Camping Trip

I've been really bad about posting pictures in the past few months. Here are a few from our camping trip to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in SE Missouri. Micaiah was an awesome helper as we set up our tent. We went with my sister/brother-in-law and a bunch of friends, so there were plenty of friends for Micaiah to play with! The park had been flooded a few years ago and just opened up this spring. We could still see where the flash flood had gone through and destroyed so much of the beautiful landscape. If you're not sure what Shut-Ins are, it's basically a part of the river where the water gets trapped. There are lots of huge rocks with water flowing over them and pouring into small waterfalls and pools... it's basically a naturally formed waterpark! On the way home we stopped by Elephant Rocks State Park. It's very close to Johnson's Shut-Ins and is basically the large rocks without water. So much fun to climb and explore! I think this is the famous "fatman's squeeze"... fortunately we all made it though just fine. :)
Thankfully Micaiah has a little superwoman in her blood... she held up these boulders, no problem!

-JLR

North Cascades

In Early May we enjoyed a 3 night getaway to the North Cascades in Northern Washington. The break was exactly what we were hoping for-- just a few days to reconnect with each other after Tim's busy semester and to spend some time exploring God's creation. We may not have the benefit of a stable home and all that provides emotionally, but God HAS given us the gift of travel. It is our prayer that we would never take for granted the fact that we get to see such amazing, diverse parts of His creation!

Here are a few pics of the mountains and our hikes. We took a long walk along the Skagit River, a long drive into Mount Baker/Snoqualmie National forest (with a few stops at overlooks), and a super-long hike up a mountain trail to the start of a beautiful waterfall. We also did a fun nature-trail to learn about some of the trees in this region. The rest of the time we played games in our little cabin and enjoyed cooking/cleaning/reading together as a family!

The River Walk
Mount Baker/Snoqualmie National forest
Waterfall Hike (with amazing views!)

-JLR

maybe this is my problem...

So in the course of my normal web-browsing this morning, I came across an ad for the new Mayo Clinic Diet book. MayoClinic.com has been my number one resource for researching illnesses and checking symptoms for years now, so I was curious what they'd say are the keys to weight loss and being able to maintain healthy body weight. As I scanned the preview, I noticed the following line as one of the 5 key habits to break:

No TV when eating-- and only as much TV time as exercise time.

Dang. Seriously, if I were able to incorporate that into my life I would not only be in much better shape, but I would probably lose weight to boot! I love my TV time, so a goal like that would really encourage me to get out and move so I could reward myself with TV time! (or actually, the equivalent of TV rerun time on the web, since I can't stand commercials.)

Definitely something to think about...

-JLR

Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC

Today was a beautiful day. We've been in the Langley, BC, area for more than two months now and decided that a trip to Vancouver was finally in order. You know, after driving across the US, we just weren't in a hurry to get in the car and visit ANYWHERE! So today we took advantage of the fact that we had a rare opportunity-- no classes, no work, no other obligations AND the weather was good!

Stanley Park is in the downtown Vancouver area. In a lot of ways, the urban setting mixed with natural beauty reminded me of Forest Park in St Louis, but that's before you factor in that it's on the WATER and with MOUNTAINS in the distance!!! There is an amazing walking/biking trail that runs along the perimeter of the park, right along the ocean. Or maybe it's not technically the ocean there... maybe it's a bay or a gulf or whatever. It doesn't really matter for the purpose of this post. Anyway, it was cold and we had to bundle up, but managed to enjoy a brief picnic lunch (it was cold!) and some time at Prospect Point, which seems to be a fairly famous lookout point. We took Micaiah's bike and she definitely enjoyed the riding, the playground, and later the piggy-backs and shoulder rides as we walked along part of the sea wall.

These first 3 pics are from Prospect Point.

Micaiah got to ride her bike for part of the path.
The next 3 pics are ones we took along the sea wall bike/foot path and along the second beach area. I was feeling a little artsy today and got some good pics of the sun&reflection. Keep in mind it was only ~2:15pm when I took those!
All in all a good trip!

--JLR

Family Fun

We have really been enjoying a path just a few minutes from our house here. It is a Fort-to-Fort trail running along the Fraser River from Ft. Langley to another fort that is closer to Vancouver. We haven't made it that far yet. :) This area is just beautiful. And we are learning that you have to take advantage of every sunny day because there aren't that many!

The Fraser River

Mt Baker, to the South. You can only see it on very clear days!

Jeana and Micaiah taking a little break.

Little legs get so tired! Micaiah enjoys breaks where she gets to ride on Daddy's shoulders. :)

-JLR