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Teen Missions and Suzanne at Masterworks. But, we have been staying plenty busy. 40th Anniversary Party
A couple weeks ago was Dad and Mom’s 40th anniversary. We had a surprise party for them with 47 people total at our house. (I was quite nervous about how the parking would work!!). It turned out really well. Suzanne’s graduation party was in the afternoon the same day, so Mom and Dad just thought we were cleaning up for that, when really we had two parties in mind! Their party followed in the evening, to their surprise. I think they had some suspicions, but never imagined 47 people! Click here for more pictures. Woodland Planter’s Day Fireworks
Woodland Planter’s Day festival was a great success and the weather was very nice. The festival started Thursday with a few different events and then a Fireworks show at Horseshoe Lake. I went down to practice taking pictures of Fireworks and got a few nice pictures: Click here for more pictures. Woodland Planter’s Day Parade
Saturday was the big parade and I rode my unicycle through while Dad rode his big wheel bike. Rebekah did us a big favor by riding the Irish Mill through the parade for us (Suzanne decided to ride with Sarah this year). The picture of Dad shown here is courtesy of Ruth. Click here for more pictures. Vertical Cave Practice
Two Saturdays ago, several of us from the Oregon Grotto (caving club) did a vertical practice at Breakdown Cave on Mt. St. Helens. The next weekend was a trip to Dynamited Cave, which requires vertical work, so we wanted to brush up on our skills. Breakdown Cave has a 35 foot drop into the entrance pit, with an undercut lip, which is just what we needed. Vertical caving is done on static rope with mechanical ascenders and descenders. It is quite fun, but a little scary when you consider the possible consequences of a mistake. The weather was perfect with some great views of the mountain. After a few practice climbs and rappels, we visited some other caves in the area. Click here for more pictures. Rachel’s Dedication
We were invited to David and Michelle’s church for Rachel’s dedication two Sundays ago. It was a nice service. Click here for more pictures. Goat Marsh
Last Tuesday we went on a hike to Goat Marsh near Mt. St. Helens with the Mattilas. The weather was great for pictures and the mountain was reflecting in the lake nicely. It was a fun trip. Click here for more pictures. Haying
Wednesday we put 210 bales of hay in the barn for the llamas and goats. Thanks to Jon, his truck, and his children, we only had to make three loads (two trailer loads and Jon’s truck)! Click here for more pictures. Dynamited Cave
This last Saturday I had the opportunity to go to Dynamited Cave with the Cascade and Oregon Grottos (caving clubs). This is a vertical cave, which means you need a lot of vertical gear (harnesses, ascenders, descenders, ropes, etc) in order to explore the cave. It was a really fun trip. There were 10 of us in the cave for 8 hours, 45 minutes. We saw sand castles, lava falls (up to 40 feet!), and lots of other formations and colors. I did four drops, up and down – a 15 foot undercut drop, and 40 foot lava fall, a 55 foot pit, and a 25 foot undercut drop. The scariest part of the trip was "traversing" the 55 foot pit. That is to say, the 55 foot pit was right in the middle of the cave, and we needed to get across it in order to coninue exploration. One person free-climbed along the wall to the other side with a rope, and then the rests of us attached our harnesses to the rope for safety while we climbed across. Footholds and handholds were somtimes hard to find, but I made it both ways! One lady did fall, but her safety "cowstail" caught her safely after a few inches. Still, it was quite scary traversing over 55 feet of space. Anyway, I hope to write a detailed trip report about it soon. The picture of me shown here is courtesy of Jansen Cardy. Click here for more pictures. Ape Cave (Horizon Air Magazine)
Next time you fly Horizon Air, be sure to check out the magazine in your seatback pocket. The August 2006 issue is going to have an article covering NW caves, and it may have one or two of my pictures in it!!! Last Tuesday I got a call from Horizon Air Magazine. My mom answered the phone, so when I heard who it was I assumed it must be a telemarketer, and I even considered having her tell them I wasn’t interested….good thing I didn’t. Turns out it was the magazine’s Art Director inquiring about a certain cave photo of mine. The photo she was interested in was taken a few years ago at Ape Cave, and I didn’t have a camera with high enough resolution for magazine printing. However, she is still interested and yesterday I went up to Ape Cave to duplicate that picture and to take some new pictures for possible publication. She is also interested in pictures of Horne Lake Caves, on Vancouver Island, which I also have. The article will be covering about 12 caves, but those are the only two I’ve been to. Anyway, this is very exciting. It would be sooooo awesome to have a picture printed in Horizon Air’s magazine.  Wouldn’t it be fun to be a professional photographer? There’s no gaurantee they’ll use my pictures, but it is still exciting. Anyway, my new pictures of Ape Cave are here: Click here for more pictures. Well, that’s all for now. God bless, and have a great summer!
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