I'm the king of the castle!

Nick and I got a climbing post for our kitty cats last weekend. Since they are constantly playing, climbing and beating up on eachother - we figured it was time for one. It was a perfect time for it. Chester and Gizmo both LOVE it. Here are some picutres from when we brought it home.

At first they both had no idea what the hell it was.. It was fun to watch them explore, smell and climb it. Chester was the first on it and to the top. He took his time and once he got to the top he stayed up there for a good 45 mins. or so.. making sure that Gizmo couldn't claim the castle!

Chester when he had reached the top. Sniffing everything! All the new smells.

Mo Mo was very slow to climb it. He wasn't so much into the smells, but enjoying the carpet to dig his nails into!

I love this picture! If you look closely, you can see Chester's paw reaching down from the top. "I'm the king of the castle, bitch!"

At first he was licking Mo Mo.. then it turned into biting!

So of course Mo Mo has to bite Chester back!

This is what we call the "Watch Tower"!

Sneak attack!

Even though he wasn't happy about Mo Mo being up there with him, they were cool with sharing the space. Pretty much since then, it's been TOO hot for the cats to hang out up there until today. Nick got home from work and found them playing on it. It's so fun to watch them jump, swing, climb and sleep in this tower. I'm really happy that we got it for them.

Camping 301

Here are the last of the pictures from our awesome trip to Oregon. It was a trip that we won't ever forget and are still itching our misquito bites as well as have a scar or two from the battle wounds of the attack of the misquitos. I honestly can say that I have not been camping to another place that has so many darn misquitos. What's scary is we heard the camp host telling someone that they were twice as bad the week before we got there! Hard to imagine.

Josh is growing up so fast! Every year that we get to spend camping with the Thiel family, there's always something new that Josh is up to or another game that he has learned and teaches me. This year the board game that was a big hit was.. PICTUREKA! It's a little like Where's Waldo but with so many more pictures or things to find. What's cool about it, is that there are 9 different squares to the board and you get to flip, rotate or swap the pieces during the game.

There's nothing like a ride on the back of Grampy's Harley. If I had to guess, I would say that this was one of the highlights of the whole trip for Josh.

Squirrel?!? Squirrel??! Oh Buddy. He was such a good dog during the trip. He did have to stay tied up the whole time, while Smokey got to roam around off the leash. Granted, Smokey won't go more than 5 feet away from Niki's side. haha! Both dogs had a great time on the trip!

I really like this picture! I braided Niki and Carley's hair the same this day. They both looked so cute with it braided. This picture was taken at the top lookout at of Paulina Falls. It wasn't a long hike and yes, there were misquites there too. We were at the falls for a little over an hour. It was just gorgeous.

I remember reading something about the big boulders and how the running water is causing more and more boulders to fall.. but that's about it. I know my sister read more about it!

Freakin' cutie pie. Even though it's a bit of a fake smile, she's still cute as hell!

Funny story about this picture. My mom was about to take this picture and I caught Nick looking at my cleavage! My mom managed to catch the look that I gave Nick when I caught him. Silly boys!

What you can't see in this picture is that my dad is flexing his guns for the camera. HA! Okay, so he's wearing a tank top on this day too. I guess that means that he packed 2 for the whole trip. As soon as we got back to camp, he put on his long sleeve black HD shirt. Oh!! and he refused to wear sun screen when wearing a tank top. He said it would atract the misquitoes. I think he was right about that. That's part of the reason I ended up putting on 100% deet. Yuck!

The rocks are huge. They really don't look as big as they really are in this picture. I should have gotten one when Josh climbed down on the rocks at the bottom of the picture. That would have been an "I spy" picture.

During the trip, I think she wore a skirt every day. How cute is she! It was great to spend all of this time with the kids and see how much they enjoy doing all of these activites in the great outdoors. It comes from Niki and Walt always taking them to do cool stuff! I hope Nick and I follow in their footsteps! Carley hiked back up to the top all by herself! Okay, so Niki kinda tricked her a little, but it was awesome to see Carley shocked when she got to the top and realized that she did it all by herself!

This was taken when Josh had climbed down on the rocks.

Gosh, what lovebirds! =)

Walt taking a moment to soak it all in. Funny, he didn't wear shorts the whole time we were there. I don't know how he did it. Must be because he's from California.

