Blogging again.....

I haven't been able to post or look at anyone's blog in almost a month, but Joel loaded a new browser and that finally solved the problem.   So I'm back!

The month of August we've been enjoying ourselves in the great outdoors.

One afternoon we swam in the river near the Upper Salmon Falls dam,

Taylor and Torsten jumped from the Owsley Bridge,



Hailey and I kayaked to Blue Heart Springs,

  On the way to the springs we passed Box Canyon creek.  (below) The water is so cool and refreshing.  I forgot to take pictures at Blue Heart but it was amazing.  We peered over the side of our kayak with a snorkle mask to see about 12 feet below, springs bubbling up from the river bed floor in little pots.  
 

 

Late one night we found a huge scorpion on our driveway that we caught in a jar.  With it's tail unrolled it was almost 5 inches long.

I accidentally cooked it the next day when I left the jar in the afternoon sun. This picture is after it was cooked in the sun and then accidentally dropped in the garbage disposal.  Somewhere in that process it lost it's head.


We had our yearly homeschool picnic at Niagara Springs.  Here is Hailey with some of her best friends.
  
Leif playing with his friend Hyrum. It makes me laugh that Leif wouldn't touch the water at Roaring Springs this year because he thought it was too cold, but then he had fun playing in this water that is around 58 degrees.  Brrrr!

 My happy boy!

Taylor and his buddies having a moss fight.  This is part of our Niagara Springs tradition too.  Taylor is the one in the back with tons of moss on his head.

Oh, and here's another bug we found on our driveway late at night!  It was almost as big as my palm!  I really wanted one of the kids to hold it so I could get a picture showing the relative size but no one was willing.  I've come to the firm conclusion that I'll never sleep in our yard without being in a tent.  No way.



















Some of the kids jumped from the  40 foot cliffs at Acid Lake.   Hmm.....wonder if the lake got its name from that putrid green color?

 

Taylor's been working on his biking merit badge with his scout troop.  One day he missed a bike ride, so Taylor decided to ride to Bliss and back all by himself to make up for it (18 miles).  I was really worried because I know bike riders can be hard to see but I didn't want to hold back his ambition.  I told him to wear a bright shirt and ride on the wrong side so he could see if a car was going to hit him.  That way he'd have time to swerve off into the sage brush.  I was still worried, so I took this picture before he left, thinking I wanted a picture of the last day of his life.  Isn't that horrible?

















To wrap this post up, all of us but Joel had a wonderful afternoon floating Billingsley Creek,  Hailey, Torsten and Taylor started early morning training for cross country (they are running for Buhl), Reagan finished a session of swimming lessons, and Leif began skinny dipping lessons in the backyard.

It's been a great summer!!