Destination: Olive Lake

Travel Time: about 3 hours
Arrival Time: 3:30pm.
Maps needed: 2 (and 1 gps)
Coolers: 2 (1 for fixins and 1 for meat)
Adults: 3 (JD, myself, and my dad)
Kids: 5 (my brother's 3 kids and my 2)
2 trucks.
1 boat.
3 tents.
1 Weber grill (from a yard sale)
1 black dog (Sadie girl- from the pound)
Endless baby wipes.

And here she is in all her glory: Olive Lake

There is something about the outdoors, you know?

Little boys just belong there.

Alright, alright, maybe grown up girls do too...

Here's our campsite. Gage and I had to 'save' it while

JD and 'the crew' (not to be confused with JC crew)

parked the rigs. 'Rigs' is hillbilly slang for a truck.

By the end of this post, you'll realize that...

we're all just a bunch of hillbillies

(whether we like it or not).

Anyway, here's Gage and our campsite:

The lil ones found a bit of snow to play in:
Ryan dancin' on a boat. He gets that from me, you know. :)

JD and my nephew, Michael, settin' stuff up:

(note the straps around JD? Yeah, those are to hold

all his guns in place). Like I said, hillbillies

with a capital 'H'.

(but these hillbillies will not be 'wolfed' by bears,

I can assure you of that).

Like I said, they 'belong' outdoors...in God's country!

Here's Ryan...asking my dad (for the millionth) time

if he can unhook the trailer.

And for the (millionth) time, here he is asking

my dad if he can blow his rescue whistle.

The answer never changes...

but I doubt he'll stop asking.

I think he gets that from JD (hahahaha)

This picture just speaks for itself:

My dad and his crew making their maiden voyage:

How hysterical is this pic?

My dad is just yelling "pull....Pull...PULL!!!"

I used to fall for that too.

Like I said, grown up girls belong here as well:

My new motto is: "My hips don't lie", which is true. They don't.

They don't, for one second, lie about the

3 children they've birthed.

the 36 plus hours of labor times three.

the oreo cookie fetish

the insatiable craving of whoppers

and so, when my hubby photographs me

in my yoga pants

in God's country

and tells me I'm one hot mama

my new motto is

these hips of mine...

they do.not.lie.
(and I'm startin' to kinda like it that way)

gorgeous niece, Ashley:

See the big logs in a 'v' shape? They are in place

to keep all the smaller logs from cloggin'

up the creek. Neat, huh?

Doesn't this look like THEE perfect

place to take a dip?

Too bad it's FA-REE-Zing.

We went for a lil excursion while Ryan and my dad were on the boat:

Both my nieces: Sarah and Ashley:

As you can see, we took a little break from de-binki-ing.

I know, I know.

I was trying to look out for the best interest

of the campers around us.

I swear. I was.

Gage and his "yam":

JD caught 5 rainbows with his fly pole:Then I changed the setting. I like this picture better.

I think grown up men belong in God's country too, don't you?Here's why we left earlier than expected:

We woke up to a monsoon.We were completely soaked.

-----

JD packed the entire camp up (in the rain) by himself, so you can probably imagine how happy he was (hahahaha). What really made his day was that he ripped out the crotch in his jeans when he jumped into the boat! We met my dad at McDonald's in Pendleton for some 'grub'.

-----

Imagine this: You are eating your Big Mac and in walks a bunch of hillbillies with their trucks JAM packed full of campin' gear. You can't help but let your jaw hit the ground as you gawk. The chic you see looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket. Her hair is one great big puff of highlighted Afro (that would be me). The kids are covered in dirt from head to toe and one is still in her pajamas (that would be Ashley). Mind you, it's 1:00pm. You take in a whiff as one man walks by and retch into your meal; the scent of wet dog lingering long after he's taken his seat (that would be my dad, who slept with Sadie in the back of his truck). As you gasp in gratitude that the tribe has finally been seated, you then notice a man...a rather large man with what appears to be weaponry strapped to his sides, walking toward you with an over flowing McDonald's tray. That's not really what causes you to gather your kin and head for the door. As the man begins to walk nearer, you notice his pants...and the 8 inch hole he has in the crotch. As your eyes meet his, he must be reminded of the hole and begins to shimmy as though he's holding an aspirin between his knees. As he draws nearer, you see more and more of his SKIN. You gather your children, cover their eyes, and throw away their half-eaten meals. You will not have your family eating with hillbillies!

------

If you live in Pendleton and hear of this story, don't worry. It was just us. And, um, yeah, we didn't realize how scary we looked until we saw the reaction from onlookers. JD told me I should have announced that we were down out of the hills to get our shots!

And this one's a lil piece of proof (for Crystal). JD's pants:

All in all, it was definitely another adventure.

I hope ya'll are finding time to make some memories this summer!

(and I can't wait to hear all about 'em!)