Tum Tum 2010

1st let me say expect a lot of photos. Anytime I spend a few days with the grandkids the shutter on my camera just seems to fly!!

Peyton and his Grandpa

Lake view from inside the cabin

We finally made a trip to our annual summer vacation spot. "Tum Tum" on Long Lake.... Spokane river. We had hoped to get the whole family there. But, it just never worked out. Doug and I took a look at our calendar and if we were going to make a trip to Spokane before school started it was now or never.

Jesse and Tressa after a big swim

 When Tressa heard we were going she and Jesse cleared there schedule and came along. The 2nd night there Erica and Nate showed up.

  Our main motivation for the trip was that I hadn't seen Doug's parents in a long time and a good friend's mom has been very sick and I wanted to come and offer my love and support to her at this time.
  So having some of the kids and grandkids there was a HUGE bonus and we had a great time.

Jesse and Nate having a deep and meaningful talk? NO, I don't think so!

We ate out a couple times. Spokane has the best restaurants. If we had more time we would have hit up a few more places. The weather was good- mid-80's & the water was warm .
 The little ones were not fans of the lake water. Either to big or too cold not sure which. Parker came the closest to enjoying the water.

Grandpa with Parker and Brady. Parker was enjoying this more than Brady.

  On the 2nd day we set-up some smaller beach pools. The kiddies seemed happier with these.

Erica and Madison on the boat

Peyton & Madison before their 1st and only boat ride!

 We also got the boat out and did a little tubing. Nate and Jesse got a pretty wild ride and were catching some serious air.
That night we went to Shakey's Pizza. One of Doug's favorite pizza places back in the day, They had all closed down a number of years ago. We wanted to check the new one out and see it it was like the original. We were not disappointed. Very good Pizza ( did you get that Jolene?)
  On the way in Tressa was holding Madison's hand, Peyton then went and grabbed Madisons other hand, it was so cute. I wish we had a picture.

  Sat. was Jesse's 25th Birthday. Lots of family came out to say hi and wish Jesse a happy birthday.
 The kids played down on the beach and in the small pools.

The Sand Box!!

Parker-doesn't want to wait for his bathing suit!

Brady

 Parker even did alittle skinny dipping with his grandpa. Madison liked the sand boxes but, didn't really ever get to excited about the water.

Madison

 Brady got to were he loved to be dunked. This really tired his mom out. The minute his little feet touched the cement wall, he ran right off again and into the water. Tressa would pull him up, and off he'd go again. Peyton seemed to like the feet dunking thing too.

                                                                            

Jesse taking over after Tressa got tried.

Their Cuz Cameron was a crazy wall jumping man, and Jesse thought he'd try alittle pole vaulting with a huge stick.

                                                                                

The Plant

 

Where Peyton Spent alot of his time.

The morning had begun with some going "garage selling ". Erica and Nate were up early and out exploring. guess there was lots of good stuff. Nate really wished he had his truck. He did find some shorts and shirts for .25 ea. He didn't bother to wash them. He just proudly put his great finds on and wore them all day!!

Doug's brother in-law Steve had a good day too. He scored a nice canoe. There hasn't been a working one at Tum Tum for a long time. Doug and Peyton got to go with Doug's dad on it first voyage all the way across the lake.

  We also had 5 generations there with Doug"s grandma, mom, him and the girls and kids. So we grabbed some photos. Doug's grandma P is 100 yrs old! going on 101 in Sept.

Christmas time?

Is it time to prepare for it already?  When I made a lumber run to the Home Depot and told them it was for a Christmas project they looked at me like I was out of my mind.  They must not know the importance of starting in the summer to have a hope of getting a project done in time.

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bottom of one section of the train, with the wheels on so it can be
moved around the yard easily

I am currently working on two projects.  One is additional superhero figures for the tree out front and the other is a train that can function as a Christmas decoration and well as a kids play area the rest of the year.
The first step of the figures is to prime the wood then draw out the figure for the cutting. Next comes the sanding and the part I like the least the sealing of the edges of the wood to protect them.  Now it is on to doing the outlines of the figure.  The last step will be the actual painting of the figure. 

I have been switching back and forth between the train and the figures.  While I have put the train together in my mind a number of times I was never really confident about the wheels that they would support and also roll but so far it looks like it is going to work. I started with the passenger car then will move on to the engine.  Those might be the only two I get done this year.  I will update as changes are made.

the rest of my Wisconsin trip

Shelley & Monica getting food ready for the rehearsal dinner
at the Condo.

Here is how the rest of my trip played out. Friday was spent getting ready for wedding, checking out Linze and Bob's $800 a night condo, and rehearsal dinner.

 it actually had a room all set up
for getting massages.

Linze & her grandma at rehearsal dinner

Hot tub room in the condo

The next day was the big event. we did most of the pic's before hand. They were so cute together and as you can see my niece Linze was a beautiful bride!!

 The wedding was at a resort on the water and they were married on the dock. It all was very nice and all went fairly smoothly. Me and my mom headed back to our hotel room before things got to crazy.

Shelley's hat had blown off her head and into the water as we flew down the river. Craig did some very impressing driving and pulled the boat so close to the hat, that Shelley just reached over and grabbed it!!

   Sunday we hung out at the lake somemore. Spent part of the day on the water. Craig took us down to the other end part of the lake.

   Monday we spent out at the lake again. With Linze's condo rental, they had the use of a nice pool area and everyone hung out there till. 3:30.

 One of Linze and Bob's babies! They were worried about her not being able to swim.

Whitney & Bob teaming up for a friendly game of water volleyball.

