WA Camping-Crabbing-Family Reunion Trip

The 5 of us left for WA on July 24th. Christina had gone to AZ to spend time with her dad (hes doing good) so she didn't make our trip unfortunately, because we would of loved to have her, and she would of had a blast with all the teen girl cousins. The kids did great in the car and all the worries we had were for nothing. They had coloring books and the DVD player. I kept Mike entertained while he drove, by reading Twilight. (Great book!) We stopped at a half way point in Medford OR. Mike has been traveling so much this summer around FL that his Marriott Rewards points has really been building up. We put them to good use on this trip! The kids enjoyed playing in the hotel swimming pool after being couped up for about 6 hours.

Elektra loved swimming in her new one piece floater suit. She also loved jumping off the side right into the water.

We pulled into his parents late afternoon on Saturday, and had a wonderful crockpot dinner and some of their HOMEMADE blackberry wine. It was very good. I'm going to cheat some here, and use some of Mikes Dads Diary that he wrote. I have taken out some parts, added some of my own, and added pictures. NO FISH FISHING TRIP As I start this Annual Father/Son’s (plus dotter-in-law & niece) fishing trip diary, it is almost 11:00 PM and it is still over 90 degrees in the house. Isn’t it wonderful to make the National News that we set an ALL-TIME heat record today, at 102? And, last night the low of 72 degrees was also an all-time record. Geeze! Well, the annual fishing trip was really something to write about, so here goes. Son Mike and family drove up from San Jose, CA, where wife Corinna has been caring for her brother’s daughter Elektra, temporarily. They drove in late afternoon Saturday, July 25th, and moved into the Lazy Daze, which will be their FREE condo for the next week or so. SUNDAY Since so many people were joining us this year, we decided to pull the BIG boat, the USS Newman, behind The Dazy and I would pull my Hi-Laker behind my Mazda pickup. We were batting along south on I-5, just north of Chehalis, and Mike called me on the CB and asked if I had just run over something? No. Something is wrong with the way the RV is handling (defugalty) so we all pulled off at Chehalis and discovered a 12” section of tread had come off one of the front tires.

Ratz! So, we pulled the rig into some shade, and mostly with the two son’s good work, got the tire off, removed the Honda 110 from the back so we could get the spare out, and put it on. The lake was beautiful, and our spot was actually really nice, with neighbors on only 1 side of us. It was getting extremely hot and another defugalty slowly became evident. The site got full sun for about four hours each afternoon, the hottest part of the day, but since we were on power, they could run the A/C as much as needed, and it was needed a lot. Didn’t get shade until very late afternoon. It became quickly evident that there wasn’t going to be much quality fishing time, but hoped that after the weekenders departed, things would settle down, which they did, somewhat. Kevin had bought what I would call a sled, to pull people behind the big boat.

The kids had the best time riding in this.

It was a huge thing with places for three people to sit and hold onto handles. A tad heavy for the boat to pull, but quite enjoyable for the riders. It became a continual play station for the kids, and they were in the water most of the time. From the standpoint of entertaining young children, this was a good campsite, and the adults who went into the water were able to keep cool. Too chilly for the old guy however, so I spent most of the time sitting in any shade I could find, and thoroughly enjoying the younger people playing, and babysitting as needed. We grilled hamburgers Sunday night and the four Suzuki girls took off a little before dark. Getting back to fishing, which was the underlying intent of this annual event, on several occasions different combinations of people tried fishing, with absolutely no luck. Too much water traffic, and, we do not know how and where to fish this lake. Oh, I must mention, Kevin DID catch one small trout which they made him throw back due to lack of size, and Mike caught what looked like a 3 inch bug-eyed fish. It was so small he didn't even know it was on his line. Of course it got tossed back. Wish I got a picture of it to show.

