4 August 2013

We have the dubious honor of being the nation's hotspot for wildfires right now.  Our air quality has been lousy all week.  We went a couple of days without seeing the sun.  We've spent a lot of time this week indoors, trying not to be crabby.

 Helen got braces this week!  She's had a palate expander in her mouth for a few months to make room for more teeth.  Her braces will hold her teeth in place while her other teeth grow in.  She'll have her braces for about a year.

We went on an overnight backpacking trip with friends this weekend to Freye Lake.  We met up after Brandan got home from work and got to the lake before dark.  This is the view in the morning with Mount McLoughlin in the background.

 Helen is very interested in insects.  She found a dragonfly floating at the edge of the lake.

 Here's a close up.

 Abe walked to the top of a fallen log wedged between three trees.

Here's Abe packing up his tent.  Becky spent a lot of time looking for an ultralight 6 man backpacking tent before it occurred to her-- no one else wants a backpacking tent that big.  We compromise with 2 tents.

 Here are our kids with our friends, Ethan and Liam.  Ethan and Liam's dad, John, planned the trip.  This lake is their favorite camping spot.  We met lots of other hikers and backpackers and joked that Liam (the smallest guy) was going to summit Mount McLoughlin.  All of the kids were fantastic hikers.

Here's a photo of Sofi and Helen with some rather large fungi.

 Here are Sofi, Brandan and Gib at the end of our hike.  It was a lovely trip.  We got out of the smoke for a while, enjoyed some beautiful scenery with good company, barely needed mosquito repellant and never saw poison oak.  It sets a high standard for future outings.