Wallowa Lake

In September 2009 Scott and I took Calla to Wallowa Lake in Joseph, OR.  Scott and I loved to backpack   in the Wallowa Mountains before the girls were born.  This year we went as a family and stayed in a wonderful cabin!  It is so great to share with both girls one of our favorite places in the state!  It is a long drive, 7 hours, and the girls were great!  They love stickers, so they both got sticker books to play with.  

As you can see Calla had lots of fun decorating herself and Scott's car during the long drive.  Hannah was also full of smiles, and was wearing her fun and colorful hat.

Don't let this photo fool you, I only drove a short distance, my job was to entertain the children.

 A great family photo for a great family trip!

 The weather was amazing on our trip, upper 80's everyday.  So despite the water being SUPER cold, we had a great time playing on the shores of Wallowa Lake and a few quick dips in the water.

 Aspen had a blast, she swam, swam, swam, but did not pose for any of the family pictures.  She also slept for three days straight when we got home.

There are not a whole lot of kid friendly hikes in the Wallowa Mountains, long hikes with lots of elevation gain.  The hike up Hurricane Creek is easy and beautiful.  This is the hike we took Calla on 2.5 years ago and we carried her like we carried Hannah now.  It was amazing to see Calla hiking this trail. We also bought her a camel back to carry her very own water.  She was pretty excited and proud of herself.  Scott and I were also so proud of our little girl!

Together these girls are silly!  They love to make silly faces, make silly sounds, and dance around.  Even up in the mountains there is always an opportunity to be silly!

I love this picture, it looks like the scene behind her is fake.  The day was really that beautiful!  I also love it because Calla had her very first peanut butter and jelly sandwich on this very trail.  She has grown up so much since then.  I look forward to all the pictures we will take of her on the trail in the future.

On our last full day we drove up Lostine Canyon.  It was again a beautiful day.  We were all full of smiles and we ate our lunch, watched fish jump, and enjoyed this beautiful place.

Dancing at the cabin!

Calla resting during her hike!

The girls with their PB&Js.

Tea Time

Add caption

My dear friend was about to have a baby boy so Calla, Hannah and I threw Joy and her daughter Airlie a tea party.  Calla and I made hats for all of the girls, we had blueberry scones, little tea sandwiches, fruit  and "apple juice tea".  The girls had a blast!

Calla loved being the big girl.  She served all of the girls their tea.  It is so hard to believe my little girl is growing up so fast!

The girls had a great party and are ready to welcome little Bryson into the group as soon as he is ready!  Next summer will be a blast!

How the Shaff's Beat the Heat

It was HOT in Corvallis today, so we headed out of town to the mountains to beat the heat.  We hiked to Linton Lake, in the Three Sister Wilderness.  It was a 3.5 mile round trip hike and Calla hiked the entire trip!  She ROCKS!  She was as proud of herself as we were.  Once we got to the lake we enjoyed some great swimming and splashing time.  One of the things Scott and I have always enjoyed together is hiking to and swimming in mountain lakes.  There is nothing more pure than cleaning off your dusty sweating skin in a freezing cold mountain lake.  It was wonderful to share this joy with Calla and Hannah today.  Calla told us that the hike was hard but playing in the mountain lake was well worth the effort.  I love my daughter.  Here are some pictures from our adventure today.

 Full of energy as we hit the road!

 A little snack to keep us going.

 Getting a little hot, time for a water break!

 The reward, a cool mountain lake!

 Scott and my reward, a few beers keeping cool in the water.

 The much anticipated swim, Hannah thought it was great, she laughed the whole time Scott and I swam.

 Feels SOOOO Good!

 Even my tentative Hannah got in the water and was full of smiles!

 Calla, as always jumped right in!

 A family full of smiles, we had such a great day together!

 A last dip for Calla and Scott before we dry off and hit the trail.

 Hannah did not make it 50 feet from the lake before she was out.  A nice way to travel.

Calla very proud of herself at the end.  Way to go my little girl, I look forward to many more hikes together!

Berry Wonderful Day

Today the girls and I did one of my very favorite summer activities, pick berries.  It was even better than normal because we got to visit Farmer Jason's Farm (aka my co-worker and friend Bonnie's dad's farm).  The girls got to see the chickens that lay the eggs we buy from the farm and eat loads and loads of blueberries, marionberries, raspberries, and boysenberries.  

Since we came home from San Diego we also began receiving our weekly CSA from Gathering Together Farm.  Having the opportunity to get our food locally has really made me think.  While we were driving to and from San Diego we drove through central CA we saw miles and miles of mass agriculture.  I appreciate the hard work of farming and the need to feed the world, but the trip and my recent experiences with local farms makes me appreciate the wonderful food at my doorstep and the opportunities I have.  I hope I can raise my children to appreciate local agriculture and the hard work of every farmer as much as I do.  Thank you farmer "Jason" for giving us a berry wonderful experience today and thank you my friend Bonnie for sharing the wonderful day with us:) 

While at the farm Calla got to ride on the green machine, she lot it was very exciting!  She loved exploring the farm with the actual farmer.  

I think Hannah enjoyed the picking more than Calla.  Calla just likes to explore.  Hannah's favorite berries were by far the blueberries.  At the beginning she was pretty good at picking them and putting them in her bucket.  She thought it was pretty fun.

After awhile Hannah realized she was tired of picking and was ready to eat her bounty.  She leaned over her bucket and shoved them into her mouth as fast as she could.

She very happy girls with berry grins!