Hello! We are back from vacation and today is Connor's first day of 3rd grade. To keep myself occupied while he is gone, I get to write the longest-post-ever about our Labor Day weekend! Yay for you!

The day before we left we had Connor's birthday party. Late because the boys got sick.  He wanted a Mario Kart theme and so I made mushroom cakes. I had to off-center the bases because they wouldn't fit on my cake plate. So nobody knew what they were.  We had relay races and a water balloon fight. 

We broke the drive up into two days, and saw Grandma Van Dyke in Redding. She gave the boys swords, which were a big hit. We got to Weaverville Thursday afternoon and had barbeque'd turkey (thanks Dad!).  Friday morning we went yard sale-ing (it was Trinity County's big yearly Yard Sale Weekend).

Then Craig hurt his back getting out of the car... and the vacation was pretty much over for him. There was much sorrow.  

Connor and I went to a THS football game, which was fun. He got the experience of being allowed to run around all over with his aunt (who is just 4 years older than he) without me freaking out about safety. Ahh, small town life! 

Saturday was the much-anticipated creek walk up Rush Creek to the waterfall. This was more outdoors-y than my boys had ever gotten. Fletcher benefited from the help of his two oldest aunts and pretty much had the easy life (except when Nancy and he fell into the water and he thought he might drown). 

Connor took it super slow and slipped a lot, so he and I and Grandpa brought up the rear. There were salamanders and spiders and slugs and butterflies to look at (also, a LOT of bear scat); rocks and tree trunks to scramble over, and a swimming hole at the end! 

Then my parents, who apparently think they are still my age, decided to climb this embankment,

 and go further up the creek to see if they could find the fabled larger falls. 

They didn't. 

And then Mom couldn't get down. 

Sharon and I got our cameras out to document her last moments. Jacquie stood shivering in her swimsuit and moaned "nooooo mommy!"; and then I hear this little, excited voice, "JUMP, GRANDMA, JUMP!"

and so she did. The water was a bit shallow and the landing was pretty jarring, but she survived it and was able to walk back down the creek. We all counted our blessings. 

We went to a movie that night, which Craig was able to hobble to, and then church the next day. We decided to leave Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning so Craig wouldn't have to sit 12 hours in the car, which meant we made great time getting home and were happy to have most of Monday to relax at home and rest before plunging back into life the next day.

Whew!