Happy Grandparents Day!

Making cookies

Danica had her first adventure in baking last week. I decided to make some cake mix cookies with her. Reason for cake mix ones over regular cookies were: alot faster, fewer ingredients, and they don't make tons and tons (that I will then eat!) Plus they're yummy.

I mixed anything that needed a mixer first and then let Danica add stuff. She suprised me by being patient and not getting upset when I needed to take the bowl back and mix it some more.
She spilled a tiny bit of the mix on the table and was very concerned by it. Once I told her it was okay she was fine with it.
She really liked stirring the mix. She did not however like it when she got a little of the batter on her hands. I can't wait to try something that requires hand mixing with her! That will be interesting!
Adding the chocolate chips!
Danica's job while I scooped out the dough was to say "plop!" when the mounds of dough hit the pan. She was very amused. And so proud of her cookies.

She had to have a little snack of chocolate chips while we waited for the cookies to bake. If you look carefully you can see the chocolate drool out the side of her mouth!She was very proud of her cookies. And they turned out quite tasty too. It is kind of a cross between cookie, cake and brownie in taste and texture. They are definitely better fresh. Two days later...not so good.

The Redwoods

Danica's Grandma and Grandpa Ryther came out to visit a week ago. None of us had ever been to the Redwoods so we had decided that would be a good time to go. Danica was a champ in the car driving down there. I think it took about 6 hours of drive time. We stopped in southern Oregon at some wineries that Jason and I had wanted to go to. It helped break up the drive. Jeanine (Jason's mom) found a great cabin to stay in. It was at the Redwoods RV campground by Cresent City. They looked really new and were comfortable enough for the 5 of us.

Here's Danica sitting on the couch with Papa and Daddy. What you don't see is that they were trying to get her to give them some of her Kix cereal. She wasn't havin' any of that. Danica doesn't share food! (She get's that from her dad:)

We went on a trail that lead to what is known as the boy scout tree. Here you see Danica in the carrier backpack. She did however walk at least a mile on the trail before becoming tired enough to go in the carrier.

This is is in front of the boy scout tree. It doesn't even begin to show how big it is.
Danica had worn herself out walking. Plus it was naptime. So she slept on quite a bit of the hike back out. Did I mention that it was a 5.4 total mile hike?
Jason and Don went on a separate, more challenging hike (that Jeanine and I passed on) the next morning. This is Don standing on a tree that has fallen down.


There was some mist in the forest that morning and Jason got some amazing pictures of it. I can't wait to see how they look developed!

The campground had a big playstructure for kids who stay there. Danica loved it. It didn't have a swing but the 4 slides made up for it.
She loved the speaking tube thing.
We had a great time down there and found a couple of good places to eat. Eagle eye Don spotted an burger joint that proved very yummy. Old fashioned ice cream treats were has there as well! We also had some tasty seafood. It was a good trip and nice to make it down there before we move. A few more days would have been nice but since it basically takes a day to go and a day to come back and Don and Jeanine were only here for a limited time, that wasn't possible. It does make me want to see the Sequoia forest.

Sad day.

Well folks, it was a sad evening here last night. We found Dusty a new home and she left to be with her new people. We do wish that we had been able to take her with us to KC but with her fear of noises, we thought it would be cruel. She now with a family that two people home during the day (grandparents) and a 10 year old girl. The mom fell in love with her over a picture of just her head and couldn't believe how cute she is.

For those who never got to meet Dusty, isn't she cute?
I'm sure that Danica will be spending the next few weeks asking "where Dee Dee go?" We think that it would have been harder though to split them up later. Fortunately, her Grandma and Grandpa Ryther arrived yesterday as well and will help provide needed distraction. We are heading down to the Redwoods this morning. Longest car ride with her so far. Hopefully it goes well.

Officially on the market!

Well, it was a big day here yesterday. Our house is officially on the market. Now if I could figure out how to put a link to the ad I would. However, I have been up for nearly 24 hours now and am no longer at my sharpest. So if everyone could send good thoughts to the few buyers that are out there that would be greatly appreciated. Fortunately the market here isn't quite as bad as many other places. But still, I don't know how long our house can stay "show ready" all the time. But you never know. My play date buddy Jocelyn's house had one of the first people that looked at it bought it and they were out in 3 weeks. So you never know. Three weeks is a little fast for me but four would be okay! Also if you all could send a few prayers our way that not only the house sells, but we find jobs at the same time! So that's all for now and I'll try to keep everyone updated as to where we are at! But the first big step in moving has been accomplished!

Crater Lake

On Sunday Jason, Danica and I headed down to southern Oregon to see Crater Lake. Jason and I had gone a few years ago and wanted to go back. As you can see there were hardly any clouds in the sky and it was beautiful out. Danica handled the 4 hour ride down pretty well.

Danica showed how well she can remember things. She saw one of the pictures of the volcano erupting and pointed at it and said "volcano!" We hadn't even said that word since we were up at St. Helen's so she remembered it and was able to use it appropriately. We thought that we pretty neat.
Here is the lake with the lava dome island.
Here is Danica is roasting her first s'more! She didn't want to eat it with the graham cracker. She did however like it plain and unroasted. Snuggling with Daddy, eating a hotdog bun. Minus the hot dog. She had already eaten that.
I love this picture. It looks like sky behind the rock doesn't it. It's not. It's the lake. Wow.

Another picture of the lake. We went all around the rim drive which is 22 miles. You get to see it from every angle.
The different shades of blue in the water is amazing. It was so clear you could see individual rocks in it.
We took so many pictures it was hard to narrow it down as to what to post. I hoped that I showed a little of the beauty of Crater Lake. If not, you will just have to see them when I print them out!

Camping video clips

I managed to get a couple of video clips when we were camping. It shows a little of how adorable she can be. For some reason I didn't get any of the crying in the morning when she woke up! I wonder why?

Danica is very much into running in circles right now. So the tent offered a great big circle to run around! And for some reason, rocks were very interesting. She kept finding them and picking them up.

You would think that a mosquito was the worst thing in the world. Danica hated them from the minute she first saw one. And she can pick one out that even Jason and I didn't see until she said something.

There were chipmunks at just about every view point. Danica loved the chipmunks and as you can see, was very disappointed when she couldn't see them anymore. They were very cute and not too shy at all. I have a feeling that some people had been feeding them. One came right up to Jason when he held his hand out.