We then loaded up and headed back into Madison to have dinner with my sister Shelley and Christy's friend Monica before they headed to the airport to head back to Spokane.
We ate at a place called the "Noodle Co." it was fun and different. The food was good.
  Then we went back up the THE DELL'S. I wanted to get some more fudge. I took some home for Doug and Tressa. Alec had really been wanting to take his Grandma to the "Tommy Barlett show" It's a WaterSkiing" show with other stuff.

 It was different than what I was expecting, but good. We all really enjoyed it.
It ended with a Laser light tribute to our troops and the American Flag. It was very moving.

  Tues. Just pack and headed to the Airport. Arrived in Seattle around 11PM. It was so good to be home and see Doug.
 I really enjoyed my time with Christy and her family!!! They were great host, even with all the wedding stuff going on. Now that I've finally gotten back there, I've vowed to go back every 2 or 3 years!  I'm to the point were I think I can handle the flying stuff. So I'll start a Wisconsin travel fund!

The Dell's

I started my 2nd day in Wisconsin,(Thursday-July 29th) with a quiet morning to myself. My sister and mom had headed out for tuxes and groceries for the lake. I stayed behind to take care of a few things and just chill. First time I've had sometime to myself in a while.

   Around 3pm we headed out to the Lake. then it was off to the Dell's. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I knew there was a lake involved and it was touristy.  It was really different that I expected but, alot of fun.

 Christy had some coupons for a army Duck ride. Her family had never done this one, so everyone was pretty excited about it. It was fun, silly -the guide guy- and some pretty scenery. These are surplus boats from WWII.  the one we rode in was manufactured in 1944. It was never used in the war. all the one's that saw combat are sitting at the bottom of the ocean. That was cheaper than hauling them home after the war.

some of the cool rock formations we saw on our duck boat ride.

  Next we hit the main drag in the Dells. shops, fudge -candy shops and more shops. I have never seen so many fudge shops. Even the beach doesn't have this many. We all had fun looking. I did get a few things and alittle fudge.

  After the shopping( it's now 830pm,) we headed to  one of the coolest restaurants I've been to. And Alesha- you would love love love this place. I think you would live in it if you could.(Alesha) It's the "Moosejaw"
 pizza and brewery. The whole place is logs. wood , dead animal heads, antlers, just so cool looking.

everything was made of log wood. It was soo cool!

 The food was even better. The beer bread and honey butter was to die for. but, everything was good. They brew their own rootbeer. It was pretty good. And everyone  got moose antlers.

Christy and her best friend Moncia sporting the cool moose ears!!

I only wish I could afford to bring the kids and little kiddies here. all the hotels have fun pools and water stuff. Think Las Vegas but on a much smaller scale. a little like the hotel we stayed in outside of Vegas. there is a huge theme park and water slide place called "   Mt Olympus".  Guess Christy and her family take their 5th wheel up there and some hotels have a place to hook up on their property. they get passes to the park with a 2 night stay. They've already been twice this summer and will go back one more time before school starts.
    After a fun- wonderful dinner. we finally headed home around 10:15pm.
Tomorrow starts all the wedding fun. Decorating, food and rehearsal dinner at 5pm.

wisconsin day one

My sister's house in Wisconsin-cute farm house.

I seem to be getting behind in blogging. Even my Hubby is ahead of me. I'm in Wisconsin, staying with my sister Christy. Don't know if it's the time change or all the stuff we are doing. but, I just get to bed really really late and haven't had time to blog.

   Wisconsin has been a pleasant surprise. very green. Lots of rolling hills, rivers and lakes.
I awoke my first morning and took an elevator down stairs . Yep, christy's husband Craig , built an elevator in his shop. Upstairs is his office and a sound proof movie viewing room and bed ( was a movie viewing room till the house got hit a few times with lighting a month ago and it toasted their TV. The one from the movie viewing room had to be moved) and you guessed it I have a private little apt to stay in. It's nice -very quiet. No windows. so I tend to get up late as no concept of time or light out side.

The Barn-shop. I sleep up stairs.

There is a ramp from the outside that leads up to the room above Craig's" Harley Shop". He is a private contractor for Harley Davidson's. But, in the middle of the night If I have to go... I'm taking the quaint little elevator down to the bathroom in the shop. It's really pretty fun. I should mention my first night here I got to experience my first Midwest storm. and it was a biggie. Started with lighting around midnight and then by 1am was a full blown thunder and lighting storm. ( the barn/shop I sleep in got a few hits during the big storm last month, but was told I was in the safest place and not to worry).  then not long after that the rain really started coming down. I wanted to experience it, so I kept going out on the little landing to watch, but I was getting really wet and since they had taken so many strikes not too long ago, questioned the safety of such a thing. In my sound proof room I really couldn't hear it all that well. bummer. guess it lasted till well past 4am. But, I sleep though a good part of it.

Linze- the bride a few days before the wedding

     After a slow morning,we headed into Richland Center to see my niece Linze and where she works. Christy and Shelley got a nose wax. I've never heard of such a thing.  it didn't look like to much fun!

Christy

Then we headed out to the Lake. Castle Rock Lake. It's a huge man-made lake. It's about half the size of courd-Alane in Idaho, but seems bigger. after fighting off mosquitoes for a while. We hopped in the back of Christy and Craig's boat . Once safely in the water, we went on a really fun boat ride.

Craig was our tour guide. It was fun. we ended up at a place called the "dirty turtle", where we had some dinner. Then it was back to the boat. the Lake had calmed down a lot by then. The first run was pretty bouncy.

fun chairs out side the dirty turtle.

We drove all over the lake with our tour guide and a very amazing setting sun.
  It was a very nice day. My sister Shelley had arrived that morning so was able to spend time with her and Christy and my mom.

Sun creating a beautiful sky as we left the Dirty Turtle.