling stay with me. Mmmm.

Birthday Beauty

Twelve years ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We didn't know before she was born that she would be a girl. In fact, I had grown up believing I would only have boys thanks to my belief that God has a sense of humor. Since I grew up with only girls in my family, boys were a mystery to me. I thought God would give me only boys because it would be character building. With my first two children being boys, I knew I was right (about the humor and the only having boys). 

Bronwyn hadn't seen fit to share her gender during my only ultrasound, so after enduring a painful labor (the epidural only numbed one leg and I was laboring under the duress of pitocin), when the doctor announced the baby was a girl I was stunned. A girl? Really truly?

Then I worried. What if we had one of those horrid mother-daughter constant battle relationships? What if she was too prissy? What if she wasn't frilly enough? What if she hated everything I liked? 

I shouldn't have worried. With three brothers to wrestle and argue with, there was never a chance for prissy. She and I share many interests, from nail polish to beekeeping and lots of things in between. Even better, she is as beautiful inside as she is outside. Bronwyn has a very nurturing, tender heart. She watches out for those who need a friend. She reads voraciously (like both her parents!). And she is ready to go with me any time I leave the house, whether I'm going to the store, to pick up someone from an activity in the middle of the night, or shopping at the mall. She is passionate too, inheriting her mother's fire (for good or ill!). She is growing into an amazing young woman.

First day of sixth grade.

With her favorite author Shannon Hale. Bronwyn found out Shannon was doing a book signing for  her newest book, Palace of Stone, on Bronwyn's birthday. Getting her own new copy of Palace of Stone signed by the author ON her birthday was the best birthday present of all.

Enjoying the flowers by the Beehive House in Salt Lake City. Bronwyn loves taking pictures of people, plants, and flowers just like I do. 

There Are Queen Bees and There Are QUEEN Bees!

I love bumblebees. I spotted this gal through my kitchen window the other day and spent the next twenty minutes trying to capture some good shots of her. The bush she is visiting is a butterfly bush, although this one seems to mostly attract honeybees, grasshoppers, and hummingbirds. I have a light purple variety in my front yard that monarch butterflies wait to visit until I'm teaching piano lessons so they can distract me and my students with their glorious wings.

To me, bumblebees are the queens of all bees.

The "shoulders" on this bumblebee remind me of a polar bear. Except hers are yellow. With a cape. 

I thought this was a terrific side view. You can distinctly see each segment of her body.

I think the fuzziness on bumblebees makes them look deceptively cuddly. Being a person who loves to hold/pet fuzzy, furry, or feathery creatures I feel a strong temptation to hold a bumblebee. Even though I know it would end badly.

One of my honeybees was visiting the same flower cluster as the bumblebee (I just assume any honeybee I see in my yard is from my apiary). Not even a queen honey bee could match the furry yellow and black beauty for size.

So much for my attempt to capture one last photo! My subject was off to other restaurants.

Honey Harvest

I've been a much more passive beekeeper this year than last year. Since my remaining colony always looked very busy this summer as I watched it from my kitchen window or up close (as long as I stand out of the flight pattern of the coming-and-going bees they pretty much ignore my presence) I only bothered them to refill their water feeder when it was empty for the past six weeks.  So I had no idea what I would find before my friend Jill and I opened up my hives yesterday. 

An amazing spider we found in our yard. Its abdomen is the size of my thumb.

I didn't get pictures on my camera of what we discovered inside the hive. My daughter Bronwyn got a couple on her camera and I'll try to get them to post later. So here is the honey report:

Top honey super: Nothing. No comb drawn. A few bees loafing around, but nothing else.

Lower honey super: Most frames at least had comb drawn on them, but only two in the middle had much capped honey on them. The last time I had checked the hive there had been palm-size patches of stored pollen, but those were gone. I wonder if they had moved the pollen down into the brood chamber. We took the two frames that had some capped on honey on either side.

I decided to at least check the upper brood chamber to see what activity was going on there as long as I was in the hive. When we popped off (literally! The bees had done an excellent job of gluing it down with propolis -- the notorious bee glue) the queen excluder -- used to keep the queen out of the honey supers -- the upper brood chamber was loaded with bees, brood, and most importantly, honey. What was most surprising to me was seeing a beautiful brand new section of honey comb filling the space left by an empty frame slot. The comb was just like its own frame in length and width. It was a pretty off-white color and loaded with honey. In fact, two frames on each side of the brood box were filled with nothing but capped honey, and the next frames in were entirely honey on one side and some brood with lots of honey on the other. This is the time of year when the queen slows down her egg laying to prepare for winter, so as the amount of brood decreases the bees will backfill those empty brood cells with honey for their winter stores. 

