Our last camping trip of the season.

*Warning* Lots of pictures!

This weekend Colin and I went on a little solo camping trip up to Green Peter/Lake Foster in Sweet Home, Oregon. Most people camp on the side of the road near the lake, but we decided to head up more towards the river and hike down a hill to a little remote camping area. It was so beautiful - the pictures really don't do it any justice. My thighs are not liking me today from all the packing in/out of our stuff! Totally worth it though! On Saturday we noticed our neighbors/my hair dresser camping out just around the bend. We hung out with them for awhile during the day and later on during the night. Colin's parents and nephew Brayden met us for awhile Saturday afternoon with their chocolate lab Bella. Here are some pics...enjoy!

The view to the West from our campfire.

Our camp all set up!

Rissy had the best time camping. Look how big she's getting!

And she's quite the swimmer too.

Another view of our camp. you can see our tent in the middle right of the picture if you look hard enough.

Down the road a bit we stopped to take this picture of Green Peter. Look how amazing the water is! It's a reservoir so the water is really fresh.

This just about sums up the dog's trip. :) The water was so clear we could see little fish swim and all the rocks at the bottom of the river.

Colin floating on our little rafting boats.

My camping buddy!

So pretty!

Mr. Brayden. I had to crop the picture because he was happy as a clam running around as a naked boy! He thought it was so hilarious when Uncle Colin and Papa Ron were throwing huge rocks into the water and making giant splashes!

Apparently Duke thought Brayden's Batman chair was just the perfect size!

Rissy found the perfect napping spot. On our suitcase covered by the tent.

We were by the campfire one night and we looked over and saw her hanging out in our blow up rafts. I can't say I blame her, they are really comfortable!

This trip was so fun. The weather was beautiful and it was just really nice to get away just the 2 of us. (with a couple of visitors of course!) We did a lot of relaxing and even played a competitive game of rummy. We made bets and OF COURSE I won, so I get to have Colin take me out on a date night next weekend! I think one of the best parts of the whole trip was toasting bagels, cooking hot dogs and smores over the fire. We didn't bring anything the required a grill...just the good ol' campfire!

Wow - What a week!

This week was pretty busy for Colin and I. He's been having an increasing number of patients and I've been working at a video relay center being the "middle man" interpreting between hearing people using a telephone and deaf people using a video phone (think web cam). The people there are great and it gives me some work during the summer when freelance is few and far between!

Last Friday Colin and I took the dogs to the river to swim and play. When we were ready to leave, they were soaking wet so they rode in the pick up part of the truck. Duke isn't used to this and was on the side of the truck too much and fell out while we were driving about 15 mph. I saw it happened and completely lost it. (If any of you know me, Duke is my baby and I think I'd just die if anything happened to him!) He was okay, but got scuffed up pretty badly. After seeing that he was bleeding all over me we noticed a big gash under his chin. We took him to the vet's office at 8pm and thankfully our neighbor (the vet) was just about to leave. He examined Duke and found that he did need stitches. So, 5 stitches, antibiotics, and a couple numbing shots later, we were headed home. Amazingly, he doesn't seem to be sore and his stitches are in a spot that he can't lick/scratch at. Poor guy. Here are a couple pics:




Despite the trauma of this all, (well, probably more to me than Duke really.) we headed over Saturday morning to Waldport, OR to go crabbing with some friends/family. The dogs came along too. We crabbed Saturday and got 7 total. This morning we packed up and headed to the beach to let the dogs de-energize before the car ride home. I was so excited to get this picture of them:



The whole ride to Waldport Rissy couldn't relax. She was WAY too excited, so I whipped out the camera and took a picture of us.


Next weekend we're going camping for a night just the two of us and the dogs. Then, the weekend after Labor Day we're off to Eastern Washington to go white water rafting with my parents and Laura/Justin. We're super excited about that! I'll be sure to take lots of picture and post them. :)

Our little Nepali spunkster...

If anyone wants to read more about Gita, read my sister's blog. It is very descriptive and gives great perspective on Gita's past and present life. And how cute does she look in her new dress?!? And with her sticker book? AND with her photo album? Ok, I guess she's just cute in general. :)

Our little Gita...

I wanted to share this super sweet picture of "our little Gita". That is what our family has officially been calling her. When Laura went to Nepal last month, she met and fell in love with this cute little girl. Her zest for life and spunkiness won over her heart, which in turn has won over ours. When Laura met Gita, she had 2 changes of previously worn (by other kids) clothes like most the other girls. This is the brand new dress Gita picked out to start the new school year off. To me, it's amazing how a $4-$6 (American money) dress can make a little girl so giddy. It's unbelievable the things we take for granted.

A little background on Gita - she was rescued from slavery from another family she had been working for. Her parents sold her into slavery to be able to afford a better life. After selling Gita, her parents then moved to India with Gita's brother who is worth more because he is male. Two weeks prior to Laura arriving in Nepal, Gita had been rescued by the place Laura volunteered at. She and other slaves are known as the Kamlari girls - aka - the slave girls. Once rescued, Gita lived at an orphanage in Narti which provided her with a roof over her head, food and an education. Gita has recently been moved to Kathmandu 12 hours away, to be given better schooling and living conditions.

I'll keep everyone updated on this beautiful little girl! We get updates through the Volunteer Nepal owner Michael from time to time so I'll be sure to pass it on! Please keep your fingers crossed that Gita transitions to Kathmandu well and enjoys living there.