On the spur of the moment, we decided to check out a new waterfall. This is connected to a campground I am dying to visit this summer. It has very nice camp sites right on a river. This is one of the views as were are hiking to the fall.
Another view. Every one is having a good time. Desirae is hiking great, holding on to our hands in the skinny steep parts. Roy-dog is in Dog Heaven.
A shot of the waterfall before we climbed down to it.
Desirae's face as we were standing as close as we could get. It wasn't a magnificent water fall, but a nice way to spend a sunny (!) Sunday afternoon.
The best picture I took of it.
Another little stream coming in from a different angle.
The hill above us. And as I was snapping this shot, Dave lost his footing and fell in. I looked down and he was on his back, head first, boot caught in a log. Our first scary accident out hiking. Luckily enough, he was able to free himself, and climb back up to us, only getting half wet in the icy water. With some bumps and bruises for his trophy. He's been accident prone this week. I'm not liking it much.
A good picture of Roy as we're hiking back.
Even if Dave is half wet, Roy needs the full immersion method. He's a water dog and must swim every chance he gets.
And here's the water-girl. Doing her best to dip the piggies. I was amazed her feet were dry when we got back to the car. In fact we all had dry feet! Hiking boots are great.
Then it was time for the work. No one wanted to go back to the car, except for Dave, who was wet. We coaxed Desi all the way there, by singing and marching and walking backwards. Fortunately, I keep a duffel bag of old clothes for all of us in the wagon. Dave put on all dry clothes, and we put some dry pants on Desi. Roy got toweled off, and we were on our way. 1/2 way home, Dave thought he lost his cell phone either in the car, or in the river when he fell. I tried calling it...no reception. Soon my phone rang. Someone found his phone! Apparently he set it on top of the car and it fell on the highway, and a nice young couple picked it up and found us. We pulled over when we got the call, and 2 minutes later, they delivered the phone. How cool was that!
What an adventure this time. I wish I had gotten a picture of Dave getting wet, but I was freaking out.
Nothing makes me feel gratitude for my things as when I decide to bake in my kitchen. I've been through all walks of life, like most of us have. Apartment stoves that don't work,baking pans that would warp and twist as the heat hit them, mis-matched dishes and utensils. I may never have granite counter tops, and custom made cabinets, but I got my stuff that works for me. And I like that. I love, love, love this batter bowl and measuring cups. The batter bowl came from Dave's mom, and some of the measuring cups. When we left California, I had to part with so much of my kitchen stuff. I missed my stainless measuring cups, but Lynn had this mismatched set that suits me perfectly. I'm not a big fan of tupperware, though I do use those measuring gadgets as well. 
Today we are making Grandma Helmrich's apple cake. Look at the size of the Red Delicious I found this week. Can we say "bio-engineered"? One apple = 3 cups. I won't be buying many of these, but I just had to show Dave!
This is my mixer that my dear husband gave me for a birthday present. It took me almost a year to try it out. (I was working at the time), and I'm not impressed. Sorry, Kitchen Aid. I would like a mixer that mixes to the bottom of the bowl instead of leaving hard clumps of floury dough on the bottom. However, it beats trying to mix cookie dough by hand, or burning up my hand mixer . 
My little chopping bowl I bought many years ago when I worked at the melon farm in Ottertail, MN. This is great for quick chopping some nuts or garlic. And my mom gave me the food processor when I broke mine putting up cabbage in Minn. Again, it took years for me to use this processor. When I finally decided to use it, I loved it. I like to hand chop with my french knife, but that sure is time consuming when making salsa. And my set of Chicago cutlery is shown here as well. Not the highest quality, but it takes an edge and holds it, quite nice. 
I had to get a picture of this silly corner shelf. What do people think when putting a kitchen together? I was stumped about how to use this shelf until I unpacked our turn-table we purchased at Ikea years ago. That turn-table had no purpose, but we liked it. Today, it has a great purpose. 
A sneak peek at my pots and pans. Thanks to Dave's mom, I have different sized muffin pans, cheese-cake pans, a big turkey roaster among many other pans. I'd rather have her back, but when I use her bakeware, it's kind of like she's nearby. 
And this is our new-off-Craig's-list stove. I love the ceramic top. If I can't have a high quality gas stove with all the bells and whistles, then this will do nicely. 