I decided to take one frame of honey from there. Jill had one full frame of honey to add to my meager harvest. Once we cut the caps off with a hot capping knife Liam helped Jill spin the the frames in the extractor -- a giant centrifuge:

 Here's what has fallen into the pan after slicing off the wax caps. The lighter yellow stuff is wax. There is a fair amount of honey in there too. The capping knife got too hot and started to burn the wax and honey a bit. I got about 1/4 cup of honey out of this pan.

Now we filter the honey as it pours out of the extractor into ice cream buckets topped with cheesecloth. Jill said she tried using tulle this year as the straining material and really liked how well it did and how easily it cleaned up. Tulle would certainly be easier to find! I had to ask a WalMart associate for help to locate cheesecloth and we tried several departments before finding it in the craft department.

Look at how dark the honey is this year. Last year's honey was quite a bit lighter. We thought it had a lot to do with the drought, which influenced what managed to bloom.

Jill and I tilted the big extractor on its side in my sink to try to catch the last dregs of honey that wouldn't make it out of the spout. It is propped up on several dish towels, braced against the center divider of my sink. To speed things up I brought my blow dryer down to blow on the metal drum to heat it up and make the honey run faster. Surprisingly enough, it actually helped!

Even so, Jill grabbed a rubber spatula and scraped down the sides and bottom to get as much as possible. She got at least another half cup out of the extractor. I helped by scraping my fingers along the bottom and licking them. The honey this year has a warm, rich taste to it. I couldn't identify any particular flower flavor. It's a nice blend. I ended up with approximately an ice cream bucket of honey.

Blackberry Bliss

My thornless blackberry bush kicked into high gear this year, delivering plenty of these:

Part of my first picking became blackberry syrup. I found an easy recipe on Allrecipes.com that I tried. It's delicious! I juiced all of my berries and got about three quarts of blackberry juice. The juice so dark that sunlight doesn't penetrate it. With the next batch I think I might try a recipe that leaves more of the berry somehow, without the seeds. I feel a bit sad throwing out the berry pulp, but I don't know what else to do with it once the juice has been extracted.

Pre-extraction. They smelled so sweet!

Blackberry Syrup

4 Cups blackberry juice
4 Cups white sugar
pectin (optional)

Directions
1. Mix the blackberry juice and sugar and bring to a boil. Boil rapidly for 2 minutes. Skim off foam. Pour into hot sterile jars or bottles.
2. This makes a thin syrup (like true maple syrup). If you want it slightly thicker, you can add a small amount of powdered pectin (less than half a 2-ounce box) to the cold syrup and sugar mixture. I tried a couple of teaspoons and it thickened it just enough for my taste. 

Harriet O'Neal, the original poster of this particular recipe, suggests that if you are not going to use the syrup right away that you can put the syrup in sterile jars within 1/4 inch of the lid and process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath canner. I didn't try that, but put the quart and a half of finished syrup in my fridge. I may try another batch and process it for longer keeping in my food storage.

Bees and the Birds

The hornets/yellow jackets are getting busier and busier in my yard. Yesterday when I checked my beehive I noticed the hornet activity increasing around my hive. I noticed one hornet flying around the back of my hive, looking to get past all the guard bees lining the rear entrance (I have my honey supers offset from the brood boxes by 1/4" to allow greater ventilation and the bees use these gaps as extra entrances/exits). The hornet couldn't get in because every gap there was filled with a beady-eyed fuzzy black head. Take that, hornet! I decided I needed to get another hornet trap positioned on top of the hive to help out my girls with their defenses. Here are a couple that I have been experimenting with.

This one is a can of cat food that has flea/tick powder mixed in with it. The theory is the hornets eat the poisoned cat food, take it back to the nest, and feed it to the insects there, thus poisoning them too. I've covered it with wire mesh and hung it from a tree branch to keep out the neighborhood kitties. It's probably still not late enough in the year to attract hornets seeking protein for their nests because I only saw one or two take any interest. Grade: C-

My best success is with the quart jar hanging near my hummingbird feeder. It has an inverted cone made of window screen. I blogged about this here. The jar is filled with Dr. Pepper and I tossed in an old blackberry in for added sweet seduction. I've emptied this trap twice now. It attracts a few earwigs, a few ants, flies, and plenty of hornets. I hung it near my hummingbird feeder to distract the insects. Grade: A

If you have sharp eyes you can see a female hummingbird between the tree trunk and the feeder. She matches the tree in coloring.

My dad was born an engineer. He thinks up great designs for everything from little robots to computer circuit boards to personal star chambers. I think his favorite medium, however, is PVC. My makeshift chicken run designs were not very useful and my chickens escaped with annoying regularity. I finally begged for help and this is the awesomely-engineered result. It's worked very well. Thanks Dad!

