Wordless Wednesday...Tubin'!

Please excuse me for one moment while I have a bit of a summer flashback!

"Boys will be boys"

The brotherly "pep talk"

"Determination"

Life isn't fair...

But this makes it all better!


I'm linking up with Alicia from A beautiful Mess for Wordless Wednesday.

I did not drop off the face of the earth...but almost!

To my fellow blog-buddies. I apologize for leaving absolutely no explanation for my extended blogging hiatus. While some of you might have believed that we were devoured by bears on our camping trip, I can assure you...we are alive and well. And I will address the bear issue in a later post. I am not sure I am emotionally ready to put that experience into words. (yes..I am being slightly dramatic..as per usual).

So, what have we been doing these past few or 4 weeks, you ask?
We have been indubitably sucking the marrow out of these last days of summer. Some of us have been sucking a bit harder then others...I'm not going to mention any names....D-man. He has been set on squeezing in as many adventures as time (and his wife) will permit!

This could possibly be because he is mourning the fact that, for the first time, three of our children will be in school! Two of them will be in school all day. Yes..we have decided to send C-boy to 4th grade and J-boy will be in 1st grade so the change will be palpable around here. And our little mini excursions. Well, let's just say those will come to a screeching halt. No more yanking kids out of school for a week long Arizona adventure. No more 4 day weekend camping trips. As far as D-man is concerned, life as we once knew it is over! At least for this year!

As far as I am concerned...I'm busy planning all of the things that I will be doing now that I am no longer homeschooling. The sky is the limit!

Oh wait, I momentarily forgot that I have a 20 month old son who has no ability to entertain himself thanks to his 3 older siblings!


In the past 4 weeks, after 2 full weeks of camping and a few lake days thrown in for good measure, one would think that the family from the Peanut Gallery was "adventured out".  However, this past week, inspite of being inflicted with an obnoxious head cold, I agreed to take the New Horizon out for one last Hoorah! Remember this? D-man thought a "little" trip to Glacier Nat'l Park would be the icing on the "summer" cake. And...being that it is only "four and a half" hours away, it would just be a two day, lickity split trip.

Seven...yes SEVEN hours later, we arrived at Glacier Nat'l Park.
Apparently Map Quest's estimation was off a bit. (that and possibly D-man's power of positive thinking)
Map Quest...you are no friend of mine. 



Take a good close look at this picture. It is difficult to get a perspective but it just so happens to be taken from the R.V's side window.

Helllooooo down there........


Today's installment of pictures will be documenting our journey to the sun, so to speak, on the Going To The Sun Road. I affectionately named it "Death trap" road. Another strong contender was "Make a wrong move and your dead" road. And finally, "What the heck were we thinking" road!  I'm sure the park will be thankful for my contribution and glowing recommendation of this gorgeous and yet terrifying trip.

Let's all sing together now....
I'm on top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find......
Have I mentioned I love Karen Carpenter.

Every so often there are little "bump-outs" on the road.  I'm sure these are built for people who want to snap a few photos.  And for those "cautious" drivers, who don't want to go mock one with their hair on fire.  We pulled over on these regularly to let the cars that were "riding our hiney" move on past.

You can imagine, that in the motor-home, moving along this road creates an indubitably precarious situation.

There are vehicle size limits on this road.  Much to D-man's excitement we "just barely" met those requirements!





In spite of the danger, I was even able to snap some photos of the surrounding beauty. My pictures turned out less then desirable because there was a smokey haze that hung throughout the mountains.  But..you get what you can in these situations.



As you can see, when you are young, you don't have a care in the world.  You are unable to grasp the gravity of the situation...the fact that with one wrong turn, or blown out tire you could plummet to your death.
And so you hang your leg out the window and suck on a tootsie pop.





We finally made our destination.  Can't say this was ever one of my goals, but who doesn't want to stand on the Continental Divide?







And inspite of the haze...I must admit, the view was spectacular.

