Benjie-Blog

Yup, Mary and Isaac are home now! Stayed u until 2AM last night just talking. Dad and I went to boise in the afternoon and shopped until we went to the airport at about 10:45 to pick them up.

All shopping carts are unable to continue in a straight line without assistance That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Try letting a shopping cart go and, without fail, they always slant to one side or the other!

You know, the schedule said that their flight would be comming in at 10:53. What time did it come in? Well, it came in about 10 minutes late. What time did we see them? About 10 minutes after 10 minutes late! So, we waited in the airport for a while.

We went shopping for a shock collar for Morty yesterday, but didn’t find much. I guess he’s probably happy

OK I better get going! I’ll try to update soon…

Well, I got up at like 5 and we all went down to the airport to see Isaac and Mary off. It turned out that they were not in fact leaving at 10, they would be arriving in Ft. Lotterdale at 10PM and leaving here at 7:30AM! So, everybody was up pretty early.

When we got down there, apearantly the bag tha Mary brought was 2 inches larger than the amount(even though they said on the phone it’d be fine!). But they let it go anyways. We teased her beforetimes it was a body bag. It would seriously hold a person comfortably!

Once they got their bags checked in, we all went and waited around until the time they needed to go through security. They got through pretty easily. about 5 minutes and without a hitch. They’ll be waiting in Ft. Lotterdale for 22 hours though! A LONG time!

So, once we got finished with that, Dad and I went over to Winco and got some stuff, then to Cash and Carry. We went in to the freezer and cash and carry to look and see what they had and it was COLD(imagine that! A COLD freezer!!), probably -30. I’m telling you, it was well bellow freezing! In about a minute we were really ready to be out of there!

After Cash and Carry, we went to the Kopper Kitchen and had breakfast(Rebecca and Rachel work there). Mom and Sarah were waiting there(they’d ridden up with Rebecca and Rachel).

After breakfast, we asked Rebecca and then took her car home because it has more seats than the van(huh??). Why we haven’t put the seats in the van yet is beyond me.

We took the “scenic” route home. It was long but nice. I’m glad to be home(nap? Yeah? yes!!!!). It’ll be quiet without Mary and Isaac….

-Benjamin

Well, I woke up this morning at like 10. Kinda late but I was still tired! I’d stayed up until 12 though. Anyways, This morning The power was out AGAIN and guess what happened? A squirell chewed through the wires on the main transformer in town and blew the transformer! LOL So yeah, When I tried putting through some laundry this morning, the thing wouldn’t start!

Mary and Isaac are Leaving tomorrow morning! Prayers would be most apreciated for the trip. Their flight leaves at 10:00 AM. I don’t know if all of us are going down there or not.

Grandma and Grandpa got here yesterday and came over today. Tomorrow they’re gonna go down to the airport to see Mary and Isaac off, then go to the kopper kitchen to eat and get served by Rebecca and Rachel.

Does this post sound muddled to you?

Well, I was planning on updating yesterday, but for reasons I shall disclose, that wasn’t an option.

We were all jamming with our instruments yesterday and Martha came over right as we finished playing old dan tucker. She needed Isaac to check some stuff on her car so she left Levi inside. He was cute too! Which, is why I’m going to give you pictures!

This was the picture I took to get his attention!

Than He did this

Smile Levi!

Stiiiiilll Smilin’!

And the reason for not posting yesterday? Power outage! Fuse blew on the mains. Had to go to Ontario and get a couple new fuses.

Well, today’s sunday. And a summer sunday to boot! Near the end of summer helps. Helps what? Oh didn’t I tell you? Nope. Ok well, it gets pretty busy, and we’re invited to about 3 different events!

1. A Baptism
2. The Anual Roswell Picnic
3. Pig Roast at the Shiras(just mary was invited)

We had also invited Eric Phillips over, without knowing what else was going on! So, What’s probably going to happen is we’re going to go to the Roswell Picnic and have him come along!

Martha and Nathan came over today. Levi is getting big! And smart? Whew! He’ll be walking around soon I bet. Bethany was cute. She found this set of little kids instruments. And Martha and Nathan were playing guitar and guitarbanjo(yeah, a guitar, banjo mix! got that last week.), so Bethany played all her little instruments along! I think she’s gonna be musical…. I told Mary we ought to get her a little accordion(>:D).

I’ve decided I like rice milk better than regular(home made). It’s just better for ya than store bought!

OK that’s all.

Benjamin

Now that it’s been a while since I first went on the trip, I’m gonna post the final day of it.

1:30 AM, “I need to go to the ER!” *the whole fifth wheel shakes and several people go out the door* *I fall back to sleep*.