I regularly follow a blog written by Rusty at Honey Bee Suite. She takes beautiful photographs of all kinds of insects, but mostly fascinating pictures of bees. She shares her knowledge and expertise so readily. I have learned quite a lot from her. Taking inspiration from her, I wandered my yard looking for insects to photograph. Here is a wasp of some kind in my spearmint.

I am assuming this is one of my very own honeybees. I love seeing the sun shine through her abdomen, making it glow. This is also in my spearmint.

I'll be extracting honey from hive sometime in the next two weeks. Stay tuned!

Lead On Maestro

I got a call from my sons' orchestra teacher late yesterday afternoon asking if I could substitute teach her three morning orchestra classes. Her original sub wasn't available after all and she was in the proverbial pickle. I agreed to do it -- I've done conducting before. 

Then last night I started realizing there were a few obstacles to figure out. The biggest was how to get my younger two children to school because they start an hour after my two oldest. Then I realized that I would be conducting music I was unfamiliar with. Eek! One of the classes I was to teach is a beginning orchestra class. Would I be able to fill the time with them?

I shouldn't have worried. Got the carpool thing worked out with the neighbor who brings them home in the afternoon. And the teaching part? That was actually fun. I knew some of the students in the intermediate orchestra class, including one of my own boys. We worked on two of their pieces and got some good repetitions in there. The beginning orchestra class has a lesson book they are working through and we had fun practicing the short exercises slowly, then more quickly, and then as fast as we could. To make things really exciting there was a fire drill at the end of the period. And I knew more than half of the students in the advanced orchestra, including my other son. I got to know the Brandenburg Concerto#3 better than I would ever have otherwise.

I had a great morning with some great students who were willing to work hard and not give a substitute a hard time.

In the Middle of...

I promise to get back to this blog, but the last couple of weeks have been crazy! Piano Boot Camp. Shopping for school for four children. Blackberries needing picking. And they need picking again. Picking peaches. Those need picking again. And I still have to figure out what to do with some of the first batch of peaches because they're too soft to bottle. My school-year piano schedule also began last week. And my youngest sister came into town, so naturally we had to get together to play and shop!

I'm just in the middle of a lot of STUFF right now! But I do have things to share. Like my review of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan.

Soon there will be more goodies!

Horseback Riding and Home

Bronwyn's one wish for the trip was to go horseback riding. Liam had never been, other than a short amble down the road and back in Manti, so he was pretty excited too. Evan would have liked to, but with a broken arm didn't feel like he would be very secure on horseback (and afterwards, with the trail we had, I agreed!). 

Jackson Stables runs the horseback riding operation there at the YMCA with well over 100 hundred horses. At the beginning of the ride a wrangler called up each rider to ask them about their horseback riding experience and assigned them a horse accordingly.

The horses awaiting their rider assignments

Bronwyn really isn't disembodied. It just looks that way. Liam, Bronwyn, Caitlyn, and Jessica eagerly await their turn

We had quite a delay in getting started because one of the earlier afternoon trail rides had to stop due to a brief rainshower. Liam was our only guy.

Liam on Cloudy, Bronwyn on Bonanza, and Anna on Cookie

The trail was deeply grooved and sometimes steep and rock-filled.  I decided I don't like trails that drop off on one side when the horse has tricky footing to deal with. Liam's horse kept just stopping for a break.

I mostly enjoyed the ride. My sister and I agreed that the best time to go riding would be earlier in the day. By the last scheduled ride the horses are done with people on their backs, walking rocky, dusty, deeply grooved trails. Cookie, my horse, kept turning her head sharply to the left to either rub an itchy face on my foot or to use my foot to brush the bit out of her mouth. In fact, once we returned to the stables and were waiting to dismount she moved right up against the rail to rub her face on the rail, mashing my leg at one point. Towards the end of the ride there got to be fifteen feet or more between her and Bronwyn's horse Bonanza and Cookie decided she needed to trot to catch up, never mind we were on a steeply descending narrow stony path. I reined her in, but not before I had a few heart-pounding moments! In spite of that, however, I loved being on horseback. 

My horse Cookie. 

Our final evening together was in an outdoor chapel close to the stables (on the opposite side of the 860 acre camp from our lodge. Not a problem distance-wise -- we drove our car over there). Each family taught a silly song to everyone else. My family's contribution? "The Liquor Was Spilled," about a mouse getting drunk and thinking it could take on the barroom cat.

I had intended to get this group picture on the we arrived while we still wore our snazzy tie dye teeshirts. Alas, that didn't happen. Instead, we caught it on our way out, with Bronwyn and Liam wearing their pj's. 

We drove on I-80 home, stopping at a small park in Rock Springs, Wyoming to make our lunch. This red squirrel came to check out our lunch offerings. 

