I'M ON A MISSION

What's the Mission?
I'm going to clean and organize my house from top to bottom. Every summer when we finally get a break from things and time to get to this sort of activity I find some way to "NOT" get to it! I don't know if it is that we are so busy with travel and outdoor activities or if it is (MORE LIKELY CHOICE----) the fact that I am constantly picking up after and entertaining for and cooking and cleaning for my darling family! Don't get me wrong, it's great for us all to have so much quality time together, but in the summer I often feel like my job hasn't ended (or even lightened up a bit) and everyone elses has. So, first off, I'm making the kids pick up more than usual. They leave it out, they pick it up! Nextly, I've lightened up a bit. I'm not as worried about the floor being vacuumed daily or dishes being done after each meal. Actually that one has been nice because all of a sudden Jeff has decided that a clean sink is a good thing and volunteering the work here and there. So what am I going to do with the rest of my time??? I'm gutting each room and tactfully redoing each (on a budget no less), one by one until they are done. This may take me well into the fall, but that's OK! I'm starting with the back door and the laundry room. I've been touching up paint and today I stripped the wax off the kitchen floors. I'll have to share the photos when I complete the rooms, My Mom will be so proud when she sees my floors (more later on that one)! Why am I even telling you all these plans.... ACCOUNTABILITY!!! Now I'll HAVE to do it, right?

Layout Accomplished
Here's a layout I did the other night of our trip south. This is Moulton Falls! Isn't it gorgeous. We hiked around with my sister-in-law Janice, brother-in-law Mike and their kids Ashlyn and Kellen one afternoon. It was a great outing and we found this beautiful falls at the end of the walk!

Click here for a link to the credits to this layout

We have such a great relationship the eight of us with our kids close in age. We all have so much fun together. We made "what I'm holding EVERYONE accountable for" future plans with Janice and Mike this last trip down. The four of us (NO KIDDOS) are thinking a trip to Ireland summer 2010! It will be their (and our) 15th wedding anniversary so it sounded like a great time to plan a trip that we all would love to go on! Mike is from Ireland and still has family there and knows the great places to visit. Me... I've just always been fascinated by Ireland, I think it's the old castles and the GREEN EVERYWHERE! It's been in my TOP 5 Places to Visit in my LIFETIME list for some time now. What else is on the list??? Well lets see, Venice (every since studying Art History for my minor in college, gotta see those Villas in person some day), Alaska, New York (would love to go visit our good college buddy that moved there too), IRELAND, and any place tropical (Hawaii, Jamaica, you name it, I don't care which as long as I can have white sand and blue water and a drink-e-poo in a coconut shell)!

Family Outing
Jeff has had the itch to use the boat so we drove out a ways to where the Okanogan River meets the Columbia yesterday. We'd heard that the Salmon were biting right over into the Columbia side and Jeff talked me into going by bribing me with a wonderful birding experience. We always see the coolest birds driving through that area, Herons, Pelicans, Hawks and Eagles. We did end up finding these unusual birds that I am pretty sure I have identified as a Double Crested Cormorant. I knew it must be in the cormorant family by the shape of it's neck and the fact that they were gathered in such a large colony at the tops of these trees, but this is the only species to be found in our area. Here's a link to an awesome sight with more about these birds and better photos than the one I got. It was quite an amazing site. The photo below with all the trees reflecting in the water is the group they were all nesting in. They were carrying on quite a party up there and quite noisy. Max spotted this little skunk on the water's edge getting a cool drink and screamed pretty hard (poor skunk, Max for some reason thinks skunks are bad news, stay away!!!!) We also saw some ENORMOUS fish surface and jump. I'm sure they were Salmon. Unfortunately Jeff's boat motor battery had gone dead (further testing today diagnosed it as "BAD BATTERY"), so Jeff had to row us. I offered to help but he didn't take it. We also never made it out to the Columbia. Too much current for a rower. Next time!