Fun with the Family!

Things have been busy. . .very busy! Once we got back from Portland things just kept going and haven't stopped yet. First, I helped out with the first aid tent at the NAIA world series. . .which Lewis Clark State College won! Go Warriors! I had a goodbye party to attend for a co-worker and New Membership class at church to attend. Then my sister and her boyfriend came into town. They got the grand tour of the clinic and we showed them around town. . .which takes all of 10 minutes. :)

Friday, things really got started. We left early in the morning for Wallowa Lake State Park. Upon arriving, our bad luck with weather began. It drizzled all day, so we did a couple of short 3 mile hikes to stay close to the base of the mountain in case the weather worsened. We stopped off at a waterfall that had overrun the bridge due to the high water level from the snow beginning to melt. After a few pictures we returned to make camp. My sister just happens to be the camping expert (which is funny since she never liked camping as a kid) so she helped direct setting up the tent and building the fire. Well, it was more than a fire. . .more like an 8 hour long inferno! It was cold and rainy, so the fire was a very welcome addition to camp. We cooked burgers and made s'mores before heading to bed pretty late that night. We woke up to damp sleeping bags after shivering all night. . .not exactly ideal camping conditions. We tore down camp and went to begin our day's activities. We had planned on riding the tram up to the mountain peak for some fantastic views, but fog and snow ended that idea. So, we took an hour horse trailride. It was pretty cool, and I was definitely impressed at how good the horses were at navigating the tough rocky inclines. We took a quick ride on the go carts, and then we headed into town for a late lunch. By the end of all of this we were exhausted so we left for home to meet my parents when they made it into Clarkston.

Sunday my whole family went to church and then spent the day checking out the Lewis and Clark and Nez Perce museums. Both were very interesting, and I learned that navigating through Idaho was a nightmare for Lewis and Clark due to the Bitterroot mountain range. Good to know that our area contributed to the worst pain and sufferring on their entire journey. :) We had cake to celebrate both Karen and Joe's birthdays and then went bowling with the family. We set up girls vs. boys and although the boys eventually won out after 3 games, we held our own pretty well. Then we pretty much crashed because Karen and Joe were flying out at 7:00 am Monday morning.

I dropped them off at the airport early and then went into work for the morning. I met up with Raoul, my parents, and my brother for a jet boat tour of Hells Canyon at noon. We had done the tour last summer with just my parents and I, but Raoul and Preston had never seen it. Definitely cool to see again, and a very relaxing boat ride. We even saw some mountain sheep! I took them all by the office so that they could meet my co-workers and see where I spend the majority of my time and then came home to clean up so my parents would have a decent place to sleep. Tonight we are going to have dinner with my boss and his wife, so I am excited that my family will get to meet them.

Pictures to come soon on my facebook and more posting on the end of family fun in a couple of days.