Holy Cow!  July passed by without a word from me!  Shame on me!  Hope you all had a great 4th!

The end of July was our annual migration to Klamath Falls, Oregon.  We flew to Sacramento and then took a rental car the rest of the way.  It is about a 5 hour trip.  The weather was beautiful for the whole visit.  We took our youngest grandson, Logan with us.  We visited Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Lava Beds National Monument in Tulelake, California and, of course, stopped to take pictures of the always awesome Mt. Shasta.

Logan loved the "Lava hole" as he called Lava Beds National Monument.  We hiked through a cave that was great fun for him and Grandpa but was a little tedious for me.  The path through the cave was not always smooth and I am not as agile as I once was so it took a little time.    Logan wanted to go in another cave, called Skull Cave, because it is a huge cavern.  There is ice at the bottom because it is so deep.  Grandpa and Uncle Paul took one look at the 75 steep steps to the bottom and decided it was time to turn back.  Poor Logan!  He came out with a pouty face and said, "You didn't make it fun, Grandpa!"  He wanted to go all the way to the bottom but he's only 4 after all.  He did not realize the effort it would take to make it back up.  We took him to the gift shop where he purchased a cute little bat finger puppet.  No more pouts!

Crater Lake is such a unique place and just as awe inspiring as Mt. Shasta.  There were still huge piles of snow up there but that did not stop the hoards of tourists.  I got so frustrated in their gift shop that I nearly ran out screaming and pulling my hair out!  A shout from Steve's mom brought me back to ground safely.  We left the park and found another restaurant and gift shop just outside the park where we had lunch and I managed to find t-shirts for all the grand kids.  

We had several family get-togethers while we were in Klamath.  It is always fun to see everyone and get reacquainted.  Everyone is a little grayer, a little chubbier and a lot wiser!  And all the young ones are just a blast, so wild and full of life.  Were we like that once?

We came home and the grand kids started school right away.  We have also been moving Sara and Logan into Shawna's house down the hill.  It has been a process because we can only really do any work or move stuff on weekends.  Sara and Logan have moved in but she still has a few things left at our place.  

It is almost weird to me to have the whole house to myself lately.  I gave the goats and the chickens away before we went to Oregon, so my outside chores are reduced.  I still feel as if I have something to do almost every minute and yet I don't feel that I have really accomplished anything.  How weird is that?  I have been cleaning and reorganizing rooms.  I have also gotten quite a few books read.  I am starting a new diet this week and plan on starting a new workout routine next week.  We'll see how far that goes. LOL!  It would be nice to lose about 20 pounds before our cruise in January.  I'll try to keep you posted on that.