Chinnies: Complete Sillyness

Chinnies are just plain silly!!!!  We have recently remembered these funny things and filmed a few in order to get a good abdominal workout each morning and evening.

I am a bit worried about the downloading of the video so I hope this works.  Please let me know if you can't see Dakota's Chinnie telling a really funny joke.

And here is Wren with his Whale Joke.

Dakota

Dakota has really come into his own lately.  He decided to learn to ride his bike with peddles on and just did it.  He wanted to go to soccer camp and had a fabulous time.  And he is beginning to inch his way up the wall when we go climbing.

Dakota's first bike ride. He has been riding his run bike (the scoot) for a while now and has really showed no interest in putting the peddles on his slightly larger bike that has had the peddles off for a while to facilitate the transition to a larger bike.  But two weeks ago, he said he wanted the peddles back on.  Stuart put them on and Dakota got on the bike and basically rode down our street.  This is his first ride.  (When does a parent get so lucky as to catch their child's first ever bike ride!)

Here are some pictures of his latest adventures.
Soccer Camp!

 Climbing at Spring Mountain. 

Eagle Cap Wilderness: Proud Parents

As our last summer trip before Stuart buckles down for the start of school, we snuck out for a overnight backpack to Echo Lake.  This was our first family trip into the Wallowa Mountains, our closest real mountains.  The hike in was 5 miles with 1800 feet of elevation gain.  We are proud parents!  Wren carried all his own stuff and did not whine at all!!!! Way to go Wren.  Dakota walked the whole way and only asked to be carried twice.  We are so PROUD!  And we are so excited to have arrived at the point where we can actually go backpacking with our children.  YEAH!

Here are the boys at the trailhead.  You can see the granite in the background.

Here we are at our break eating snacks and drinking lots of Gatorade (Reward #1, we rarely drink Gatorade) just before we hit the steep stuff.

Here we are about 1/3 of the way up the steep stuff at a break where Wren found a cool  caterpillar.
From here to the top we took a break about every 30 minutes with a single Skittle doled out at the 20 minute mark (Reward #2). 

 Heidi with her sweet boys "resting" at the break.  The boys are really just tackling me. 

 This is the view from our camp with two sweet boys after a great day of hiking sitting and discussing the meaning of life in the mountains.

 We moved down to the edge of the lake for dinner where we swam, ate tortellini with pesto and had No-Bake Oreo Cookie Jello Brand Cheesecake (Reward #3).  This was the sweetest moment because the way we eat this treat is to pass the pan around and eat one bite at a time.  But before the bite you have to say one thing that is great about the trip.  Well our list was long but the best one was Dakota after working so hard walking up the hill saying, "Climbing the big mountain was my favorite thing."
Did I say we were proud parents?

 Finishing up dinner in the evening sun.

 Alpine Glow on the mountains reflected in the lake.  (Click once on the photo and you will see it bigger.)

 Of course there is always some "STEAM ROLLER" time in the tent right before bed and until someone gets hurt.  So fun!

 We woke with the rising sun in the morning, had cold cereal and hot chocolate, packed our backpacks and headed down the "big mountain."  The boys were full of energy and hiked 1 hour and 30 minutes before we took a real break.  Did I mention we were proud parents?

 This is the view down the valley.  If you look way down the valley you can see an open meadow.  Our car is parked at the far end of that meadow. 

 We did not count the switch backs on either the way up or the way down but we were glad they were there as it made the steepness seem reasonable the whole way up and down. 

 This picture gives a little perspective on the angle of the hill when you look at the conifer trees behind us.

 One of our boy's favorite breaks on the way down was here in the forest where they promptly made a fort from big bark pieces and we became the "parent robots from planet SNERP."  We attacked with fir cones hoping to catch some children but we were defeated (of course because parents never win.)  From here, our boys hiked all the way to the car by themselves (almost 2 miles).  They wanted to beat us or be ahead of us so we could not catch them.  It was pretty sweet to see them work together crossing streams and hiking down the trail just talking and having a great time together as brothers.

 The meadows often had wildflowers that grew taller that Dakota.

Our last break placed us on this sandy beach where we took a brief swim and just played in the water for long while.  The boys once again headed out together and did, of course, beat us to the car.

Salmon River

  The Pounds and the Chapins gathered together in Walla Walla to begin an adventure to collect a group of memories to be held for a lifetime.  Our first day we packed up in Walla Walla, headed to Hammer Creek to rig the boats.  We launched in late afternoon arriving in camp at mile 49 just above Big Foot Island in time to set camp, make dinner, and create the willow club houses. 

On Day 2, we traveled through Green Canyon stopping for yummy lunch and sand hill play.  Heading on down for a total of 19 miles to our camp near Cliff Rapids in Cougar Canyon.

   Day 3 held our big 3 rapids, Half and Half - Class III, Snow Hole - Class IV, and China - Class III.  In addition we rounded the big oxbow.  We camped that night just above Billy Creek Rapid where we had all afternoon to swim the rapids, practice throwing ropes and play in the sand.

 Day 4 morning brought a nice quick thunderstorm while we were packing the boats and a favorite moment, the penguin huddle.  Pushing off rather early, we were able to stop for lunch, columnar basalt and a awesome rock bar with an easy loop swim.  That night in Blue Canyon was our first shady camp and a wonderful set of Rock Shops. 

 Morning of Day 5 came and brought the sun for a sweaty pack up.  We all cooled down with a white water swim past camp and into the eddy channel.  Heading on down Blue Canyon past the confluence with the Snake River, we stopped at Cherry Creek for lunch, a waterfall hike and wonderful wildlife sightings. Moving down stream past the beginnings of civilization to a quiet camp at Jim Creek with blackberries and a evening circle of favorite moments. 

 Our last day gave way to the “Snake Lake,” a long section of mostly flat water rowing and and ever widening view.  The Grande Ronde joined the snake just above our take-out at Heller Bar.  Packing up, we returned to Walla Walla to de-rig with a collection of memories to take home.