Carley = CHOCOHOLIC. Ask her. She'll tell you that she really is. I swear, I would not be surprized if she ended up working at Hershey's Chocolate Factory!! This picture was taken while she was enjoying some chocolate for an afternoon treat. This didn't include the chocolate that she had with her smores every night.

haha!! Look at Carley! She has it all over her. They are so cute.

Chester was trying to lick Gizmo after getting down with the catnip filled banana. The banana is Chester's favorite. Can you see how stained it is? It's because Chester will lick that banana until it's soaking.

Isn't it funny how the cats have the whole house to find a place to lay down and sleep, but it never fails.. if I have some clean laundry that's folded just waiting to be put away.. one of the cats will lay down on it and take a cat nap. Oh Gizmo!

Camping 201

During our trip, one of the little adventures that we took was to a Lava Tube - pretty much just like a cave. I have never been in one and had no idea what to expect. I found out the day before that it gets as cold as 40 degrees in there. That's pretty darn cold since it was around 85 or 90 outside! Most of us brought sweatshirts, thank goodness!

HAHAHAHA!!! I love this picture. Who's ready to go inside a cave? Good thing he brought his headlamp with him! HAHAHA!! I love you, Nick! =)

Like my sister Niki would say in her blog: I spy Walt.

This is the entrance. I think Josh counted something like 71 stairs when he was coming back out. It was quite a hike!

How cool does this look?!? No, I wasn't smoking. That's how cold it was in the tube. You could see your own breath. It was sometimes hard to see where I was stepping with the headlamp because of my breath.




Another cool think about being down there was that it was pitch black unless you had a light on. I posed for this picture. When we were down there my mom had all of us turn our lights off. It scared Carley a little bit, so we turned the lights back on.





This picture doesn't show just how deep the tube really is.

About half way through the tube, my back was really starting to bother me because of all the walking on the rocks. Since Carley was a bit scared and my mom was cold (she's always cold!) we turned around and headed back towards the entrance. The boys kept going towards the end.

I thought this was an interesting picture - something metal about 130 feet below the surface above. We happened to be directly below the highway right here.

Can you see the entrance?
I think if you look closely you can see all 71 stairs. It's really a hike. A lot of stairs in a very small amount of space. Would I go back and do it again? In a heartbeat.

Picture opportunity! Doesn't Carley look cute with her coat on and her hood up? I was holding my mom's lantern. Something interesting that my mom pointed out to me while we were down there was that we could not hear anyone else around us. By the time we got to the entrance, 30-40 people came out after us. We couldn't hear a a thing. Crazy, huh?

First of all, I would like to point out that this is the first and only time that my dad wore a tank top during our trip. The rest of the time he was wearing long sleeved black HD shirts. Silly dad!

Niki and my dad stayed behind near the parking lot with the dogs since they were not allowed in the tube. Niki had offered to stay with them since she had been in a tube before. When she saw our pictures she said that it looked so much cooler than the tube that she had been in. I hope someday she makes it back to this one.

On day 3, Nick and I left the campground and got ourselves a shower! (we were planning on not having a shower the whole time, so this was a real bonus) At another campground, about 3 miles away, they had not only showers but they had washers and dryers! We had to pay $1.25 for 5 minutes of hot water. It was worth every second.

On our way back from the showers, this is what Nick and I got to enjoy. Isn't that just beautiful?

Brotherly love right here. Yes, Chester is cleaning Gizmo's head. They're tight. ;-)

After I clip the cats nails, I always give them some dried salmon treats that they love. Even with the treats at the end, Chester still gets pissed when I'm doing it.

He helped himself to the treats this time! Yep. Just dove in. The funny thing was that he would only get one treat at a time.

Monkey see. Monkey do. Chester is always setting a good example for Gizmo.

Camping 101

Newberry National Volcanic Monument Oregon State Park.

Okay, so you might laugh a little bit when reading or looking at this blog. The pictures below are from 1 day of our 5 day camping trip. I know, I know. I just can't help myself with the digital camera. It's just too easy to take pictures. Below are some of my favorites from the trip. Don't worry, there's more to come. I just thought I would share a few at a time.