After a night of mostly peaceful sleep, I wake up to see Grandma walking around the fifth wheel and going outside. I head outside and she tells me “Grandpa went to the hospital last night.” I was a bit surprised but I still remembered the night before. “Is he alright?” I asked. She told me that it wasn’t a heart attack(thankfully), and that he would probably be alright. Well, Grandma walked to the Hospital and I just hung around camp, made some coffee and waited for Dan and Rebecca to wake up.

After a while, everybody was up and Grandma came back. Rebecca had taken Grandpa to the hospital the night before, so she slept in the latest. Apearantly, what had happened was, one of Grandpa’s arteries got clogged up and the high mountain air was making it worse(making it show really). So, first we went to breakfast, knowing that Grandpa was fine for now(they put him on oxygen). And after breakfast we went to the hospital to see him. He seemed to be doing alright, talking, making jokes and all. Just couldn’t do much!

So, moving on, the hospital didn’t have the facilities to put a stint(that’s what was needed) in there to help him to breath, and so they were going to lifelite him to the Boise hospital. Why lifelite? Well, for one thing it would take a long time to go by ambulance. For another, they wouldn’t have cell phone service in an ambulance so if anything happened, there wouldn’t be any communications(all those canyons down there block it out). Before the lifelite came, the nurse asked if any of us would like to ride with Grandpa. Well, naturally any of us would, but I was the prime pick because I was the only perosn along who wasn’t driving a vehicle!

I didn’t get to ride in the helicopter though. You see, in the winter verses the summer, there’s a certain amount of weight the helicopter can hold. In the summer time, that’s considerably less than in the winter! So, between me, the two paramedics, the pilot and Grandpa, no ride was available for me. Almost but not quite!

Well, before the decision was made as to whether I was riding, Rebecca and Dan went back to camp because Rebecca had to get to work(she left her car at camp). And what’s more, in her car, she had two important items I would have liked to have along the road. One was the camera(so I didn’t get any pics) and two was my notebook(not as important, but I didn’t get to take more detailed notes). So, I didn’t manage to tell her that I needed her to take them out. Luckily I had my history book and my bible out in my tent at the time!

After Dan and Rebecca left(and Dan came back), the chopper showed up and took Grandpa for a ride. It was cool to watch it take off. I wanna be a pilot someday!!

After that, we went back to camp and packed up what we had left. Then we got the fifth wheel all ready to go and hit the road! I road with Grandma in the truck. First I took a nap for 15 minutes, then I mostly just read the rest of the way(how exciting huh? but hey! I got all the way to the civil war on that trip!). We then proceeded to stop at the weiser maverick(an hour from home) and got icecream. Dan told Grandma that one of the windows on her fifth wheel was open. So we unlocked the fifth wheel and fixed that problem. Then we hit the road again and got home in an hour!

Apearantly, once Rebecca got home, she had told the entire family that I went on a helicopter ride. So, Dad and Luke were going to the hospital right then to see Grandpa and pick me up. I think they probably would have gone and seen him even if they hadn’t thought I was there, but they went thinking I was there! Everybody was pretty disapointed when they heard I didn’t get to ride(probably even more disapointed than I was!). We got news from Grandpa the next day, and he was doing great. They let him out of the hospital within the next couple of days. Hasn’t had any more problems yet!

Aaaannndd I think that covers it! Oh! I did get my notebook later and recorded what Notes I could think. Then I started writing posts. That’s all!

Benjamin

That night I tossed and turned some, not too bad once Dan stopped snoring.
Once I finally woke up, I had some coffee(yay!). It warmed me up nice. It was actually fairly cold that morning so I also put on the sweatshirt I brought. We Had Eggs, Toast and Bacon for Breakfast.

After Breakfast, some of us walked down to the Ashley Inn to see what it looked like.

It was really pretty. I thought so anyways. :D(didn’t get a lot of pics of it). Mom really liked it there, she played the piano for them.

They really liked Mom playing the piano. They told her the last time she went there(for a retreat), she could come and play anytime she wanted!

We came back from the Ashley Inn, and we walked down to the beach that’s at the resort, then I came back and put some shorts on so I could go Kayaking. I went out there, and James was Canoeing so he wanted to know if I’d like to get in to his canoe instead of just Kayak around. So, We both went ashore and I hopped in to his with a paddle.

After Canoeing around some, we played some Volleyball. Then Grandpa and Mary went to town to see about renting a Ski-doo/Water-ski. Rachel and Caleb went to town earlier as well, and got a package of waterballoons to play “Towel Volleyball”. We started playing that(after getting some towels), but then it was time for people to leave to go watch the video the rental place wanted people to watch before riding their equiptment.

