Dinosaur Fish and Monsters

Travis took the boys on our ward's Father & Son Camp out on Friday. The campsite was up the Columbia Gorge right along the Columbia River overlooking the Bonneville Dam.

The boys were really looking forward to this boys weekend and have been packing for months. It was so fun for Tyler that he was big enough this year to join in on this fun overnighter with Justin and Travis.

Happy that they'll all fit in the small tent after setting it up in the playroom just to be sure....

I enjoyed being home ALONE for a whole day and a night. I don't think I have ever done that since we had kids. It was strange and wonderful at the same time. I had a lot to keep me busy and the time flew by. I bought a bunch of flowers the other day and had big plans to plant all 54 of them and spruce up the yard while they were gone.

It was 92 degrees for us on Friday and so I stayed in the shade as much as I could and then came in to cool off during the warmest part of the afternoon (and to catch up on all the 'Everyday with Rachel Ray' episodes I have recorded.) We have been in the 50's and 60's for the last two months, so this heat wave was quite the shock to the system. It felt so good to be outside all day in shorts. I hope the warm weather is here to stay.

I really enjoyed the time to myself and was ready to welcome my boys home Saturday afternoon. They had a fantastic time on their camp out and they had lots of stories to tell.

They camped just above a steep drop-off to the river.

Travis couldn't stop Tyler from balancing on this ledge above the hill.

Travis said the if he would turn away from Tyler at all, he would take off down the steep trail to the river.

Here are Justin and Tyler racing down to the river

So, Travis had to be on guard the whole time. Justin was old enough this trip that he could just go run with the other boys. He told me he went on 9 hikes and saw a big sturgeon jump out in the river. Travis took some walkie-talkies along and Justin was so happy to wear one the whole time. Travis liked it because he could easily find Justin by giving him a little call on the walkie-talkie.

Justin and Ty on the Columbia River

They all got to go on tours of the Bonneville Dam and the Bonneville Fish Hatchery and Sturgeon Center.

View from the campsite of the Bonneville Dam

Ty and Dad at the Bonneville Dam

Justin was excited to tell me all about the "Dinosaur Fish" they saw at the fish hatchery.


They learned that this type of sturgeon were alive during the time of the dinosaur during the Jurassic Period. Very cool!

Justin at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery

Here you can see how many fish Justin was feeding....

When they pulled into our driveway Saturday afternoon Ty and Justin were asleep. They were so surprised to see me when they woke up. I carried Tyler into the backyard so he could find all the new flowers. I showed him how to make the snapdragons talk. He was so excited and turned around yelling to Justin, "Come see the monsters, Justin!" That made all my hard work worth it!

Our Monsters

We spent the evening playing in our sandbox, mowing the lawn, and planting the last of my flowers. We even transplanted Justin's two bean plants he started as his kindergarten class project.

Today while we were eating dinner, we saw these black birds fly in and one of them started trying to steal my yellow flower petals! Then he'd fly across our yard and up into our neighbor's eaves. I hope he was taking flowers to his little bird wife! Otherwise, not allowed! Justin and Tyler laughed at me when I was trying to scare them away from my precious flowers. I think I may need to build myself a little scarecrow...I can't believe it!