Up North

We went "up North" to some cabins on a lake (one of the 10,000 in Minnesota) for the MHA program's annual "fishing" trip. Maybe a handful of students fish; the rest are too drunk to do so. It was fun, though, and I was so glad that Miles is older and will sleep anywhere these days. Last year's fishing trip night sleep was so sucktacular, I actually climbed in the play pen Miles wouldn't sleep in. This year was way better and the weather was great!

Here are some pictures from the super pretty night. FYI, these pictures needed no editing. It was just that pretty.

Those little black blurs are the mosquitoes.

The next day we did a little paddle boating and a little water playing. I'd call it a success. And that's that.

A DAM Good Time

We hit up the Minnesota State Fair again this year. It was a buck more than last year to get in! Jerks. Anyway, like I said, it was a DAM good time.

Miles with cookie all over his face.

It was so funny watching Miles try to figure out what to do in these. This was his first time putting his face in this sort of contraption and he was pretty confused, enamored and delighted.

He got the hang of it, though.

Something we didn't take part in last year:

The horse show. I totally felt complete with my fair experience because of this horse show. It started off with trailer races, which was fun to watch, but the highlight was this drill team or whatever they called it. These girls and these horses did some pretty neat stuff and formations, etc. It was a great fair experience. Miles thought it was so fantastic and was so enthusiastic and excited the whole time. He loved clapping with the crowd and was overflowing with the greatest kid cheer I've seen lately.

This year's crowd. A lot like last year.

I tried to mess around with some slow shutter pictures. They are scattered throughout this post. There is camera shake in all of them. I don't have a tripod. I want one. My birthday is 10/30. See you then.

I took quite a few pictures of these chairlift/bucket type things. Every time I'd stop to take a picture Dave would ask me what I was seeing that he wasn't. But I just liked it-- the sky, the American flags, the people-- it seemed so fair-y to me.

Fair-y.

Fair-y.

Fair-y. No? Am I alone?

Also fair-y.

We totally didn't dish out the 3 bucks for Miles to go on a kiddie ride that he no doubt would have enjoyed immensely. But no worries, we let him sit in this coin op bus, which received no coins from us and it was just as much of a success. Win win!

And last, but not least, the grandstand show of the night was Weezer! We didn't have tickets, but we sat right outside the grandstand and listened to the whole show. They put on an awesome show and we were pretty bummed we weren't actually, legitimately in attendance. They played all their old hits plus a Radiohead cover and a Foster the People cover. Both excellent.

Please enjoy this video of Miles rocking out to Weezer. Do take note of all the following:

a) his sweet moves

b) air drums

c) air guitar

d) that a garage band is likely in my future

Enjoy:

Miles + Weezer = DAM good time from DAM FAM on Vimeo.

Salem: The Last Goodbye

We spent our last week in Salem house sitting at a beautiful home up on a hill with a fantastic view.

The sunrise:

That's Mt. Jefferson out there.

So fantastic.

The view:

What a pretty place! I've been doing just fine being back here in MN, but these pictures make me miss OR already.

One last goodbye to the nicest people in all the world:

Pauli, the Grandmas and Dave and Miles.

What a summer.

Hallelujah

Ladies and gents, there's nearly a light at the end of the tunnel. Today was Dave's last first day of school:

Hallelujah!

DAM Camped

Our last weekend in OR was spent camping at Crater Lake. It was fun. I like camping. Miles likes it more.

We hiked up to this neato waterfall at Crater Lake National Park. The whole park was beautiful and had great views.

If I don't look too hot from camping, at least I have my Ichiro shirt to make up for it.

Above and below: the pinnacles. After she blew her top, the ash and pumice gathered and eventually eroded away leaving these spires of pumice and ash.

Crater Lake:

That little jagged island out there is called the Phantom Ship.

The lake is at least that dark of blue. This is the kind of place that a picture just doesn't do justice.

You can definitely tell where it was a mountain and it collapsed.

All in all, super cool and a fun weekend.