And She's Off Again...

When we returned from our time a Disneyland, I said hello to the rain, goodbye to my family, and hopped on the last flight of the day to Pullman.  Yep, Mom's weekend happened to be during my Spring Break this year, as opposed to later in April like last year. I didn't know this when I planned our Spring Break trip back in November, and I have no memory of why I decided for us to return on Friday, but it all worked out perfectly! 

Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite as cooperative as it was last year, and coming from the sunny weather I experienced in California, I was a wimp cold. It blew, rained, blew, hailed, and blew while I was there. Anyone Cougar will tell you that's spring at WSU!  We did brave out to watch Josh's roommate's football scrimmage, while we had a break in the weather. Was good to see Dakota get some time on the field.

We spent most of the day walking around the campus and just having some great talks. I'm really proud of the man Joshua is becoming. One of the positive decisions that he has made is to participate in something called Elevate through his church this summer. It is a 10-week spiritual leadership training, where he will be required to be employed 30-40 hours a week in the community, yet be living with 100 or so other students, learning biblical truths and putting them to practice, as well as doing some local church planting. Sound rough? Did I mention it's near the beach in San Diego? Okay, that part sounds great, but it does sound like an exhausting 10 weeks to me! Most of their entire week is structured, so not much time for the kids to get in to trouble;)

Josh is still in the process of fundraising, and is halfway to his goal. He has just over a month to raise the rest of his money. If you are inspired to help him out, follow this link and be sure to put "Joshua Crebbin" in as whom the gift is for. He is working a job on campus now to help raise his funds, but any little bit of donation he would appreciate.  And this mom appreciates helping him along the way to what will be a lifelong impact.

Crebbin Camping...

Earlier in August, five out of six of us went camping...in three different locations!

Josh came home from his summer Elevate experience and four days later, took off on a two day camping trip with friends. They went to Staircase Campground on the Olympic Peninsula, where they fished and bathed in a waterfall.

Mike was the most hard-core of us campers. He and two of his brothers had their gear hauled in 16 miles by horses. There they set up base camp and hiked multiple peaks in the Wallowa Mountains in Eastern Oregon. A little more than my idea of camping, so glad he had his brothers to do it with. A week without showers and a bunch of stinky boys!

The view from Eagle Cap. Cory and Pat on the left, Mike on the right, along with Cory's friend.

Lastly, the girls and I went with friends to our favorite camping spot, Lake Chelan. We hadn't ventured out like this since our crazy camping trip a few years back. Other than some nearby forest fires, a trip to urgent care for Jaelyn with a diagnosis of strep throat, and a bicycle mishap, things were great! Check it out for yourself...

2011

2015

Can't believe how much they've grown! So cute. I mean them, not me. They had a lot of fun and made new friends at the beach...

 

 And at the waterslides...

When we got back home, Josh had already left for college, and Mike returned a day later. That Friday I took off for the East side of the state again, which was even more on fire by then. I was in Wenatchee for a softball tournament for the weekend. Here's the sky on Saturday. That's looking up the Columbia River towards Lake Chelan, about 30 miles away.

The campgrounds we had just stayed at were now evacuated. The sky on Sunday was even worse, completely covered with smoke. After taking fourth place, we headed home Sunday. The area is still on fire now, as is much of Eastern Washington. Hopefully next time we go camping, there's a campground left to stay at.