Victorious!

Tom and I went to Victoria, British Columbia with Tom's sister Tiffany and her husband Seth.  We snuck out at 5 in the morning and got home around midnight.  Long, fun day.  For us.  It was a little rough starting out for our girls... We left at 5, and Tom's mom came to sleep on the couch and wait for the girls to wake up, then they were all going to head to grandma's house.  Someone (TOM- I was gone the night before...) forgot to tell the girls the plan... Grandma heard them stirring, so she got up and went in the bathroom.  The girls come downstairs, hear someone in the bathroom, can't find mom or dad, and proceed to freak out.  Beth came out of the bathroom and found all 4 of them smooshed into a chair, terrified to see who had broken in.  A little sad, but they got over it.  Until Alix threw up later... But, moving on, let me tell you about our excellent day (totally unaware of the drama going on at home)...

On the ferry.  We drove to Port Angeles and then caught the ferry from there...

 The capitol building.... Really great architecture in Victoria

 Buchart Gardens.  Gorgeous!  (And I'm not just talking about Tom...)

 Random plaster man on the wharf... He was a funny guy

 My two favorite flags... =)  

 Lovin' his new hat...

 The pickle boat taxi.  We rode one back to our ferry.  I think these were Tom's favorite thing...

 On the pickle boat...

Super fun day.  And I'm pretty sure the girls won't need therapy for too much longer to get over it... Oh well.  A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!

Picture Overload. aka - cabins 2012

A picture is worth a thousand words... So here are 47,000 words worth of pictures from our trip to the cabins this year.  (And we brought a friend along - so when you can't figure out why there are 5 girls in most of the pictures, that's why...)

Annual stop at the "water slide hotel".  Not sure what happened to Brooke's face...

 Some of the cousins

 floating the (ice cold) river.  2nd leach free year in a row!

 Stopped at the "bathtub" swimming hole.  Erin didn't want to do the rope swing, so she jumped into the deep water from the side...

 So did Alix....  Which was a big deal for her.  She's a little afraid in the water sometimes, so Go Alix!

 That's me.  Thanks for being late with the trigger finger, Mike...

Brooke

And one of cousin Morgan.  Just because she looks so awesome...

 Howard springs.  Our older set of "twins" for the trip

 And the "triplets"

 Dinner in a covered wagon?  Yes, please!  (West Yellowstone)

 One just to prove these kids have a mom...

 We went to a rodeo and the girls got to chase a calf around to get the ribbon off it's tail.  

This is Erin.

 Alix and Sam.  Sam got scared in the stampede (of kids...) and the clown had to pick her up and carry her to her sisters.  If that doesn't scar you for life, I don't know what will...

 And Brooke.

 The clown and girls...  Sam had learned her lesson and wouldn't go near him.  Too bad Tom didn't learn.  Ask him sometimes about his rodeo dancing debut...

 Showing off the dollars they got for chasing the calf...  We were bored in between events and tried to fit us all in the picture... I don't know where Sam ended up...

 Oh, there she is... =)

 Last photographic proof of my existence in this family on this trip... Aren't I pretty? 

 Panning for gold place...

 Actually panning for gold.  

 Which was kind of crappy this year.  New owners. Less gold. We'll find a new place next year...

 Cool sign... The cabins used to be used as the "Bishop's motel"

 Huge stack of roasted Starburst anyone?

 Best fishing picture of Tom I've ever taken...

 Making their own dirt fun...  

 Favorite part of every cabin trip.  Riding the quads...

 at the "bowl" messing around...

 Love family time...

 Who is that stud muffin?  That's right. He's mine... And a picture of him smiling?  That's one for the (blog) books!

 Hey, Brooke!  Can't you read?

 Huckleberry picking.  No berries, due to a late frost, but a great hike...

 Evening fishing...

 We (meaning the guys...) redid part of the roof.  A TON of work.  And at least two more years of it left...

 The girls played in the river more this year than they ever have before...

 Trying to flood the dock with their cousins...

 We drove (that's the right way to hike!) up to the summit of Mt. Sawtail.  Super cool views.  Super sketchy road!

 So glad we brought Adrienne along...

 Not disgusting at all...

 Erin sandwich...

 One of three trips to get snow cones...

 We went on a looooong quad ride one day.   It was really hot and we stopped at a little part of the river right after it comes out of the ground in a spring.  It was cold and the girls loved to play for a while...

 That's probably enough for now...   I can't promise there won't be more later...