So I'm not sure if I have said it before but for the last 4 years I've gone camping with my sister and her family. The 1st trip, it was just my sister, her kids and myself. Since then it's been the Thiel family, Nick and I. This year was a little different from the rest. Not only did Nick and I bring our 5th wheel (that my sister LOVED and wanted to sleep in it every night) my parents also joined us. Instead of camping in CA like we always have - We went with OR. - In the middle ground. We all love to swim and usally are in the water most of the time when camping (Walt loves to go fishing on the lake) this time we were only able to go swimming 1 day. The water was freezing!! It was fun though because we left camp everyday to get out and explore what the park had to offer.

Mosquitoes - Mosquitoes - Mosquitoes - Mosquitoes!!!

Oh my goodness!! I have never had as many mosquito bites as I do now. From the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed, if we were not in the direct sunlight we were being eaten alive by all of the mosquitoes. I think we went through 3 containers of bug spray plus a few of the small 100% deet sprays. I hate deet with a passion and by the end of the trip, I had it on daily. I'm not joking!

So the first night that we camped there, it was freezing! The water bowl for the dogs actually was frozen. We could see our breath! No one really slept well the first night. =/ This is Carley waiting very patiently for her hot chocolate.

They don't look cold, do they?!? See the jacket that Niki is wearing? Yeah, that's mine that I thankfully had in the trailer. We all were expecting HOT/WARM weather and it turned out to be really, really cold during the night and in the shade. I think my mom slept with that neck warmer every night.

Nick enjoying his morning coffee. He was the only one that brought (or had in the trailer) gloves and a hat. Those are our LCP mugs we brought with us!

Okay. so during the first day that we were there, we all went on a walk along the edge of the lake. It was very wooded. Nick and I lasted about .. oh.. 15 mins until we met up with Carley and my dad and then we turned around and QUICKLY walked back because we were being eaten alive by the damn mosquitoes! Here's a picture of my dad's back right after we got out into the open. The whole time we were walking back I was whacking him with my book to kill the mosquitoes. I killed about 50 or more! If you look closely, you can see the 10 alive ones on him... EEEK.

My dad and Carley stayed behind at the camp with the dogs. Dogs were not allowed on the trail due to the sharp obsidian everywhere. It would have cut up their paws.

We're so glad that Niki had looked into and planned these little trips for us during our stay. This was on of them. At first I didn't want to go, but afterwards I was so happy that I had gone. It was a sight that I will never forget.

This is the begining of the hike up. It was not bad at all. She's wearing Nick's hat to protect her nose. From the ride to OR, her nose got pretty sun burned.

You can see behind us where the lava had stopped. The water that you see on the left is considered a lake. I just looked at it like it was a place for the mosquitoes to live.

What a stud. It's really not as heavy as you might think it is. It's pumice! One of the most amazing kinds of rock. (or at least I think it is!)

Walt and Josh were the first to get to the top. We stayed up there for about an hour, I think. It was so beautiful.

Nick really enjoyed looking at this kind of lava/rock/obsidian/pumice. He took a geology class referred to as "rocks for jocks" while in college and was telling me about the stuff that he had learned from it. He said he really enjoyed the class.

It was amazing to see and feel how sharp the obsidian really was and to read about what the Indians had used it for. Did you know that the astronauts collected water from obsidian? Something like 0.02% is water. Interesting.

This is one of my favorites. Between Niki and I, I'm sure we took close to 700 pictures over the week. What can I say... She inspires me!

What! What!

Blue Steel, baby!

Isn't that just crazy looking and to think that it was once hot lava?!?

At the bottom of the trail. This is about the time that my mom threw up a little when she saw what true love birds Nick and I are. =)

Crabby Patties all day long. Carley and Josh are REALLY into Sponge Bob Square Pants right now, so most everything refered to Sponge Bob during the trip. Carley and Josh would have had "crabby patties" aka hamburgers everynight if we had let them. Too cute!

While we were gone, Mike and Sue took care of our kitty cats for us! Mike thought it would be funny to teach Chester how to give Gizmo a left hook. He picked up on it pretty fast. It's all he does now! just kidding!!

The cats were VERY happy for us to be back home. Fortunately, they didn't cause any trouble while we were gone.