Shake, shake, SHAKE ‘n BAKE!

I love our Trek family!!!! Such great, amazing people, each one. These kids made trek a very happy 4 days for Keith and I.

Still fresh! We had a nice visit at the temple, heard a great talk given by the temple recorder, and everyone drew a name of the family member they would be observing during trek.

One of the many dusty, dirt roads we traveled.

Josh, Brandon, Devin and James working together. Devin liked our Shake ‘n Bake family so much he hung out with us whenever he could.

Jacob just chillin'.

Totally Tessa!

Tessa and Emily with Mac Attack in the middle.

Peter!

Trace giving the cart a little nudge.

Ma & Pa Schenk

Give it a little MMPH boys!

Sassy MacKenzie

Emily and Bethany enjoying a break from pushing the handcart.

Merrily on our way we go until we reach the valley-o.

The Joy of Gardening

I have decided that I love flowers. These are a few

that are growing in the backyard.
These zinnias are just about my favorite. They are so
bright and colorful and they LAST for a few months!

It cheers me up everytime I look at them. In fact sometimes

I look into the backyard during the day just for a glimpse

at these happy flowers.

They are growing right next to the patio.

The peas and corn are doing well. I even have

pea pods showing up. Now those cute little

peas just need to fill out a bit, and we'll be

in business!

A paving we will go...

So the other day these big ol trucks came rumbling up

behind our house. The Peterson's decided to pave their

driveway, and Joanne wanted it paved all the way to

her house as well.

That means a lot less dust coming into our house, which

I'm pretty happy about.
As you can see, the garden boxes are trying to grow some
yummy veggies for us, but not making much progress.
And I can't even blame the weather, for a change. This summer
has been gorgeous. Never better. I'm puttin the blame on
my lame, sandy soil.

It's all finished now, after a couple of days working on it.

Now, to come up with a nice landscaping plan!

The Best of Washington...Park

Last night we went to Anacortes to have a picnic at

Washington Park. After our dinner and a sweet game

of frisbee, Keith, Eric and I walked up the beach to do

some exploring. This picture was actually taken on the

way home just above the ferry dock.

We've launched from this boat dock! Eric took some great

pictures as the sun was setting. I just love these.

We ended up following this road that we had no idea
where it led. It was a good adventure. It kept us moving
quickly, too, cuz it was going to be dark soon.


It turns out the road was a 2 1/4 mile long loop trail around the
outskirts of the park. It was such a warm, beautiful evening,
we really enjoyed being out in it.

Keith took this picture of Eric and I walking across the

famous Leaning Tree. Only later when I picked up

a brochure on the way out of the park did I realize

that you're not actually supposed to even touch this

tree. Oops.

Celebrating Grandma Hart!

For my mom's 80th birthday, we wanted to do something

extra special. Dinner at Anthony's Homeport Restaurant

was just the ticket. This is the cake I made and brought to

the restaurant. They kept it in the fridge and our waiter

brought it out at just the right moment. He even sang

Happy Birthday with us, even though I was assured on

the phone while making reservations that they don't

"do" birthdays. But this was fun. The little swirly

candles on top were so cute, mom didn't want to

blow them out!

KK and Ryan joined Paul, Wes, Eric, Keith and me. Sadly

we were missing Larry. It was a beautiful evening and

we were seated at this great corner view table. The marina

is just below.

Getting excited for dinner to arrive.

We sure had a nice time, and the food was great.

My mom said this was her most memorable

birthday. Well, it should be. It's pretty neat

to be able to celebrate 80 years and going strong!

Maiden Voyage!

I am the maiden, and this was my first kayaking voyage.
Keith is just leaving the Snee-oosh beach, where our
trip began. It's just west of La Conner.
The island in the picture below is our destination.

Here I am paddling away! Even though you feel like

you're working hard and should be speeding along,

something about being in a large body of water like

this makes it seem like you are traveling SO slow.

Beautiful, but definitely a change of pace! This is the south

side of Hope Island. We kayaked all the way around it.

The entire island is a state park. This is where Keith was

planning to take the scouts camping, so we wanted to get

a look at it beforehand.
When we got to the eastern side of the island there was a strong

current and the tide was coming in fast. There was quite a riptide.

Keith kept telling me to stay close to shore so I wouldn't get

caught in it. There were lots of rocks sticking out near the shore,

so I couldn't get TOO close. Then the tip of my kayak started

getting pulled out, into the riptide. He was shouting at me,

PADDLE HARD! GO RIGHT!

Believe me, I did! Mostly because he was scaring me!

It wasn't too bad, just a little exciting for a few minutes!

Here we are, safely on shore! Whew, that was fun!

The beaches on the north side of the island had better access

to trails and places to camp. This is where we stopped for lunch.

Aww, doesn't that look sweet? Two little kayaks all snuggled

up to the beach! Funny thing is, just as we were deboarding,

a few different jets from the navy base on Oak Harbor

thundered right over us, and some coyotes on this island

really got to howling. A little eerie feeling, but we took a path

going the other direction. Keith said when he camped here

with the boys, they didn't hear the coyotes, so no worries.

Then it was back to Snee-oosh beach to load up, go home

and rest our weary arms!