However, all the joy and jubilation of standing on the Continental Divide, quickly disappeared as we made our way back down the "Death Trap" Going to the Sun Road.

I know...it is difficult to believe that this is INDEED a two lane highway!



Thankfully they built that very sturdy looking rock wall should some poor motorist lose control of his vehicle.



Well... with the exception of this part of the road.  I think you'd be pretty much out of luck here!

Now...I would love to invite you to stay tuned for more "Sucking the marrow out of the last days of Summer" adventures in which I will discuss many different topics.  I'm not going to divulge too much information, but some of the topics are as follows:

A bear, his thirst,  and our Capri sun.
The one where a hoary marmot indubitably makes a nest in my hair...or something like that.
And the hike where I almost cut my head off and left it in the woods. 
And if that doesn't keep you coming back...I don't know what will!!


P.S...
Just in case you didn't know what a hoary marmot looks like.
Your welcome!

picture by tomyris 95 on flickr


For more really cool uses of the word "indubitably" go check out Word Up Yo!!

See Ya' Later, Gator!

We'll be back in a week.
Leave the light on for me...


Just an amusing sidenote...
During my last stay at this particular lake house, I was baking L-boy in my home-grown oven.
Upon returning home, I had my weekly check-up.
Yes, weekly...because my pregnancies are fun like that.
Apparently, in that one week, I packed on 8 pounds.
My kind doctor suggested I might want to lay off the carbs for a bit.
Being quite surprised at his suggestion...I went home and ate a bowl of ice-cream.
For goodness sake, I was eating for two.
Can I get an AMEN!

New Horizons....on the horizon!

The other day I just happened to make my way outside to throw a dirty diaper in the garbage. (I swore off diaper genie's after S-girl). As I turned to go back in ,I heard my husband talking. Hmmm, that is interesting, I thought. I wonder who he is talking to? Being a contractor, he often has guys come to pick up their payment. I walked out of the garage and there he was, looking down over the hillside longingly. Wistfully, he spoke again and I heard him say,

"Don't worry, we will be together soon." I must admit. I was a bit dumbfounded.

"Honey, who in the flip are you talking to?"

He points down the hillside, wistfully, and replies, "Her, the New Horizon!"

I should have known. And when did "it" become a "she"?

He brought "her" home at the end of the summer.

I had not seen her.

According to him, she was in "pristine" shape.

To me, she was $8000.00 less than anything else he had looked at. So I said, "Go for it!"

*****Fastforward to our initial meeting.*****

A friend and I were headed to a barn bazaar so D-man caught a ride with us to pick her up.

I had a quick peek inside. Remember, at this point it is already a done deal. I gazed up only to see a water-stained ceiling, with paint peeling off in huge sheets.

I instantly averted my eyes only to see a putrid beigy carpet. A darker "trail" ran through the carpet as if to say "WALK HERE"!

I looked up at the bed and was greeted by what looked like a 20 year old futon mattress. It came with its own body imprint! At this point I might have thrown up in my mouth.

"Pristine....my foot!"

I left to go shop!

This is what I love about my husband. He wears a permanent pair of rose colored glasses. He sees the POTENTIAL, not the ACTUALITY! He drinks from a cup that is always half full.

Have I mentioned that I love him, and wouldn't have it any other way! (Well, except when it comes to old, rusty, New Horizon's.)

He fixed that baby up, new ceiling, new mattress, new floor..and I must admit she is kind of cute. At least on the inside, and that's all that counts...right?

He's all proud when we pass one of those big ole' R.V.'s.

He often waves and honks.

At which point, I HIDE!

His dream is to take her out on the road. Just him and I.....AND THE 4 KIDS.

We are not talking about a day, or a week.

A month or more would be his dream.

He's waiting for me to come around.

I'm sure I will...I usually do.


So if you see a lovely cream, with brown and orange striping, toyota R.V. driving down the highway, could you please honk. It would make D-man's year! You probably won't see me. I'll be laying on the floor.