City of the Rocks Idaho

We moved on to City of the Rocks National Reserve. Georgous place, dirty and rocky! We set up camp in a wind storm! This is a cool place the wagon trains traveled through. It was considered a great stopping place because it had water, fuel, and feed for the animals. It is a popular place for rock climbers and we could see that they were having a great time climbing. We watched a group of guys, obviously doing some learning and training. They were fun to watch and listen to. We didn't climb any of the rocks.

Farewell Bend State Park Oregon

Farewell Bend is our farewell to places already known. This is our campsite with our still clean car.

We are having a great trip and enjoy the travel. We listened to Mary Higgins Clark's new book, on audio and finished it. . . lots and lots of miles! It was good.

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to little ol' me

Happy Birthday to me!

Ron bought me a great birthday cake and we sang and blew out the makeshift candle but it was a great beginning to my birthday vacation!

Ron's view of camping

I caught Ron on video - he later admitted that all the camping work was my fault. . . I don't think so. . .

We are in City of the Rocks National Reserve. National Reserve means that they reserve water for the nesting bird! It was gorgeous, but very, very dirty. . . . and very windy!

The Mariners WON!

So here's the deal, I have NEVER attended a Mariner's game when they lost - so for my sake they stopped their losing streak and WON! YIPPEE!

Mother's Day

I like surprises! God gave me a great surprise for Mother's Day. Two free tickets to see a Baseball game. IT WAS GREAT!

Words of Wisdom from Tira

Tira posted this on facebook,

"With time, women gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, Good grief...............look how smart I am!~ Ladies If you agree with me....repost."

I thought I would just post this her here for y'all to share and enjoy. All the time spent worrying about unusual weight gain can now be put to better use of worrying about what the kids are doing. . . or your neighbor. . . or your brother . . .

Crazy Washington Weather

It's hard to tell, but in the midst of this incredible spring - on March 8 (incidentally, International Woman's Day) it snowed, hailed and snowed some more.

Merry Christmas

http://www.aroundmd.com/whitechristmas/

Christmas decoration?

We have this adorable little trunk and I had the brilliant decorating idea to lay the burgundy fleece over it, and set the laughing snowman inside. Just for looks you know. But Molly has a different idea. . . since it has a fleece in it, and all fleece is hers - obviously the trunk is her new bed. So, she shoves the snowman over (like who is he anyway?) and moves in. Comfy huh?!

Merry Christmas!

You know how the day after Christmas all you see are cars obscured by trees that are tied on the top? Well, not to be outdone by the world around him, Ron made the long trip to the storage unit to pick up our tree, tied it on the top, and brought'er home!

Yes, this means my Christmas tree is up and decorated! It appears that we will have a lighting war with the neighbors. Everyday, Ron and Joe are out adding to the externation lighting. May the richest man win!

Interesting. . .

So, in respect to my last post - here I go!

http://manhattandeclaration.org/index.php

This was interesting, nice to see the verbage. I wonder if the right people will read it, like politicians and their odd friends.

Best Thing About MY Blog

The best thing about my blog is that I can say what I want without fear of retribution, or argument, or worry of being more tolerant.

Hmmm, did any of you know it was raining here? Yes, rain. I love the rain, I love the fall (and this one was BEAUTIFUL!) and I love living here in Washington.

Hiking Mt. Rainier . . . AGAIN!

Map reading

Okay, this is a picture for anyone who traveled with Ron in Europe! He once again has a map and is directing us on our hike. I don't ever worry about where we are because he always knows!

In case you don't know, Ron has an uncanny way of knowing where he always is, where he is going, and how to get back. He also can read and follow any map in any language. I don't get it, he spends a lot of time trying to get me to figure out which way is north, south, east and west. North is up, right?!

Ideas

I think that having ideas could be detrimental to my sanity. I always have a GREAT idea and then pursue it with single minded determination until I get the next great idea. Sounds kinda sad doesn't it?!

I had an idea about an online bible study, it could be fairly interactive without using any gasoline or finding a babysitter for the kiddies - but in translation I don't know if it's feasible. I know that building relationships requires interaction - face to face. I can't always see other people's faces on the computer (as of yet, I can't see through the wires - but I'm working on it). But with our busy lifestyles we need to have some form of connection that works with our own schedule, so it might not be too bad. . . hmmm. Maybe better than nothing.

It's a bbbbbbbbear in my front yard

Joe's Wedding

A friend asked me what my favorite moment of Joe's wedding was - what a lot of thought it required.

One moment, Johanna began her walk down the path to the wedding arch across the green orchard and the eagles began to circle.

One moment, Johanna's dad says, "let's get'r done" and the wedding begins

One moment, Ron dances with Johanna

The wedding was beautiful and you can see the pictures at www.picasaweb.google.com/daltons1980 in the file Joe's wedding

The Wedding

Joe's wedding was sooooo nice - from her dad saying "let's get'r done" to the clean up! I like this change over from the unity candle to the sand - I don't know what it's called, but they had two containers of different colored sand and poured them together and the blend was unique and pretty - what a nice touch.


This is a picture of Ron and Joe - they clean up very nicely!

FaceBook Faceoff

I'm finding my way around facebook finally but I'm thinking I would like to "sound-off" just a bit about it. I find the 'what's on your mind' section good. . . and bad. You can only put in a sentance and I find reading snippets of sentances about the minds of others overwhelming. Then I feel compelled to let all these people know what is on my mind - but my mind is a scary place and I avoid fear at all times, so I have little to add.

I love hearing from my friends and stuff, and facebook lets it all be in one place which is convenient, but I could spend an hour just reading down the page to see what each person is doing; which I think is too time consuming - interaction without the interaction. Not my favorite way of being with others. So, call me and we can talk. Better yet, come and visit, I'll offer coffee.

Have a wonderful day!