We all spent another year at the log show in support of Brad-Amber's husband-and we were not disappointed.
(Again, for those of you who need a refresher about our town's annual log show, please refer to the links on this post)
(Above is Timber the Clown making his grand entrance)
Saturday was really warm, with the temperatures rising into the 80's, which may not sound that bad, but they were running in the 50's the week before, so that was quite the increase. (Was that just a run-on sentence??? LOL!!!)
(Above are two competitors in the log rolling competition)
Sunday was somewhat kinder, in that the weather alternated between cloudy and sunny, with temps finally reaching the upper 70's. Needless to say, even though I slathered sunscreen on myself, I got a doozy of a sunburn on Saturday; however by Sunday morning, it had turned into a nice tan.
(Above is Brad and another competitor taking off in a choker setting race)
Unfortunately, the top of my head burnt on both days, and I now have blisters on the top of my head. It hurts really bad, and I am so mad at myself for letting that happen. Thankfully, just me and Kevin burnt, as I religiously applied sunscreen to the kidlets, who don't even look like they were in the sun. Go figure!
(Above is a competitor either ascending or descending the 75 foot pole)Now...this is a family blog, so I will watch my self, but let me be the first to say that even though I think a lot of the guys around here-and I am not just talking about the loggers-are hicks, these guys looked damn fine all dressed up in their logging duds, and you would have to be 1/2 dead to not be affected by the smell of bar oil, sawdust, sweat, and men. (Wasn't it you, Chelsi, that wrote about that in one of your older posts?)
(Above are some competitors-including my brother-in-law Brad-warming up for the hot saw competition)
Yes, I could sit there all day and daydream about one of those guys sweeping me off of my feet and.....ahem....I will leave the rest to your imagination...lol!!!! (Sorry Kevin!!) 
(Above is a close-up of one of the crowd favorite's arms)
Now just so you all know, the pictures just do not do these guys any justice. You would have to be there to see what I am talking about, and Chelsi, I was thinking about you and what a good time you would have had the whole time. :0
(Above is a group of guys getting ready to compete with their unlimited hot saw. These saws are powered by various high powered engines, such as V-8 car engines, motorcycle engines, truck engines...you get the idea!)
You know what they say about the size of a man's chainsaw, don't you???? LOL!!!! (Did I really just say that??????)
And last but not least, I took a couple of videos for all of you to watch, and I apologize that they are sideways. They are not that way on my computer, but for some reason, when I loaded them onto Blogger, they flipped over. Does that always happen with video???
Below is a video of Brad competing in the horizontal block chop-which he won by the way....
Next we have two competitors competing in a tree topping competition, where they climb a 75 foot tree, set up, saw the top off, and then come back down. These guys did not go as fast as they did in the earlier race, because this was the second time they had been up, and it was about 2:00-thus very hot!-at this point.
Lastly we have the guys coming down. Don't they look cool??? I was able to put on Brad's climbing gear and climb about 25 feet up a tree, and it is NOT easy. Your thighs feel like they are on fire. Good job guys!!.
Again....sorry for the videos uploaded so lopsided!
I opted not to ride, and so we left Waska at home, and he was not happy about it. Poor guy, he really wanted to come too. I figured it would be easier for me to be on the ground, as it was the kidlets first trail ride in a few months. That way, if anything happened, I would be right there.
Oh look. It's a moose...I mean Bo...lol!!! (above) Poor Bo Bo. He definitely was not blessed with a typey head, was he? Oh well, I still loves hims. He sure does have a nice chest though, and straight, correct legs.
And then there is Miss Katie, who had to get off to go potty. Why do little girls always have to go potty out on the trail???
See the small creek in the next couple of pics? Well it is an off-shoot of the main creek that is left over from last winters floods. You can't really see it,but there is a small waterfall that is out there now too, and guess what? 
Will making these small changes prevent me from getting one of the above mentioned diseases? Probably not, but I at least have some idea about what I am putting into my mouth.
Last Wednesday was the 
It was really sad this year, because as I have mentioned before, their school has been closed down due to budget cuts. On the last day of school, when I picked them up from school, I stood out in front with the other parents that I have stood out front with for the last three years, and I cried-we all did.
Along came Friday-my riding day-and it happened to be absolutely down pouring outside. Finally, during the afternoon, the rain stopped and me, Amber and the 
The bike ride was gorgeous and very peaceful/healing, as it was in an area that I used to ride my pony and play when I was a tween....
...Until it started to rain again. We hid under some tress for about 20 minutes, but when it became apparent that the deluge was not going to stop, we turned back around-we had ridden about six miles out-and pedaled for home.
Just look at poor Katie's face!
Okay...where were we ??? Ah yes, Saturday. Saturday was the Jr. Log Show, and this year, both of my 
Katie was able to compete in the ax toss-notice that her "ax" is really a plastic toy ax-the rope climb, and in choker setting. She looks pretty excited to be tossing that ax in the above picture, doesn't she?? Do you suppose she was imagining her brother at the other end??? 
Eric had to compete against a girl in the choker setting, and you can just see his smirk in the below picture. He looks like he is thinking that he can take her any day, doesn't he?? Well we'll see about that....
They look pretty close here, don't they?
And here....
And maybe even here, but.....
Eric pulled ahead and won by a landslide. Of course he did, he is my son, isn't he??? 
He also ended up taking first place in the ax toss for his age division-for the second year in a row!-and his ax was real. Sent shivers down my spine, that did! Katie got really mad that she didn't win any trophies, and she said that Eric better watch out next year, because she is going to win everything. Should I tell her that she will never be in his age division??? Nah...
Finally, we had fathers day, which we spent out on a small cruise ship on Puget Sound. Kevin's cousin had a small wedding ceremony that took place on the boat, and do you think I remembered my camera???? NO!!!! I was so mad. It was a glorious day, filled with lots of food, laughter, family, and fun.
As fellow Western WA people know, we always have a lot of the yellow stuff in the spring, but this year, I swear it has taken over everything.
We have literally been surrounded by a sea a scotch broom on our rides. It is kind of pretty though, right? LOL!!! 
...and Katie lost her first upper tooth!!! She pulled it out herself!
Speaking of teeth, Eric had his palate expander removed and was fitted for a retainer. 
It was kind of ironic, because when Amber and I were out riding two days before, we were saying how it felt like summer in the woods, but also how it didn't yet smell like summer in the woods.
Therefore, I was really surprised when we got a phone call from the fire department (Kevin is a volunteer) asking Kev if he knew which road would give them the best access to the fire. I was like "Fire??? What fire???" But sure enough, if you looked towards the mountain, there were two distinct plumes of smoke rising up out of the foothills.
Now....the reason I called this post the "Twilight Zone" is because there was never any mention of this fire on any of the local news channels. In fact, had we not taken these pictures, it would almost be hard to prove that there ever was a fire. (I am 
And every year, Kevin and hundreds of other poor suckers...I mean hunters...purchase passes and are given keys that unlock the numerous gates to allow them to access these privately owned woods, and I must admit that we do get a lot of enjoyment out of them.
Okay...back to the fun stuff!!! While we were driving along, we noticed these old bear tracks in a dried out mud puddle. Pretty cool, huh??? Unless you are not in your truck driving down the road (I thought of you Chelsi, I swear I did!!) 
Further up the road, we came across fresh bear tracks, and they appeared to be from two different bears. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but there were two sets right next to each other. I had Eric put his hand down next to the tracks to give you an idea of how big they were.
And for those of you who may be thinking that Eric has small hands-which he doesn't- here is a shot of my size nine foot-and really white leg!-next to the tracks.
