Red Fish

Little Red Fish Lake 2009

We had another fabulous camping trip to Red Fish Lake, just south of Stanley, ID in the Sawtooth National Forest. We love that place and hope to spend a week there each summer for years to come.

This year we had a plethora of pals to hang out with and it was a blast. We spent a lot of time lounging on the beach and hanging out with the Johns, the Browns and the Lloyds. Sherri was very generous with the use of her jet ski and Ryan and Roxanne were constantly taking people for rides on the boat or tube. We loved it and it's all our kids talked about for weeks afterward. Thanks for a great week guys!

Morning in the tent

Eli content with sand, rocks and bucket

Nathanael and Kate

Roasting marshmallows

The kids tired of posing for pictures

Ethan and Jason

Ethan, Nathanael and Kate

Jason and Jayson

Phoenix, Ethan and Kate
Following this ride the boys were on fire and Kate was shaking.

Good Friends
Roxanne, Tierra, Lisa

Some of the kids at Lilly Pad Pond
Nathanael, Phoenix, Landon, Kate, Gavin, Gabriel

All of us at Lily Pad Pond
Elliot, Tierra, Jayson, Landon, Ethan, Nathanael, Kate, Sophia, Ryan, Gavin, Phoenix, Roxanne, Gabriel, Jason, Lisa, Elijah

ELEVEN!

Ethan W. Ellsworth

2000

2002

2004

2007

2009

On July 24th Ethan turned 11! He waited very impatiently as June and then July slowly passed. He was SO happy to finally see his day arrive.

Some bits and pieces about Ethan. . .

Ethan loves soccer, swimming, basketball, camping, reading and playing the piano. I really love that he loves piano- I don't have to remind him to practice. And I don't have to make him stay at the piano for the allotted time. Occasionally I have to tell him to get off the piano to get other things done! This year he'll be in 5th grade- his last year before middle school. I'm not sure if I am ready for that, but he is. He constantly reminds me that "soon" he'll be taller than me (he's now about 5'1") and that since he's over 5' and 100 lbs he's safe sitting in the front seat of the car or van even though he's not 13.

He had a swim meet on the night of his birthday and he won his heat in the 100 IM. It made for a great birthday present. This is a big accomplishment considering when he swam this race for the first time last year he was super ticked about even having to swim it (and lets just say he didn't have a very good race). He pretty much hated it. This year his strokes are better and he is faster and he's loving this race.

butterfly

breast stroke

Fourth of July Weekend

On July 2nd we went camping overnight (Our anniversary- who goes camping with the family on their anniversary? We love each other, we love our kids and we love camping so it was all good) for our "let's-figure-out-what-we-need-to-do-to-get-ready-for-the-big-camping-trip" camping trip. It's a good thing we did and that we were only gone over night- we forgot a lot of stuff! We went to Emigrant Springs and stayed in a little cabin. It's about an hour from here. The next day we drove to Wallowa Lake to see if it's a place we want to frequent. We decided it's not, even though it's a pretty lake. It's no Red Fish, that's for sure!

Hiking at Emigrant Springs

Wallowa Lake picnic area

We got back late on the third and the kids were thrilled to be home on the fourth so we could watch the fireworks over the river at Columbia Park. Jason hates going to the river because there are TOO MANY PEOPLE and it takes a while to get out. But we went with good friends and had a good time despite the late night, crowds and traffic. And Jason got a nice shot of the sunset over the river and I think that made him happy. :)

June

I'm feeling a little bit of pressure to document our lives before this baby is born, since once that happens I will be RESTING. Is that laughable? September is looming over me and my to do list gets longer as the time gets shorter. So here's a briefing.

In June, school finally released its grasp on our schedule and we were FREE! We actually ditched the last few days to join Jason in Idaho before the big Zollinger family reunion. We won't do that again though. The kids were so bothered that they missed the end of the year assembly and class parties. They made us promise that we'd not miss the last day again! I think my fingers were crossed during that promise. . .

Here's a pictorial recap of our month

End of the Year Piano Recital

Kate

Ethan

Zollinger Family Reunion
Happy 90th Grandma!

This included all kinds of fun (even though it rained a lot and we brought home sickness) like fishing, pinewood derby, shooting, horse riding and chat-chat-chatting.

Ethan painting his derby car

Nathanael and Miller

Uncle Cody helping Kate with her fish

Jason and Eli on Aunt Kathryn's fabulous swing set

The fabulous remake of the family picture from so long ago. Sorry I don't have the original, but if you are dying to see it, check Jason's facebook, he has both the old and the new posted.

L-R: Jarom, Becky, Patrick, Julie, Bryan, Joe, Jason, Emilee

I turned 36. Not really momentous, but it happened.

Ethan attended his LAST cub scout day camp

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for a week!

We had a great time. We didn't do much and that's sure to bore anyone to tears, but they endured it well. Dad even survived without Fox News. If you know my Dad, that's quite an accomplishment!

