Ice, Ice Baby

There's no better way to escape the heat then to hit the ice rink. Especially when the cousins are in town. Byron took the day off to take his sister Korri and her girls-- Addison and CeCe skating with our girls.

Reese and I watched from the sidelines... sigh....

The girls all did great!! No ice packs for the Barkers. In fact, Holland was doing shaky spins by the end of the session.

Our Last Hurrah (with a little pain thrown in...)

Every Labor Day we go camping with our good friends-- the Moomey's and this year, the
Hoffman's. We went up near Lake Cascade and camped along the Payette River.

We hiked into Blue Lake for fishing and a picnic.

Here's "Destructo" mugging for the camera. Look at that smile... it's all part of her M.O.... to make you think she's an angel.

We had a fabulous weekend until the very end. Our friends had headed home, Reese and Greer were napping and Byron decided to take Holland fishing for a few minutes. They headed down to the river and, well, there's no way to make this any more exciting--- Byron slipped and fell. He landed on his side on top of a log and heard a loud crack!

Let's just say broken ribs are right up there with childbirth (at least that what it seems). By the way, this picture was taken before the great accident of 2008.

The Lazy Days of Summer are Long Gone...

No more sleeping in, lounging about in our pajamas and eating bonbons! I swear that's what Byron thinks we do. Anyway, Holland started 2nd grade. Her teacher is our much-loved neighbor. And Greer is a big kindergartener. Wow.

Reese actually cried that she couldn't go to school. Guess this is the closest she'll get for a while.

The girls ride the bus home together. Yeah. They survived day one. Now onto day two....