Yesterday was a good day.  Just hot, lazy, and nice.  A good time to regroup etc.  In the afternoon we all went to the river for a swim, and then decided to go up Charlie Creek for the first time this year.   At one point we found a HUGE downed log, that I knew I would not get over in shorts without major scratches.  So I sent the rest of the kiddos with Rob and stayed in the shade and took pictures.  I was quite happy with several of them.  But have the time to share this one.  I just thought it was so unique, and cool

I'd have time for more...except Samuel found a hatch buried in the lawn and of course had to see if he could break it with his hatchet.  HE could.  It was a water pipe for another hose left by the previous land owner.  And we now have an impromptu fountain in the yard.  Rob is getting the hoses and then we're headed to Forks to get the stuff to fix it.  No plumbing supplies available here. 

Casting Crowns has produced a new album.  It is absolutely outstanding.  The lyrics are as powerful as their others, and just amazing.  I loved the lyrics in this one, and the lyrics I put up in my other post.  And okay I love all of them, but this one is particularly powerful, and relates all too well to my current circumstances.

Slow Fade LyricsOr if you want you can hear it on the video--its got great sound, but the video itself is rather poor.

Okay so this is Monday pictures.  The kids and I took a vote and we took our guests to the ivy beach.  It doesn't actually have a name, its just one of the many pull-outs along the coast.  Well it may have a name, but since I'm not a local, only a two-year transfer I haven't learned it yet.    Regardless this is our current favorite beach.  Its nice and sandy, and super duper easy access.

The thing that was the greatest at the beach was the friend Kaylin and RAinee made in their 17 year old cousin.  We decided they are first cousin's once removed.  *snicker*  As Jessie is *my* first cousin.  And yes, you can tell they are related!!  Blonde, blue eyes and curls.

Another highlight was Jeremiah finally conquering his residual fear of the waves, and actually playing in them.  It was delightfully warm, and the water was even warmish.  (as warm as the Pacific gets).     He played and splashed in it for over an hour.

I spent some time playing with my new camera and the zoom.  I was quite happy with this picture, especially since I know how far out the bird was when I snapped it!

At some point Jessie and the girls sat together in the sand, and began to play.  They ended up being there for a LONG time.  And it was the highlight of the girls day.

Saturday before my guests came I'd invited a friend over on Monday for Samuel.  I *thought* my guests were leaving Monday, so we also had Felix with us.  Samuel and him had a ton of fun riding waves on the air mattress.   And after a afternoon of attempting to catch them on the wave I snagged this my favorite picture of the day.

They were just having too much fun!  Shortly after that we headed home to return Felix to his house, and set up for a hot dog roast.  By the time my guests came back from the beach we had a nice fire going and everything set up.  It was a fun camp fire, but I'll spare you the pictures.  And after the camp fire we went down to the river as the adults hadn't seen it yet.  We sat there for a bit, but it was getting nippy, so eventually we crawled inside for the evening.   

It was fun having the guests, and less stressful then I thought.  But when I could finally collapse (yesterday)  I rather had a melt down.   LOL 

My last picture of the day--points up the sun on the river.  So peaceful.     Its been a intresting few days.  But I'll save that for another blog, or my own head as the case may be.

 

 

 

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Yeah, not doing so well getting updates here.  I didn't get home from baton practice until 6:30 last night, and was just too wiped out.  Jeremiah dumped my water bottle all over my mouse about an hour ago (the first time I got to sit at the puter all day) and managed to fry the mouse.  It has been a rotten mouse anyhow, so its no great loss.  Except theirs still water in it and it keeps bringing up things when it hasn't been touched.

We had gorgeous, gorgeous weather this weekend--I think the first weekend all summer to have been hot.  We played at Rialto on Sunday, a local beach Monday, baton practice and our river yesterday, our river and a different local beach today.  We're finally getting summer, and we're fully aware its on its way out, so we're cramming in what we can.

I've lost my voice AGAIN!  I can't remember how many times this has been this year.  Probably if I were smart I'd go to the doctor.  Instead I'm weapy, tired and exhausted.  I'm just crashing.

My mom is having a garage sell this weekend trying to gain some money, and recoop some of her losses.  I really, really want to go, its hard to explain why.  When I started talking to my mom I started bawling.  The first I've done with her actually.  I've been the voice of comfort up until tonight.  I told her it just felt like it was a stab in the chest as to one more reason why my family is broken. 

