Olympic Peninsula Photos

First half of the photos are hiking to falls around Sol Duc Hot Springs...counting rings on huge trees, picking poisonous berries, etc.
The beach photos are Third Beach past Forks(Twilight). Making Smores in "Matt's Fire" and hiking out 30 minutes in the dark!
Good Times!

"I Hate Snakes!" ~Indiana Jones...and ME!

This was the first stop on our way to the Olympic Peninsula (photos of that to come later).....The Reptile Man! We have seen this guy and his scary snakes at Atticus' school, but I wasn't a fan. We decided to stop anyway, otherwise I would never hear the end of it. This is in Monroe on the beautiful scenic highway on your way through Leavenworth, Stevens pass, FYI.
PHOTOS:Check out the fake smile I am giving, Atticus not so sure of the Ginormous Anaconda in the water, Cozy was pretty entertained until it was feeding time, Boa supper time (I skipped dinner because of this...mainly I couldn't get the bulging eyes of the bunnies out of my head), and dad pointing out the most deadliest snake.
Notice the funky Lizard...We played "IF I were a reptile I'd be...." This was me. Just hanging out on a twig with googly eyes, chill'in and soaking up the sun (maybe with a Diet Coke!)
What reptile would you be??

Summer is almost over because....

1. Picking blueberries the size of quarters to store for next winter is considered slave labor instead of fun!
2. The garden looks like the Amazon! (lots to eat but no one is harvesting)
3. 3 bottles of sunscreen used up.... 1 more to go!
4. The kids get excited to go to Slidewaters....to play in the arcade...Dur!
5. Atticus is talking about what he's going to be for Halloween at least twice a day.
6. I'm surfing the Internet for deals to anywhere. Did you know you could go to Rome from Seattle for $500 !
7. Lucky Charms for breakfast....and dinner?
8. I have to make up stories to get the kids to go to the lake with me
(newest one is that "Mom's a Mermaid" and needs to keep her legs/fins wet).
9. The TV "broke" already two different times and then magically worked again...hmmm!
10. Catching & tormenting toads is no longer a fun past time.
(some of my favorite names have been...grandpa smith, emily, little dude, and papa smurf)



How do you know Summer is almost over??

AMELIA

Aunt Mia is what my kids know her as. Mill, Milla or Amelia works for me. As a kid she use to go to bed with the ward directory.....memorizing names, birth dates, etc. That "look" would sometimes come over her face when there was any discussion about anyone from our ward or she would chime in to remind us of where they fell in line to the 6 plus kids in their family. Like Rainman counting the toothpicks as they all drop to the floor...she was our family savant. I mean that in all good ways because you know that information comes in handy some days out of the year! She is weird with numbers too! Very surprising she didn't go into some kind of work that deals with gathering statistics. But then again she may be working that brain of hers in color coding all the employees at Nordstroms into some kind of categories. She has also somehow brain washed a few of us into celebrating her 2/3rds birthday! I find myself frantic on April 2nd because I may have forgotten to send her a birthday card!
She has all the facts on anything that happened in our lives as kids (or she makes them up and they sound so believable) so I guess in old age we will be asking her a lot of questions. Though she is in New York at this moment for work(err...jealousy)and may not get this until much later, I have a question.....
Name all the Ellison kids in order. Good luck with that one!
Happy Birthday Sweet Sister! I love You!!