east from west

Here are some photos! I am really bad at putting them in here, and I have no idea why it is so hard for me... but here are some from what I have been up to. nothing fancy yet.

First is for the science nerds in the family, one of the many geods I found in a river on camp. No purple ones out here, but pretty exciting to me anyhow.

I spent yesterday at the lake where the kids go for water sports, Lake Monroe (reservoir). It's probably still around 10ft high at least. There used to be a beach area by those trees, and the beginning of the dock is underwater, they had to add more. But is was a beautiful relaxing day of work, no less!

Then it is our caving adventure... very wet, relatively muddy, and I desperately need new batteries in my headlamp. Apparently there are a few different places within an hour of us that have caves.

Then there are some from our leadership murder mystery thing... fake drinks and fake gambling, good times!

Then some photos of the results of flooding, all within 10 minutes of us. Crazy!

but that is most of life for now... I haven't been shooting a ton because of other work, but I am getting on top of it now, so hopefully soon I can start more!

Camping at PJ Hoffmaster

Well, we may not have had a broken tent like some family members or a campground that sent everyone home, but we did get a good storm with lots of rain. We were cooking our dinner just as the rains came. I wasn't about to eat frozen hot dogs, so we got some umbrellas to keep the fire going and finished cooking them before the river swept through the campsite. We were in the way of the water trying to get to the stream which was right behind our site. Pretty soon, our site became flooded with a few inches of water and I looked like a genius for where I decided to place the tents. The last picture is me trying to dig a trench to drain the water faster. The ground is pretty much all sand so once the rain stopped, it ended up draining fairly quickly. At least the storm the next night went to the south and north of us so we were only hit once!

A Man and a Woman

Hey all-
Hope everyone is having a great start to the work week. Just wanted to let you know how the trip went. If it wasn't the for the fact that this is our first anniversary, I would not be able to call it my favorite. I guess it could've been much worse, but it wasn't really fun as it was. So, we headed out to Chicago and stayed with someone outside of Valparaiso. Then we went into the city on Saturday and got to hear a bit of the blues festival and met up with one of Katie's old friends on the north end of the city. Then Katie started to feel sick. Then she felt even worse. So, we started the journey home and stopped to get gas and some food, which I was in much need of. Then, in the bathroom of Wendy's, Katie threw up on the floor..... a couple of times. Then I had to go tell the people at the counter that someone threw up in the girls bathroom which seemed to cause some confusion. The lady turns around to someone a says, "get the goggles and the gloves." So, we left. Then Katie threw up some more in the car and filled up a lunch box. So, we threw it outside the car at a toll booth for her to fill it up again. We got home, and Katie threw up some more......and more. The next day, she was asleep for about 18 hours, and the 6 hours she was awake, she couldn't stand up for more than a minute without wanting to vomit again. So, needless to say, our first anniversary didn't turn out as planned. Let us know if you have any great anniversary stories of your own. Mom and Dad can't say the year I was born.......cause that day was awesome.

Sam and Kate

Hot Fun in the Summer Time

Just a few more pics of life in the sun. Not too bad at the beach Saturday, except for the cold water. Adeline liked it that way.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head!

The old Prinsburg rain gage still works.... For those of us who need glasses, the gage reads about 4-1/2 inches.
This is what fell last night and this morning... and more to come! At least the radar band looks narrower and faster-moving this time.
Last night gave us small marble sized hail, one broken old branch, several heart-stopping lightning strikes, a very wet basement, and interesting conversation in church this morning. Our creek flooded even more than usual and we have several new little lakes on the way to church.
The Colorado contingency had to detour this morning because I-196 was flooded by Saugatuck. (Kalamazoo River).
Pretty entertaining! That will teach me to pray for rain! ;-)
--MOM

Good Ol' Summer Time

Construction Heaven

More rain today so we visited Butterworth Campus construction site.
I tried out my new Elph. (Our other point and shoot broke.)