Saturday, sweet Saturday. One week ago we were camping, and I would have pretty much rather stayed home. My heart wasn't in it, we got a lame spot, the lights didn't work in the bathroom, there were no showers, Chris slept a LOT in the tent. He has been working like a dog at work, so he really needed it, since he doesn't make rest a priority. The one good point I can think of is that I made some nice meals. The kids had a great time. They played by the river and looked for frogs and fish. The dog was a challenge because she wanted to be let free all the time, not tied up. We have to take 2 vehicles when we go camping now, since we have a smaller Ford Explorer instead of our old, large Astrovan. The Ford seats 7, but doesn't haul much.

One recipe I made was called Grilled Squash Medley, from Quick Cooking:
1 small zucchini, carrot, and yellow summer squash, julienned
1 small onion, chopped
2 T butter
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
2 T shredded mozzarella
Place vegetables in order listed on a double layer of heavy-duty foil. Dot with butter; season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Fold foil around veggies and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 14-16 minutes or until veggies are tender, turning once. Sprinkle with cheeses. Serve immediately. Serves 4. I mixed the leftovers in with our pasta the next night.I served this with tilapia, which came individually wrapped and frozen at Costco, so I just threw those in the cooler, and they were thawed the second night. I dipped the fillets in butter then saltine crumbs mixed with seasoned salt. Those were good!

The other night of cooking was a seasoned turkey tenderloin served with Pesto-corn Grilled Peppers( also from Quick Cooking):
1 store container Pesto
1/2 c. finely chopped sweet red pepper
4 c. whole kernel corn
4 medium sweet red, yellow, or green peppers (I used red)
1/4 cup shreeded parmesan cheese
In skillet, saute red pepper in 2 tsp oil til tender. Add corn and pesto; heat through. Halve peppers lengthwise; remove seeds. Place, cut side down, on grill over medium heat; cover and cook for 8 minutes. Turn; fill with corn mixture. Grill 4-6 minutes longer or until tender. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese if desired.

So the food was good, the weather was good. Zoe made the mistake of trying to ride the scooter with Windy on a leash leading her. She ended up screaming on the ground with her bare foot wedged between the brake and wheel. Some other campers came running over and helped. Argh!!! Sunday, I had to follow Chris 2 hours home, dirty and tired, and arrived in a FOUL MOOD, just like last camping trip.

Yesterday was a surprisingly good day. I'm back to work, but still able to sleep in. My parents kept the kids overnight Thursday night. Chris took advantage of this by working until midnight!! My Mom and I met at Fred Meyer's to get the kids, and after that, I took them and the dog walking along this paved trail next to the Puyallup River. It was about 80 degrees, and a breezy pre-fall pretty day. The dog had a BLAST being off her leash. She got to go in the river frequently, which is shallow. She chased off all the ducks so we wouldn't be in "danger." Then she cooled off by swimming around, running and porpoising (!) and doing her funny "biting the water" routine. We were laughing pretty hard. I picked some blackberries, came home, made frozen fruit smoothies for my overheated herd, got the girls to split dish duty, and happily went to work on my, get this, painting!!! YAY!!! I actually bought a 15.00 you-assemble plain wooden easel at the craft store and some canvas and started a self-portrait in oil about 10 days ago! I had some old oil paints left over from when I was about 18 and took a class. So I got a few more paints, some brushes, and went to work. I did some major stuff wrong, but fixed it, let it dry, and made some good progress last night. It is very satisfying to be doing this. I pretty much hate water color, which is what I've mostly done, but the oils are fun. I am not done yet. For one, my eyes look huge and suprised, like I just got goosed. I'm not kidding.

Anyone watch and like Nanny McPhee? Watched that at 1:30 this morning, after work, cuz it's due tonight. It was pretty cute. Emma Thompson's performance was stellar, of course. Colin Firth didn't bother to do any acting, except for maybe 2 scenes. He looks bored and unexpressive the whole time. I'm probably going to wish I had a stick to tap on the ground when my kids are bad.

The picture with the goats is at Blueberry Park, where you can pick berries for free. The goats were brought in for a week of constructive "pruning." The lake pictures are at a lake I don't remember the name of. That was Saturday, when we helped Chris celebrate his boss's birthday at a lake cabin, Where we stupidly left our inflatable raft, which we didn't even use and probably won't see again. I am very bitter about that loss, and it's mostly my fault. Zoe left one flip flop and Chris left his sunglasses. We left when it was dark, and we were SO TIRED.

I have a kitchen FULL of dishes from having another family of 6 for dinner. It is almost midnight, everyone else is asleep, and I am NOT doing them, I'm sorry. I was short on time, so I got this beautiful blueberry and strawberry tart at Costco, but it was disappointing. They used frozen strawberries and probably blueberries, so they looked fresh, but were mushy. Lame!! The crust was quite unbuttery tasting and soggy, too. What a crock. Chris forgot about the dinner, which he set up, and I forgot to remind him. So he got home more than an hour after they got here. His cell phone was dead, and I was lucky enough to have his coworker's number, and they were actually talking. Chris felt alot worse about it than anyone else. This man we invited over was supposed to help us with our bum upstairs electrical, but Chris felt so sheepish, he wouldn't even let him. So the control panel in the kitchen was looked at, talked about, made a little safer.

We go camping for our second and last time this summer on Friday. So I'll probably share any good pictures when we get back.

Zach got to take his dirt bike to someplace besides the alley recently! Our pastor's in-laws have a house with some land that they put a dirt track on. They have go-carts, and Chris, Zach, and a few other people had some fun and got nice and dirty!

Am I done with this update now? Can I get some shut eye? And this is a tame sort of tired compared to when I am working. Back to the grindstone next week. I am not amused.