So, I went back to camp, packed up some food and took a few notes on the trip. After I got done with that, we headed for Lake Cascade. Once we got there(only a couple minutes away), nobody from our group was there, So what do you think we did? We waited!

Finally after a few minutes, they arrived, and so did the delivery guy with the Ski-doo! It was pretty fun! They said that only licensed drivers could drive by themselves, but none-licensed could drive if a driver rode behind them, and keps the little wrist strap on! So, That was pretty cool! I drove like 4 times. The last time I drove, it was with Caleb behind me, and we went around and made big waves, then hit em and jumped! That was cool.

We aired up a rubber raft to float around on, but I think the ski-doo was the main atraction. At first we didn’t have paddles for the thing, but somebody got em when they went and got Grandma from camp(she stayed behind at first). Isaac got thrown off the ski-doo a couple times. That scared Mom a lot! I think the second time he did it on purpose though.

Here’s all the pics of that….

After doing that, we went back to camp(rental guy came and picked up the ski-doo too - We told him that somebody fell off a couple of times… He said “That’s the best part isn’t it?”). Then we Played some volleyball again, and more “Towel Volleyball”. Then we had dinner(Barbecue). After dinner, Most of the people went home.

Rebecca didn’t get to be there for the day because she had to work that day. Once everybody that was going home had departed, all that was left was me, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Dan. Big group compared to what we had!!

After everybody left, it was kinda breezy and the rain was sprinkling some, but Me and Dan decided to walk down to the river. It was one of those moments where you think “Everybody’s gone now…. Wonder how we’ll have fun now!”. After just walking around some, we came back to camp, and it started raining so we packed a bunch of stuff back up so it wouldn’t get wet. Then I brought the two decks of cards I brought, in to the fifth-wheel so that we could play cards later.

I went out to my tent after that, and took some notes on the trip. After I finished that, we played golf(card game) in the fifth wheel. Then Grandma and Grandpa went to bed, and Uncle Dan and I just played solitaire for a little while. Then we both went to bed. He snored that night too woke me up in the middle of the night!

And thus ends day two!

Alright, so, you probably all want to hear about the trip to Cascade now!

We left for Cascade on wednesday, at about 12 I think. I brought along a couple changes of clothes, my Bible, my Camera, my notebook and a few other things.
I also brought along a Patriots history of the United states, which made the trips full of reading time.

First stop on our trip, was The Maverick. We always stop at that Gas station, because they have good snacks for trips. I got an icecream, a candy bar, half a small pizza(mary got the other half) and a gatoraid.

On the trip up, about 5 minutes from weiser(where the maverick was located), we noticed something on the road! Looked like a tent! Wonder if it flew out of the back of the truck? Well, we made it to the maverick and checked the truck and, sure enough! It was gone! So, Mary and I went back and got it, and then drove on.

The rest of the group was still waiting for us at the Maverick, but we didn’t stop. They saw us though, so it was fine. We stopped at a Cenex station to get gas(we didn’t actually get any at the maverick, for this car anyways!), and got passed by the rest of the group. The Gas station was interesting because it had those old style pumps! Not many of those around anymore.

We got going from the station, and finally caught up to the caravan. We passed through a town… I think it was Cambridge. And Mary saw a sign that said “Grapes $1 lb” So she said she had to stop! So, we stopped and got the grapes. She also got a couple poweraids! I’d already drank down my gatoraid too.

The group ahead evidently didn’t know what happened to us so, when we got up the road, we were a bit surprised to see them pulled off in a pull-off! We talked a little, gave them some grapes, and Grandma gave us her cell phone for the ride up.

We got going, and then we made another stop! McCall! I beleive it was Payette Lake, but it may have been McCall lake. I’m not really sure. But we stopped there for a bathroom break. Grandma and Grandpa went ahead though, and called and said they stopped at Burger Barn(*Den really.). So, we headed out, after getting a couple pics…

And then, from there, we headed over to Burger Den, and had lunch. From there it was pretty straight driving. We got to Cascade, Mary and I didn’t see the sign for the resort, but called Grandma and Grandpa and they told us to turn around and look for a sign that said “waters Edge” So, we turned around, and found it! At last, we arrived at Waters Edge.

I looked around a little and headed in to the office to see what they were doing. Just registering there and stuff like that. Then a few of us played a little tad bit of volleball(they had a net and sand there). And then we all headed up to our campground to set up camp.

The Tent set up was fairly easy, and so was the fifth wheel, but Unfortunately, there was a sewer spill when Grandpa attempted at hooking it up at the resort! Whew that stank! Finally got it hooked up though, and spread ash on the ground to stop the scent.