His companion decided to see what we had to offer as well!

The drive went smoothly. We listened to another book on CD -- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. It's the only way to keep the peace in a cramped car for nine hours of driving! We haven't finished the story yet, but it's an exciting one.

My dad and I were willing to give Owen a chance to drive, but he forgot to bring his license and he really didn't want to drive around the many semis traveling on the same road. I was glad to get out of the car once we got home because after a one-hour horseback ride the day before, I was feeling a bit tender! And I have to say, Utah water is the sweetest!

Let's Do Something Flippin' Awesome!!

And that was our family's theme for our Colorado family reunion trip this last week. I haven't been to Colorado in years, especially since my aunt and uncle moved their family to Idaho many years ago. Our reunion was held at the YMCA at Estes Park, Colorado literally in the tops of the Rocky Mountains. The weather was perfect for the entire trip.

We stopped first in Dinosaur National Monument to see actual fossils in the ground. Since it was Day One we wore the flippin' awesome tie dye tee shirts we had made especially for the trip. I hand-lettered each shirt since I couldn't figure out any other way to do it.

Not exactly sure why the artist thought black and white were good colors for a stegosaurus. Not very good camouflage if you ask me. 

There is a tram ride up to the exhibit hall, which is a treasure trove of jumbled dinosaur bones.

In the exhibit hall. I have vague memories of this place from when I was twelve -- the last time I visited here. My dad remembered there being a section of labs across from the fossils where one could watch paleontologists at work on actual dinosaur fossils. 

Here we are nearly at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park. This road gives the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park a serious run for its money. It's 11,640 feet above sea level at its apex. I'm not fond of heights, and some of the drop-offs made me very nervous as a driver. The view from here is gorgeous, with the lush green canyon behind us. There were several moose to see. I'm always surprised by how enormous they are. We travelled with my parents, which was fun. 

Our group was finally starting to gather! Evan and Bronwyn are seated above Jessica and Stephanie, daughters of my cousin Sherrie on the right. Beautiful girls! We don't get to see our Idaho cousins nearly often enough.

Sometimes it's just too hard to smile without giggling for the camera! We're in the center of the YMCA campus here. The place is gargantuan! I wore my pedometer for the trip, just for fun, and I had no problem logging at least 10,000 steps a day while here.

My awesome sister Heather. I want to be like her when I grow up. 

We're on our first scheduled hike of the reunion. Stephen (who goes by Steve to everyone who got to know him as an adult!), Becca, Jessica, and Bronwyn make that bridge look good. The map for the hikes was a little confusing. Or maybe it was because the trails and their various shortcuts weren't marked at all. In any case, this side of the YMCA campus was lovely to be in because it felt more wild and there weren't people everywhere I looked.

This is still the early stages of the hike: Mom, Sarah Jane, Heather, Lizzie, and Josh. 

Aunt Kathleen, my mother's sister, and my mom. Beautiful women!

We decided to check out the Crafts and Design building. The projects were all pretty expensive, in my opinion, but there were lots of things that looked fun. Liam chose a ceramic gecko to paint with acrylic paints. He had so much fun with this one that he came back the next day with his own money to paint another one.

Bronwyn chose to do a mosaic light switch cover. It turned out really well and now we have to put it in her bedroom. She chose pink to go with her bedroom colors and sapphire blue. Doing mosaics is putting together a puzzle without a picture to check with or even being sure you have the right puzzle pieces! We decided it was so much fun that we want to try doing it at home.

There are a number of elk that wander freely through the YMCA. This fellow was grazing twenty feet off the road, oblivious to any people. In fact, another evening I was mini golfing with Liam when five bulls came wandering right by the golf course within fifteen feet of us. The fact there were people everywhere didn't deter or frighten them. One of those was a young bull in his first year. Another two were young with nice-looking racks, but there were two at least as big as this one or larger who were truly impressive to watch. I don't think I did very well on a few of the golf holes because Liam and I were too busy watching the elk.

Liam was dying to play tennis, so we signed up for time on the court. Bronwyn and Sarah joined us for doubles. Having four players who only know enough about tennis to know you have to knock the ball over the net with a racket was rather entertaining. The three kids kept hitting the ball up and over the fence, so there was time for other entertaining pursuits while we waited for the ball to come back -- like playing air guitar with the rackets. Bronwyn (left) and Sarah rocked it!  

There are a few more pictures to come. There was hiking, horseback riding, hanging out in people's rooms or the lobby laughing and talking, swimming in the pool, mini golf, tennis, basketball, a fire alarm that went off at 9:30 the last night in one of the lodges (someone burnt a bag of popcorn in the lobby microwave -- everyone had to leave the building and security had to come check things out), and silly songs sung. My children were all very sad to leave. Here's hoping we get together again sooner than four years!