Life update

Okay..I will admit it. I am not great on keeping this up...not sure why. I keep thinking..I can't add more until I finish the vacation blogs. I have decided that if I wait to get that done I will never catch it up.

It has been a busy fall/winter/spring. The kids are all doing well.

Currently we are in the heart of baseball season,...so it is baseball every weekend. In this new division that Zeke is in. They play all the games on weekends...Sat and Sun. They are all double headers. So from about 9am -3pm ..it is baseball.

Saturday we had to travel to the little town of Sumas, now it is about the size of what my hometown was when I grew up..maybe even smaller. So one would think..that locating a baseball field would not be that difficult. I had the google map directions, Zeke had played there once a few years ago. So I arrive in Sumas and there is the ball field. Only issue was all the boys playing/warming up were way to little to Zeke's team.

So I call Norm and say..?? Where are you? He responds at the Ball Field. I am here and all I see is little boys. He then tells me I am at the old field and he is at the new field. Which is located directly behind the old ones, beyond the tree line. But you can't get there from the old field.

So I went back out to main st. Norm is trying to give me directions, but his directions are okay, but no street names..and when I ask..Do i turn on the road that says Mt Baker. He is like..NO and I have no idea where you are at. I am like I am in Sumas, Main Street..the only street..LOL

I eventually end up out of town at the cemetery and drive back into town and decide i will just go to the little grocery store and ask directions.

By that time, Norm has found someone that gave me the street names. I did need to turn on the Mt Baker Road then another little side road.

It was fun, as the team we were playing has 2 of Zeke's homeschool baseball buddies on it. It was nice to visit with the moms.

We are back out there next weekend for the Pioneer Memorial Tournament. IT is a 1 hour commute from the house. So my friend Marylin, whose son is on the team we played was going to get me the information for the field manager. So we were able to talk with Randy, and we will be allowed to camp for the weekend.

Mychal had her Ballroom Dance Showcase this weekend, along with the Pro Show. The Pro Show this year, they were able to get the 9/10 year old pros from Seattle. They were featured on DWTS as guest last season..I think. Mychal was like they are so cute and sweet. I should add watching that show with Mychal is difficult. She can tell you what they are doing wrong..it is like having your own judge giving you play by play action.

The older boys are doing great. Ethan is finishing up this quarter at WCC and plans on taking a couple of summer classes...to make up for the quarter he did not go. He did not start at Fall Quarter, but started winter quarter.

Justin had a temp job that ends this week and he will be back to job hunting. Hopefully having this little bit of work experience will help. So many places now..are only hiring people that have work experience. It makes it difficult for those first time job hunters/college students.

Kodie is doing great. She loves playing soccer and riding her horse. We only have a couple more weeks of soccer and horse back riding. I really wish this area offered more sports things for kids with disabilities. Soccer is only 6 weeks in the spring. There is nothing else until they are closer to 14-15 years old.

Well I best close and get on with the day.

Zion Narrows

When you reach the end of the Riverside Walk..it connects to the the end of the Zion Narrows Hike. The Zion Narrows Hike would be a high adventure hike from the start to the end. (Hikers are allowed to hike a few miles up the Narrows from the Riverside Walk and return without obtaining a permit. A permit is required to hike from Chamberlain's Ranch to Zion Canyon.) Zeke and I were the only ones willing to get the shoes wet and take the a short hike up into the narrows. We only hiked in about 10-15 minutes. It gives you an idea of what you would need to make the entire hike. As you reach sections that you have to hike in the river. Good thing the water is warm.

Riverside Walk

Here is one of the easy hikes. This one has a paved trail that follows the Virgin River along the bottom of a narrow canyon. Hanging gardens of wildflowers in spring and summer are all long the path. I have to say this is one thing that we found so cool. Here you are in the desert climate and yet there are areas of abundance of water just coming out of the rocks and almost rain forest like.
If you do this hike..I strongly encourage being swimsuits and towels. The river has some great swimming areas and the water at the time we were there was about 65degrees and it was over 100 that day. So the water was nice and refreshing.

Zion Canyon Weeping Rock Hike

This was the shortest and easiest hike in the park. It is just about 1/2 mile. Most of the path is paved. Then steps take you up into an alcove. It is a nice cool place to hang out.

Zion Canyon Emerald Pools Hike

With Zion I have decided to break it down by hikes. This place is amazing. We only had one day to spend here. I would go back in a heart beat and spend 3-4 days there easily. There are so many trails to hike. This was the first hike we opted to take...in the heat of the day..it was 104 degrees that day. I would recommend doing this hike in the late afternoon when it is cooler, as most of it is in the sun. The pools are not the kind you can swim in and cool off in. At one point we got to where you had the option of heading to the middle pool or taking the 0.3 trail up and back to the upper pool. We opted to do this...oh my..it was quite the challenge. NOTE: Read the trail guide book first...we read it once we got to the upper pool. It stated " trail no longer maintained by USFS, sections may be considered strenuous". Hey we did it and view was well worth the hike.

Bauer's Canyon Ranch RV Park

I will admit this maybe the only post I make about an actual RV park. When looking for a place in this area. I wanted something that had us close to all 2 places on the must see list...Zion Canyon and Coral Pink Sand Dunes. I can say it turned out to be very a fun park. It is on a working ranch..nothing fancy. But we had fun time. The kids played in the sprinklers in the orchard, upon returning from a much shortened trip to the sand dunes. The kids loved the horses. Now some of you are wondering..Why a picture of the sheriff's truck. You see it was not until the third time we drove by this nice young officer that we slowed down took a better look at him. He was in fact cold stone stiff..yes he was not a living breathing deputy..but in fact a mannequin. Seems throughout Kane County..he was no alone. Yes we passed 3 different ones all the in the same condition.

Maqui Cave, Utah

This was really cool. I mean cool...it never reaches over 70 degrees inside. So you can imagine how nice it felt being that it was well over 100 degrees outside. The cave was bought in 1951, by the Chamberlains and is still owned by the family today. It originally was made into a bar and dance hall. The Chamberlains paved the floor of the cave, painted the walls white and installed bars and an orchestra stage.

Now, the cave has a showcase of a wide variety of items collected and created by the Garth Chamberlain over his lifetime. These include: dinosaur tracks, wood carvings, paper currency (both real and otherwise), as well as a large (and rather strange) fluorescent mineral display. Sections of the original bar and dance hall are still there.

I think what Zeke liked the best was that Garth Chamberlain played in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the mid 40's.