Stupid that a garage sale makes me feel that way huh?  I mean she's had them before.  But this time she's REALLY selling stuff, stuff she never would have if she didn't have to. 

And I can't help her.

And yeah.

Just tired.

So as a result...these are our beach pictures from Rialto.  They give me smiles, but I don't have the mental stamina to narrate today.  I'm sorry.  I could use some prayer, as I'm just kinda in pieces tonight. 

 

 

Oh my word.  I just about majorly blew it.  I got an email that LOOKED like it was from paypal asking for an update on info.  I clicked the link, and noticed that my phising alert came on.  Something I ONLY turned on last night.  I hadn't realized I had it.

I started updating my info, but something wasn't quite making sense, cause I updated my credit card info a month ago due to it expiring.  

So I quickly closed it up and accessed paypal from my normal way rather the email link.

And yeah...they didn't need any info.

I looked around paypal and found a place to forward the email.

And less then thirty-seconds later I got this.

Dear Tonia,

Thanks for taking an active role by reporting suspicious-looking emails.
The email you forwarded to us is a phishing email, and our security team
is working to disable it.

-------------------------
What is a phishing email?
-------------------------
Phishing emails attempt to steal your identity and will often ask you to
reveal your password or other personal or financial information. PayPal
will never ask for your password over the phone or in an email and will
always address you by your first and last name.

Take our Fight Phishing Challenge at
https://www.paypal.com/fightphishing to learn 5 things you should know
about phishing. You'll also see what we're doing to help fight fraud
every day.

-------------------------
You've made a difference.
-------------------------
Every email counts. By forwarding a suspicious-looking email to
spoof@paypal.com, you've helped keep yourself and others safe from
identity theft.

Thanks,

The PayPal Team

Breathes deep and so glad I didn't do something very very bad.  

Edits;  I just realized I probably *did* give them my password.  So quickly went in and changed it.  The lesson learned here is do NOT access security things from your email.  Get them from your favorites link.   This way you KNOW you are really where you should be, as trust me the site they sent me to looked very real. 

A sneak peak of our weekend.

This is some of our guests, plus my kiddos, plus Samuel's friend who tagged along with us today.

And my company is NOT leaving today, but tomorrow.  So I have 7 people in my house.  Some in tents, us in our girls bed, my aunt in uncle in our bed.  (long story as to why.)

Mostly its been fun, but I admit to being tired.  LOL

I have pictures, etc.  But I'll share them later.

For now.

Has anyone seen some quiet?

I'm kinda looking for it. 

So, I got my birthday pressie yesterday--at Rob's insistence.  Several months ago Rainee dropped my good camera just right and managed to put a dent on the lens.  As a result I've lost a lot of pictures.  Rob kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday, and I gave him a list of stuff, and he kept saying what about a camera.  I felt guilty about asking for a camera as I haven't had this one "long enough."  Finally last Friday or so when I was looking at all the pictures I lost because of the camera smudge (I'm a picky photographer LOL) I said I should just get a new camera.  It was what he was waiting for.

So I got basically the same camera I had before except this is a 7 pixel instead of 6.  Its a Kodak Ezshare with a 10x optical zoom.  Its marvelous.  I took bunches of pictures in poor light, and was quite happy with them.

This one in particular.

This is Seal rock.  It is quite a ways out in the ocean, but with my zoom, and point and shoot I managed to catch seagulls flying in the air.  If you click on large you see it in better detail.  Too cool.

Miniature roses at the restaurant we ate--taken through the glass window, and they still turned out quite nice. 

One of my top 5 favorite flowers---the fireweed.

The last of the summer daisys.  These were all taken at 7:30 at night, so the light was really crappy, but I was still thrilled with the detail, etc. 

The forest service road I was taking the pictures on.   This is left of where we shoot at.

And the beginning of the sunset just before Rob and I headed home.

 

Okay I was just given a 8 pound salmon.  I have NO idea how to cook.  Its been filleted.  I will have it for dinner tomorrow or Saturday night.  It was in the ocean this afternoon.  Tis very fresh.

Any ideas as to how to cook it?  Please?

 

I've actually just joined a site to see if anyone can identify these two berries, but I thought I might ask if anyone here has any idea what these are?

The flower

Yeah!  I found it.  After HOURS and HOURS of searching I finally found it. 

It is a stink current.  and it *is* edible.   Now to learn a bit more.  And I've been looking for the identity of this since April of LAST year.  LOL