May

May ushered in the end of soccer season which we welcomed whole heartedly. I am always pretty tired of 6 practices a week and 3 or 4 games each Saturday after 8 weeks. Little did we know Ethan would try out for and make a select team for the local club and be practicing all summer!! Luckily it's been pretty low key. He misses when we are gone and it's really not a big deal.

Nathanael

Kate

Ethan

We worked hard planting the garden and getting flowers in the front yard and had a marshmallow roast in our back yard to celebrate. It's always good to celebrate hard work with some unhealthy food isn't it?

Jason broke out the slip 'n slide for the first time this season.

Doesn't Kate almost look like a vampire with that hard-looking white skin??? Is she actually a Cullen??

Nathanael busting out his best can't-you-tell-I-am-starving-to-death-please-feed-me! pose

School should have ended near the end of May like it does in other places where we used to live. But here in WA someone in charge enjoys torturing us in the month of June. Our kids didn't get out until June 15th. I tried to stop complaining when I found out Joe and Samantha's kids (they live on the west side) didn't get out until later, like the 23rd or something. Ouch! So I put pictures of the kids with their teachers in this May post as a very small but personal protest to the school district scheduling committee. I know they will never see it, but it's making me feel better.

Nathanael and Mrs. McKay

Kate with Mrs. Mitchell

Ethan with Mrs. Brisbois. He loves that he's almost as tall as she is. He may be taller by now.

We had a few bumps in the road with school this year (like when Ethan was losing it at school and said to his teacher, "What do you know anyway? You haven't been to school in like 20 years!!" That wasn't fun. Luckily he got a handle on his little temper, apologized and his teacher laughed it off as one of her favorite disgruntled student quotes of all time. It helps that we know her and her family pretty well! Overall it was a great year!

Poison

Jason was in Fresno for a few days and got home late last night. He was feeling very ill when he got home and hasn't seen much improvement yet. This morning I was telling Ethan to be quiet, Dad is sleeping and not feeling well. I told him I think Jason probably has food poisoning.

Ethan's response, "Wow. Who would want to poison Dad?"

I may have a budding conspiracy theorist on my hands. . .

April 2009

This poor neglected blog needs a little TLC. . . .

A long time ago in a a galaxy far, far away we had some good times in the month called April in the year of our Lord, 2009.

OREGON

We went to Oregon for our freezing cold "spring" break. We had lots of rain and wind, a little bit of sun and a lot of fun.


The kids and I spent a day at the Portland Zoo in the rain while Jason worked. Despite the rain we had a great time.

They were SO tired and they all thought they would die when we left but by the time we got back to the hotel their energy mysteriously returned.

After the work part of the trip was taken care of we drove another hour to the coast for some freezing cold fun on the beach and other attractions. We spent time at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Tillamook Cheese Factory and various other scenic spots along the coast.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Oswald West

Cannon Beach

EASTER SUNDAY

On Easter we again forced our kids to go outside and act happy as we snapped a few shots of them before church (Hurry! Stand here. Not there, HERE! Please don't bug Eli. If everyone would look at the camera and smile we can take the picture when Eli looks. Don't look at Eli! Look at the camera. Stand up straight. Please don't pick your nose! Can you scratch your face when we are done???) I really wanted to get the pictures before church because the by the time church is over everyone is tired, disheveled and Eli is less than cooperative. I know this little tradition of getting pictures when we are trying to get ready for church drives Jason nuts because I make him take all the pictures (he claims my pictures are always blurry; maybe I have a nervous twitch).

SOCCER

We spent nearly every Saturday in March and April on the soccer pitch watching Ethan, Kate and Nathanael chase a small, often multi colored ball. This picture of Kate just cracks me up. It's like she telling everyone, "Now hold on a second while I get ready to kick."

THE BAR

Kate's second grade recess obsession has been "flipping on the bar." Ethan's was wall ball. She loves to flip and she does it every chance she gets. I have to admit I was a big bar flipper back in the day. We would race out the doors to recess to secure a bar for the entire recess. In this day of fairness and political correctness the kids aren't allowed to stay on the bar for the whole recess. That would be unfair to others and we want everyone to feel happy thus more laws, I mean rules must be implemented to take care of this problem. So the duties (the authoritative adult figures who monitor the playground) decided that six flips is the limit and then you must relinquish the bar and get back in line if you want to go again. This leads to lots of controversy over who's counting and how they are counting. But that's beside the point. I am pretty sure my favorite tricks (the Cherry Drop and the Death Drop) are outlawed since someone might shoot their eye out. . . I mean break their arm. Six flips at a time must not be near enough brain spinning for Kate as her obsession has come home. When we moved in we had a trampoline- a weird trampoline. There were no springs, only elastic. The elastic was worn and old and within a few months the trampoline was beyond repair. Jason pulled the fabric off and has left the frame up until such time as he decides to take it down and haul away. Kate has made the trampoline frame her personal brain blender and she spends as much time as she can flipping outside on our bar (that isn't even round by the way- it's more rectangular with rounded corners- uncomfortable!). Here she is gleefully spinning to her heart's content on a sunny April afternoon.