Baby?!!

The kids announced this past weekend, I'm gonna be a Gramma again!!! Yep, the kids are 14 wks along with their 2nd pregnancy. I wish our little BeeCharmer would be the only baby for a bit longer, but she will be the "Big Sister" at just 16 months. I'm excited, and nervous... my son will be in Iraq when this 2nd baby arrives.

Really?

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted again!

I took a week and a half off work the end of June and got ready for a family get together and camping trip at McCall, Idaho. It was great to see family from California, New Orleans and Idaho, all in one place for a few days together.

My son, his wife & our little BeeCharmer from Idaho were there. My daughter was in from Southern California. My youngest brother and his wife and three kids from the Central Coast of California were there. My parents from Idaho were there. My nephew and his fiance from New Orleans were there. We had a great visit, a great time, memories that will last a lifetime were made.

Our BeeCharmer enjoyed her first fishing trip, the day before me and MyGuy made it up to McCall.

Oh, yes, she has legs... she just learned how to tuck her feet up under that tray. So cute!

The morning after we arrived, we were up early for an hour's drive to Riggins, Idaho, for the thrilling, whitewater raft trip down the Salmon River, The River of No Return.

That's my brother and his wife and son sitting up front. Me and MyGuy are behind them. An incredible experience!

After rafting we took another hour drive north, to Grangeville, Idaho. My brother's boss owns a 1540 acre ranch there and they had a feast waiting for us all. What a treat! Great people, great food! A good time was had by all. Beautiful country there.

We drove two hours back to camp. It was late and dark, and we were exhausted. What a beautiful day.

The next morning we had a pancake breakfast for the kids and just relaxed. Family started departing, as they had been there for a few days before we arrived. My son and his wife took their beautiful baby and were the first to leave. My brother and his family, and my nephew and his fiance had to leave the next day. My daughter had to leave the following day. So in the end, it was just me and MyGuy and my parents.

Our last full day there, MyGuy and I enjoyed a calm and peaceful canoe cruise up the Upper Payette River at the north end of the Payette Lake. We were out about two hours, and enjoyed every minute of it. We went around one bend and heard a tree crack crackle snap and fall to the forest floor. It was amazing. Then, into an inlet of a large pond off the main river, we came upon a young female moose feeding on the grassland there. Amazing again!

We had an amazing visit and fantastic time with family, full of beautiful campfires and wonderful food. It was a good for the soul kind of trip.

Oh! I forgot to mention a huge wind storm that blew through our campground, our last night we were there. We had been amazed by the timbering of a huge ponderosa pine in the wilds as we canoed around earlier that day. Then, later that night, I was scared to death by the falling of trees, one after another, in a horrific wind storm that hit the Long Valley of Idaho. The sky turned yellow from all the pine pollen as the storm hit. Lightening and thunder soon followed, darkening the sky. We were fortunate to only have a branch of one of these trees fall on the roof of our truck and bounce to the hood, putting a baseball size dent in the roof with a few scratches. There was no damage to our trailer.