Summer 2008

As a blessing from Grandad, who had just passed away, the family received several pieces of playground equipment. A great climbing tower, jungle gym, and airplane teeter totter went up on one weekend. The dads built a sandbox, but the quarry was closed so the box sat empty till next trip.


For the second year, we chose to celebrate our June 30 wedding anniversary camping at the property. Staying for the July 4 week makes for a nice long vacation there. Some of the kids came and went. Though our April family time had been on a cold day, the July week was very hot! The young parents and kids cooled off at Lake Roosevelt while Papa and Grammy were refreshed by the trailer AC. Since we hadn’t yet run power up to the campsite, we were sure glad we’d brought generators!



















The kids enjoyed the playground, especially after we got sand for the sandbox. Butterfly nets were also a big hit, along with our field guides for wildflowers, birds, and butterflies.




Sarah made her annual trip to the ER in Colville, this time with Aaron. Pete and Sarah now have a nice trailer for their family at the campsite. Sarah has become our camp meal coordinator, helping us all by planning the meals and doing the shopping for the whole crowd. It works out really well for everyone. We all take turns preparing the food. We usually cook burgers, bratwurst, hotdogs, etc. over the fire for dinner. There are cereal and muffins for breakfast, with a hot breakfast scramble a couple of mornings. And of course, there is cowboy coffee perked on the fire on all but the hottest mornings. Even cowboy coffee isn’t worth building a cooking fire in that hot morning sun. We’ve got to find a shady place for a fire pit for those mornings!


Even our youngest carpenters helped build a deck and a storage shed!













Our friendly dozer man, neighbor Ron, came and did some clearing and leveling at Jim and Adele's homesite, but the heat limited the length of time he could work. Our neighbor Darren brought over a tank full of water on a trailer. There was plenty for solar showers, footbaths, and baby baths in plastic tubs. In early August we were there on another hot weekend, and there was still enough water in the tank to fill an inflatable wading pool. We also hauled over some water from Larry and Lynn’s new well.

Later that month Jim and Adele bought a larger, more comfortable trailer to put at our homesite. The kids can share the little campsite trailer. While Adele stayed in Spokane with newborn granddaughter Sophia and her family, Jim took the “new” trailer up to the property and set it up. The same day Ron completed the leveling of the site for our utility building.