This Holiday Season has been a really busy one for this family. I suppose I should say, for me.. since I am the chief cook and bottle washer in my little corner of the world.
My holiday season doesn’t start with Thanksgiving. It starts with Diane’s birthday on November 5th. She turned 9 years old this year. Each day, I have to say that I am more proud of her. She is a person who, with the normal 9 year old exceptions, loves folks and thinks of others. She gave for the holidays as well as received. She made bath salts for folks, and most of it turned an Army Green… but she gave! I gave her three dollars for the store at the school and came home with something for everyone, however small it was, she thought of everyone important in her life. She did great in her school show. She’s quite the show person these days.
Lucky for her, she also somehow managed to be chosen to be one of the children to receive a $100.00 shopping for clothes spree at our local Walmart. I felt blessed for her, as I was embarrassed about her shoes, and other things that I just couldn’t quite replace yet.
This is my girl:
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This is from her show:
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Somewhere in all the mess, Clyde’s company asked him to go to Boise, ID to fill in for a guy who was going on vacation for a couple of days. He said no, and then I said, I wanted to go with him, so then he said yes, and told the boss I was going, and that he was driving because I wanted to go. They were about to arrange for him a plane ticket. Had the truth been told, it would have been easier had he taken a plane… the drive is 12 hours from where we live. One way.
But, we had some time to ourselves even if he was working. I got to see things I hadn’t seen in years (if I ever had). What I enjoyed the most was the fact that we took highway 84 over from Portland to Boise. That is part of the Old Oregon Trail. My great grandmother, Mary Vanatta walked that trail from Sugar Grove, Il to Oregon City, Oregon in 1852!
I didn’t take a lot of photos while in Boise. Mostly cause he was almost always on the clock, and when he wasn’t on the clock then we were with each other. You know sometimes enjoying a person’s company is just more important than taking a photograph.
Here is one I took from the hotel parking lot one morning:
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We were gone December 26, 27, 28, and 29th. On the way back I got to stop in and see a couple of uncle’s and aunts in Canby, Orego which is a real treat these days.
Here are some photos I took on the way home:
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Circa 1911, Water Powered Tool Shed
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The man, ever waiting for me to take those photos–
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We stopped at Multomah Falls outside of Portland, OR on the way home, too.
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It was a great time to be together!
On New Years Eve we stayed home. Still recouping from a drive that took us 15 hours to get home due to all the stops along the way. Clyde has been fighting the flu for about a month now. He feels bad, then better, then bad…then better. I think it would be mighty helpful if he would actually rest for a bit after he feels better, but he seems to be a man who will not hold still. If he wakes up feeling good at all, then for him it’s time to get on the move! (He’s been to a doctor, save your breath! hehehe)
New Years day, Diane was still visiting her “daddy” and the two oldest ones were busy with their own stuff. So, Clyde and I took the dogs for a ride to let the get excercise in the snow they love so much, and for us to take pictures. We went to Watson Falls off of Highway 138 with the intentions of getting photos of Watson Falls. Well, there is a trail there, that we didn’t find until too late. So I got more photos of the creek, along with a few scenes from where we let the dogs out to play on a nearby logging road. Hope you enjoy!
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footprints in the snow….
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One thing I noticed is how the trees “surrender”
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What kind of bird am I?
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The dogs at Fish Creek
We also did some looking for the Tokeetee Hot Springs, and didn’t find them. Instead we hiked down to the falls so that I could try and get some great photos like Clyde got a few years back.. I did pretty good:
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For the past few months, Clyde has had about one weekend off, every six weeks. That means, all those weeks, he working on call every day of the week…. ya, have to excuse me, but he had so much time off, and we had so much fun, that somewhere, in here, on a day off, and I don’t remember what day it was! We went out past our house to a logging road….another day to let the dogs run, and just be to ourselves while we could. We were about 20 miles from home and at least 15 miles out in the woods…. I got a few pictures which I will share, but please pay attention to the photograph of the footprint. We really want to know what we were tracking.
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We are guessing a bear??!!!
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/Jan2008/otherpaw.jpg
the back paw??
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about five miles from home, a lava flow.
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the end of the logging road
Wes’ birthday was on January 5th, so yesterday we took him and Diane to the snow so they could play. He took his snowboard. Of course, Clyde had to try it, and we had to take the dogs to play too….
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http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/Jan2008/diane2008small.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/Jan2008/clyde_snowboarding_…
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/Jan2008/clyde_Diane2008smal…
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/Jan2008/wes01_2008_small.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/Jan2008/wes02_2008small.jpg
Well, that is our vacation! Have a great day!!!
