...beach days...

...this past week has been beautiful...

hanging out at Settler's Cove beach

No, we're not fooled... the water is cold!!

Waving at a Cruise Ship

I was looking through some of our late-summer pictures, and came across these. They were taken back in late August, but I thought they turned out nice, so I decided to post them now anyways.

Dad is driving this Cruise Ship... (no, I'm not joking). He really is!! :) He called us a little before it passed this beach and said he would be passing by. So we all loaded into the car and drove to the beach. We got there just in time. We all ran down to the water's edge to watch the ship pass by and wave.

These ships are SO big... it is pretty impressive.

Joanna's Birthday - 22 mile bike

For my 15th birthday, my friend, Carrie and I took a 22 mile bike ride from our house (out north), across town, to my friend's house (out south of town). It took us about 4 hours. We were going going at a normal/slow speed, and took lots of breaks along the way (for snacks, to look at the lovely view...etc.) We had a great time!!

Here we are... just getting ready to start (9:15 in the morning).

At this point in our bike ride, we could look down over the town...

This was taken on one of our stops. We stopped for a break and walked down to the beach. It was a beautiful day!!

the victory jump... "we did it!!!"

Homegrown Zucchinis!

Yesterday, we harvested the zucchinis from our garden.

We also harvested our beans, parsley and cucumbers.


Here's Emma with the largest zucchini...!!

:)

Carlanna Lake

This summer has been beautiful, and we've spent a lot of time at Carlanna Lake! There's a large cement block that sticks out from the lake's dam, and we've all had a great time jumping and diving off it!

This is what happens when you give Dad the camera and say, "take a picture of Carrie and I jumping off." He tried three times (this is the best one). :) And no, I wasn't going to jump on Carrie, it just looks like it...

Someone tied a rope onto the dam, and it makes it so much easier to get out of the lake!

Paul decided he'd rather watch...

This is the undefeatable, fearless Emma on her 26th jump... she jumped a lot, and even dove a few times. Good job, Emma!

Zipline Fun!

While some relatives of ours were in town, we had the chance to go on the zipline tour! Carrie and I, some friends of ours, and our relatives had a great time, though we were sorry the younger children (who were below the weight and size limit) couldn't make it...

We all loaded into this vehicle that took us up the hill where the zipline would begin. It was a fun, but short ride.

At the top of the hill, we geared up, and were ready to go!

Our group ziplined from one platform to the next. Our highest elevation was about 135 feet ("and one inch" they said, but somehow that sounded like they were just trying to add in a clever fact) :) This picture was taken from the platform, looking down. What you see is the tops of trees... :) Yep, we were pretty high.

Here's Carrie, ziplining...

About half-way through the zipline tour, we had two air bridges to cross. The bridges were quite a hit, and everyong enjoyed them! They would bounce and swing (yes, we were hooked onto a rope so we couldn't fall).

Here we are on the air bridge...

This is a short video of me, Joanna, coming into the platform.

The views from the platforms were magnificant... and the weather was beautiful!

Our guides were very fun, and when we weren't ziplining, they let us hang off the edge of the patform! It was a thrilling feeling!! Everyone had a great time, and I'm sure we'd all jump at the chance to do it again someday...

Summer Days...

Settler's Cove Beach

water skiing!

Carrie and I had a blast going double!

a water fall...