Joy In Hard Times...

 

 

***

Riding The Beautiful New Carousel...

 

Late this past summer,

 Albany was blessed

 by the opening of the new

Historic Carousel!!!

 

For the past several years many of my customers would remark they had just come from, or were on their way, to paint on the animals for the Carousel!!

 

It was a dream of many,

many people in Albany!

 

 And not only did all the animals need to be carved and painted, a whole new building needed to be built!
 

And...all the historical mechanisms for the Carousel, that had been used previously many years ago, and were stored in a old building, were shipped out from the East Coast ... they all needed to be rebuilt...and a gentleman in Corvallis donated his time to do all of this. 

 

 B U T ...IT HAPPENED!!!!

And...it is FABULOUS!!!

 

It is so beautiful and bright and light inside!!!

 

 After all...

we live in the Willamette Valley...

and we have lots of grey days!!

 

 Sooo....

 

a fun, fun place full of lots of

giggles

 and

 smiles

 is just what this town needed!!

 

Truly, there is a child in all of us that will always love a ride on a Carousel...

Lindsay, Daphne and Avonlea

 were loving every sweet minute!!

Such A Happy Place!!

Hope you can come and ride....

                                                                

***

Up, Up And Away....

 

We woke up EARLY...Very.Very.Early!!!

 

 

We quietly walked and walked, holding little hands...to watch and watch...and patiently wait and wait...and try to stay warm....

to see...

 

THE BALLOONS LAUNCH!!!!

It was pretty nippy before the sun came up! :)

Then as the sun began to peek up...

and as we continued to wait very patiently...

we began to hear the sound of balloons filling up...

 

 

and then...

all of a sudden there were balloons EVERYWHERE!!!

 Humpty Dumpty was trying so hard to get ready for launch!!

And he made it!!!

 

Wahoo!

So fun!!

 So beautiful!!!

 

So many gorgeous colors ready to fill the sky!!

And then...

 

Up, Up and Away!!!!

 

And thanks to Aunt Domini,

 a little fun breakfast in cups!!

With cheese sticks, of course!! :)

 

So worth getting up early!!

 

The field was filled with happy faces and everyone cheering those balloons on!!

 

Off they go!!

 Magical indeed!!

***

A Little Bit of Heaven...

 

Once again we were blessed

 a couple of weeks ago,

 to spend some time in the mountains

 with the big tall trees,

the enchanting sound of the river by our tent

 and the amazing beauty of God's creation...

 

even one night Daphne and I spotted

 

The Big Dipper!!

 

 It was pure B L I S S 

 with a little dirt thrown in! :)

Many hours of game playing was one of the popular activities...

especially after hours of swimming and jumping into deep holes!!

A fabulous hike up to the water falls has always been a great adventure while up there camping!

 

 The little bridges, stone steps, railings

and the lovely ferns and mushrooms were again so lovely to enjoy!

The trail was actually in pretty good shape this year...

not too much climbing over logs. :)

A picture just can't do the gorgeous beauty justice...

 

We are so blessed to only live a little over an hour from this great campsite!

 

 We have camped here for over 30 years with our special family and friends! That is truly a gift...

that we now have another generation up here

 feeling like it  must belong to us!! :)

 

 

Here is John and Mike on the bridge as we began our hike!

 

This is the swimming hole at the top of the falls...

many years we have made our way down into the falls

 and enjoyed a swim in that gorgeous hole!

 

And a great pic of Cheri as we begin

 our adventure hike to the falls!

And here is one of my favorite little swimmers...

And of course the roasting of marshmallows and hotdogs is a camping must!!

 

And this is Greyson and Hudson's wonderful "big buddy"!

 

 He was so kind to them

 and since he is an official lifeguard now,

it was great to have him in that river with them.

 

 ALL the kids appreciated Levi!
A wonderful young man for sure!

And how about this new little Happy Camper!!

 

 She was the best new little camper for sure!!

Everyday was spent in the river...lots of floating and jumping in! :)

 

Truly, a fabulous five days...

 

no cell phone,

 

 no TV,

 

 no internet...

 

only good books and delightful and meaningful conversations

 

with wonderful family and friends...

 

and most of all...
 

 

 amazing "quite" in God's beauty!
 

 

 

 

 

 

***

Early Mornings...

I am loving these early summer mornings on the patio with these

 gorgeous hydrangeas!!!

 

They are the CHAMPS for sure, as they keep their

 

 "lovely"

 

on during our extremely warm days!!!

 

 

 ONE HUNDRED FIVE DEGREES!! :)

 

I used to have 30 some roses at our previous home..

but I did a major switch to hydrangeas and am SO GLAD!!!

It is like they are always happy and elegant ...

 

 N E V E R droopy!!! :)

Always ready for a party!!

 

And a tall glass of
 fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade (sugar free)

 is just the perfect companion for later in the day...
 

 if it is not tooo
warm out there!:)

 

Today is my oldest Daughter's Birthday...

so all of these lovelies are for her!!

Beautiful summer days for sure!!

***

Snow In Summer...

We sure did!!

We found some deep, deep snow in summer!!

And it was B E A U T I F U L!!!!

 

We had not been to Crater Lake for

 many, many years

...and I stood there asking myself

"and why have we waited so long to visit again?"

 

It was just an amazing day...

so bright and warm!!

 

Hard for little Miss to open her eyes...

pretty bright with all the white snow!!

Daphne loved the "snow caves"...

they had been formed by the large transformer boxes and the snow melting around them.

 

The white of the snow and the deep blue color of the water

 were such a spectacular contrast!!

 

Daphne dressed for the occasion with her matching top! :)

 

Such a blessing

 to see and enjoy God's amazing creation!

We hope to not take as long to make another visit...

only four hours from our home...

 

we need to see it more often!!

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning...just amazingly stunning!!!

 

 

 

 

***