Smoky September

We are starting week 3 of smoke, smoke, and more smoke with no end in sight!  But there's not much in sight, so I guess that's not saying much!  I can see the lake today, but not across it, so I guess that is a slight improvement!  

Last Saturday was the first annual Pirate Fest with a Pirate Parade.  It was interesting...

None of the boys wanted to pose with the scary pirate...not sure why...

We went up to Waterville for the day because our big camping trip got canceled due to smoke.  We enjoyed spending the day with everyone and it was so nice to have a slight reprieve from the smoke!

Yep, that's blue sky!!!  In Waterville, not Chelan, but at least we got to breathe it for awhile!

Jason and Owen picking yummy grapes at Jason and Sue's new house.

Enjoying  being outside.

The boys had fun with Branson in his big bath tub!

Back to Chelan and the smoke.  It is recommended that you don't go outside and if you do that you wear a mask.  Not fun!  All sports have been canceled for over a week..kids are inside at recess and everyone is coughing with sore throats.  The fires around us are still growing, plus there is a lot of back burning going on, so the smoke probably won't go away for quite awhile..unless we get some rain!  Hoping for that!  

September is my favorite month in Chelan.  Everyday is in the 80s and sunny, although you can't see the sun now of course.  The tourists are gone for the most part and September is the perfect month just to sit out on the deck in the evenings and enjoy!  I feel very cheated out of my September!  I forgot to mention the general shortness of breath and lethargy that everyone is experiencing.  Not enough oxygen in the air?  I'm not sure!

We did get to make it to Conrad's 5th birthday party!  It was the first Wade and Owen had been out of the house all week except for meeting.

September Update

The night before school started, Tristan burned his hand on the stove top.  He slept with a frozen water bottle wrapped to his palm.  This is what it looked like last week!  A huge blister!

Our sweet neighbor Finn was diagnosed with Germ-Cell Cancer this summer.  He is only 18 months.  The community had a fundraiser for him on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun and raised a lot of money for his treatments!  The photo booth was a big hit!  Owen wouldn't be in our picture, but he let Eric and Aura take him for the fire fighters picture!  This picture of Tristan and Wade makes me laugh every time I see it!

The Quigley Trio volunteered a concert for the event!

The man of the moment!  So sweet!  FINNish STRONGer was the t-shirt! (His name is Finn)

Out on the paddleboat

Shawn rented a couple of paddleboards for DeAnne's b-day.  It was a lot of fun!

Pedaling Wade style

Happy Birthday!

We decided the shag needed to go.  Loved the bleached out beach-bum look, but the reason I had boys was so I didn't have to comb hair!!!  Before

Before

Before (Yes, his hair had a party last night!)

During

After

After...not sure what happened to Tristan's after.

Saturday night we had a really cool lightning storm.  What was not cool was that it started 80 fires in the area!  More to come on the fires in a couple of pictures, but I wanted to explain the haze in the background of this picture and why you can't see the cool mountains!  This is the house Jason is building!  :)

Jason and Sue came over to watch the Packers/Bears game with us!  They lived in Chicago for a few years and claim to be fans, but maybe not anymore!  :)  This was half-time and the Packer boys are showing the Bear just how its done!  Go Pack Go!

Ok, back to the fires!  There are fires all over the area.  There is a measurement of air quality and the air is considered hazardous when the measurement is 200.  The record for bad air quality in our area before this week was 368.  The measurement for the air quality right now is over 1000!!!  That means it is 5 times worse than hazardous!!!  Needless to say, we have stayed inside as much as possible!  Schools have kept kids inside for recess and cancelled all sports practices and games!  It is miserable, because you can tell it is sunny (you just can't see it through all of the smoke) and hot (80 degrees) but you can't enjoy it because you can't breathe when you are outside!  Actually, that's not true.  You can't really smell the smoke when you are outside. (I do realize this might be because our nostrils are fried by this point.) That's what makes it even more dangerous.  It doesn't stink, so you don't necessarily think it's bad, but the invisible particles do permanent damage to your lungs.  The positive side is that we've had some BEAUTIFUL sunrises and sunsets!  The reflection of light through the smoke is awesome!

Due to above mentioned fires, Jason decided not to work outside today.  He tiled our shower and put up the mantle!  Apparently it can hold at least 120 pounds!  

Now for some rock....

I found this picture on Facebook.  This is our area from way up in an airplane!

The firefighters build these controlled "fire breaks" to burn an area in hopes of creating a barrier for the wildfire.

A local firefighter took these pictures of where he's been spending the past week!

First day of school!

First day teaching Course II math (7th grade) at Chelan Middle School!

Very excited for his first day!

Tristan moving his lunch tag with his teacher, Mrs. Burdick!

Tristan loved his first day of school!  He got to be Star of the Day on his first day!  That means that he got to lead the line, point on the calendar, and bring something to share.  He took in a few pictures from our Lake Roosevelt trip.  He was bubbling over with excitement when he was telling me about his day!  He loved it!!  I was thinking he would probably be tired, but that was wishful thinking, because he was super hyper all evening! :)  Hope his enthusiasm continues!  It even continued through homework time!

I was also reminded of the reason why I don't teach kinder!  Here is Tristan's supply list:

1 Backpack 

12 pencils

1 package of diaper wipes!

1 change of clothes (2 pairs of underpants)!!

2 large boxes of Kleenex

10 glue sticks

1 box of crayons

1 box of colored pencils

1 pair of scissors

1 bottle of hand sanitizer

:) 

Lake Roosevelt

Loaded up on our way to our campsite.

We were glad we invited Baby Brooklyn!

Our Barnes Buddies!  Sue must be stepping on Sam's foot or something!

Bathing Lake Roosevelt style!

That's my Bader Boys!!

Lounging in the tubes.

A hole and a tarp...hot tub!

Owen and his buddy Eric

Sam and I were matching!

Washing dishes Lake Roosevelt style!

Jumping off the rocks

Cody and I were jumping pals!

We came back to Chelan for 2 days during the middle of our stay so that I could attend a few teacher days. Also, we attended the elementary school open house!

Back at Lake Roosevelt, one of many snakes that were caught.

Baders riding the air chair!!!

Tristan's turn!

And Grandma!

I love the Lake Roosevelt sunsets!

Jason made an awesome zip line!  I will try to get a couple of videos up.

Owen loved it!

Studying up!

The cousins camp.  My camera died before I could get a picture of the Pearsons who joined us for the second weekend.  Also, Eric and Aura were present!!!