Then we went back and tried out the Kayaks. They were pretty fun! Though, at the resort, there was just a little area to Kayak in. Too bad! They had a potluck down there(they do it every wednesday night), so we went to that(brought chips and salsa, and hot dogs.), and then played some Volleyball, and then Kayaked some more! Then there was this nine year old Japanese kid who had his water gun, and decided to start a water fight with me in my Kayak! RETREAT!! Was about my most used word. What chance do I have against a squirt gun??

Ok, after that, Anna and Caleb actually arrived at the resort! I didn’t expect them until Friday, but I guess they decided today was the day!

Isaac found this rock that they had in the yard there, and he sat in it a proclaimed “It’s God’s Sun chair!”. Surprisingly, it really was about like a sun chair.

Then some of us went swimming at the river place, and it was pretty fun. I haven’t gone swimming all summer so it was nice! You could about walk across half of it, so I did that, then swam across the rest of the way. It wasn’t too bad, but I was tuckered!

After that, we went back to camp and actually got to do a camp fire!

It was in a contained dealie, but still nice.

We roasted Marshmallows and made smores! I attempted at toasting a smore, but it didn’t work. We sang some songs that night around the camp fire, and told stories. Then I went to bed at about 10:30, everybody was up pretty late. And I slept in the tent, and I’m not used to sleeping on the ground, so I had a hard time(haha) getting to sleep! Uncle Dan Snores too!

And thus, ends the yammerings about day one in Cascade! Enjoy! Post to come for day two!

Alright, First things first!

Yesterday:
Nursing homes was yesterday(as usual) and, when Isaac and I got home from said weekly event, A new car seemed to be parked in the front of our house. Who was this character, who dared park more than 10 feet away from the mailbox? Not an unexpected arrival!
Uncle Dan’s here! Hehe, He’s probably the one uncle who comes to visit us the most(must like comming and visiting us!). So, after not seeing him since…. Two thanksgivings ago, it was really nice to see him! Grandma and Grandpa were here as well, and we were planning on playing cards, but I think everybody was a bit more content to yap than play.
Grandma and Grandpa left about 8-9 and Uncle Dan is staying was(and is tonight) staying here. We stayed up talking until about midnight, mostly politics. Than affter that, came(of course) bed.

Moving on to….

Today!
Let’s see, I came downstairs at like 8 or 9, and come to find out, Grandma and Grandpa wake up early and had already found their way over here. They were doing something about their house(they’re building one in Idaho), so they came over here to use phones or something. Anyways, we talked over stuff to bring, and stuff like that, and then they, and Uncle Dan went shopping for goods for the trip.
And while they were gone, I did some weed eating(with the weed eater - just got fixed), and then some reading. It wasn’t too awfully eventful. I did get interupted while reading to, Grandma, Grandpa and uncle Dan getting home and Grandpa needing some help taking his trailer off the stands and on to the truck(trailer=fifth wheel). So, after arousing the natives(Isaac and Luke) we got a fair following and proceeded to follow Grandma and Grandpa in their car.
There was a detour to getting the trailer unjacked and stuff, and that was staking out the house(I don’t think those stakes tasted very well!). So, after doing that(took, maybe fifteen minutes to twenty), we headed over to where Grandma and Grandpa have their trailor parked(at the Neashams) and got it all unjacked and hooked up(to the truck). Then after that, we(Uncle Dan and us boys) headed home(our house). Mostly just talked, and I found us a cooler, and Also found a tent for some of us to sleep in.
Also, the girls went on a fishing expedition and caught four catfish! I’ll post some pics after I get home.

OK and moving on to….

Tomorrow:
We’re going up to Cascade. Grandpa wanted us boys to wake up early to go to mens group, but I think it got a little too late on us! it’s at 6:30 AM and it’s 11:44 PM so, that doesn’t leave much time to sleep! Ah well, I’m sure he’ll be alright. And yeah, going up to cascade(two hour drive), and doing stuff up there. Isaac’s gonna take a CLEP(College Level Examination Program) test on Analizing and enterpreting literature. So, Wish him Luck!.

That’s everything! see Y’all!

And now, the sequel to my previous post.

Uncle Dan is comming up for a visit! He’ll be here ummm either today or tomorrow! Then, on Wednesday through Friday, we’re gonna go up to Cascade Lake and have a sorta campout thing, with Grandma and Grandpa and all us! It’ll be fun.

Other Plans? Hmmm I don’t remember. Still have some reading to do. Need to get some work done, and yeah, the usual!

see y’all!

Benjamin