As Sunday wound down, Kev, Mike, Corinna, Barney and Paul hung out with the kids so Dad got to take his very tired body to Kevin’s tent trailer. Now a “normal” father/son’s fishing trip entails playing cards and drinking beer most of the night, usually breaking up about daybreak, or when they have run out of beer. This is a “traditional” activity which the boys truly enjoy. However, I got a surprise about 3:15 AM, just as I was getting up to “shake the dew off my lily” (as late old friend Jack Gazay often said), here comes Kevin and his monstrous dog Sammy. Instead of playing poker as usual, they played a game called “Balderdash”. The first game Barney won, the second I did. I guess that means that the 2 inlaws can out bullshit the family? MONDAY – Having Corinna along relieved me of the major cooking responsibilities, which was sweet. I suggested bringing along the crock-pot, and she gave us a couple crock-pot recipes in advance. One was brown sugar chicken thighs and one was a kahlua pork roast. As she started to prepare the pork she announced the meat was spoiled and that I should return it to Albertsons for replacement. So, she prepared the thighs for slow cooking. MISI and I ran into Morton, about 18 miles away, and bought another pork roast and some misc. groceries, including lots of ice which we really went through quickly in the heat. We ended up using the spoiled pork for crab bait later in the week. The kids sometimes joined by Kevin and Mike, played in the water most of the day, thoroughly enjoy the “sled” and taking some rides on it. Eventually Corinna got to go while I watched 2-year old Elektra, who is a little doll, and no trouble whatsoever. During the course of the day, the boat went out several times for fishing or sled pulling, and Barney and Paul took the Hi-Laker out for a couple hours of fishing, with no luck. Neither boat has a sun cover and it was not comfortable sitting in the hot sun for too long. Kevin tried his hand at water skiing but never was able to get up on the ski's. He said the ski's were not made for MEN. So I tried my hand at it. I don't know how many times I tried to get up,(a dozen? 2 dozen?) but the longest was only for about 2 seconds. I guess the ski's weren't made for Women either. But at least I can say I tried. Mike wouldn't even think about it. The next several days I really felt the torture I had put my out of shape body thru. Ouch! The highlight of this day was taking my suggestion to drive up the inlet channel to find a place to have dinner on the Newman. The Cowletz River is a good-sized river, coming down off Mt. Rainer, and has several power dams on it. Mayfield Lake, behind Mayfield Dam, is quite large, and at one end there is the old river channel that is quite narrow for a mile or two, and you can boat almost up to the next dam. The trees and natural vegetation are quite lush and beautiful, and as soon as we got into the narrow part, in the shade from the hot afternoon sun, it began to cool down, and was MOST welcome. We went up to the dam and then coming back pulled behind a tiny rock island, where we had our picnic/supper. We brought the whole crock pot along and even through a mis-understanding between Corinna and me, we had NO silverware, we dipped our bowls into the crockpot, got some juice and a chicken thigh, and added some baked beans, and ate with our fingers. “C” is a marvelous cook and it was DEELICIOUS! The boys called it a “waxing eloquent” moment and so much fun.

The 3 Brown Men. No doubt they are all related!

Elektra loved being up front face first in the boat. She is definitely a water sign!

We hiked up this after eating dinner.

Barney and Paul had already left, so I got sucked into the evening games session. When we got back from the picnic ride, we got a nice campfire going, like we really needed the heat after a VERY hot day (the outside RV thermometer read 100), we needed it for ambiance and to eliminate the irritating little knats that swarmed around us. They got to talking about the Balderdash game the previous night, so we ended up playing a shortened version. Kevin, who almost never loses at games, got beaten by Mike on the last round. TUESDAY – After approximately four hours of sleep, I was a little tired when the sun finally hit the canopy, so I got up and again went out for a Cappuccino and sweet roll. It was sitting by the lake when I got back, that I decided to do something that would probably upset some of the family. I had sat around all day Monday, admittedly enjoying myself watching the family play, but was just too tired to do it a second day. My wife, was having a heck of a time with a hot house, and, I sorta missed her, so I decided to head on home today instead of Wednesday morning as planned. Kevin, when he finally showed up, understood, but it took a while before I got up courage to tell Mike, and he and Corinna seemed genuinely disappointed to have me leave. We were sad to see him leave. Maybe I should of made him cook or clean something so he'd stick around longer.

As it turned out, I stayed until 8:00 PM Tuesday night, and while I refused to ride in the sled, which periodically would pitch riders out in rough water, I did drive the boat to pull Mike & Kev. VERY hard to get the Newman up on plane with that much weight on the sled, but a couple times I did, and managed to dump Mike, which was a hoot. “C’s” pork roast was scrumptious, which she somehow shredded and put over rolls, plus a salad. Oh forgot, I had picked up a huge salami stick, and for breakfast, Corinna made scrambled eggs with cheese, salami, and I don’t know what else, that was SO good. I might re-marry if I could find a really good cook, who enjoys cooking. WEDNESDAY Kevin and Rivers went home and Mike the kids and I drove the Dazy to Suzy’s for the night. The kids had a ton of fun riding in thier Go-Cart. Caleb enjoyed the big yard to hit golf balls. Anyone surprised?

Barney even dug a small hole, put a tin can in it, then mowed the grass very short around it to give Caleb a "green".

While Zachary had been on the Go-Cart Caleb sprayed them with the hose, so when it was Calebs turn to ride, Zachary SOAKED them!

Every time they came around a corner, there was Zachary waiting with the hose.

Alaina has a pet Bearded Dragon named Rosie. Although nobody is sure if its a boy or girl yet. I was surprised at the personality Rosie had. But dont worry, we have enough pets!

Wed night all the kids, Mike included, played the WII. It really is a fun game console. I watched them for the most part until Mike wanted to play Bowling with me. I won. Oh YA!! Thursday We all piled into the RV to go to Mikes parents, including Suzy and the girls. Of course, since its a BROWN family trip, there has to be a defugalty as Grumpa would say. We pulled off the road to meet Kevin when Mike checked the OTHER front tire and noticed a huge bulge in it. Its tread just waiting to come off. There was a tire shop near by so we headed there. While waiting for 2 new front tires to be put on, we went across the street to Kmart where they had a Little Ceasars. This is how Zachary passed the time. He's a White Rapper. You go Zachary! We finally made it out to his parents house. Almost immediately we headed down to the beach. Mike wanted to get in some good crabbing time. We sure did! By the end of the week he had caught at least 25! We also caught some starfish. One that measured at least 2 feet across! Low tide lets us find sand dollars and small crabs that dont go out with the tide. Elektra wanted to spend most of her time in the water. Oh wait, she did! Zachary got to drive the boat several times while we were crabbing. He LOVED it! He also did very well. High tides are not as much fun as the low tides. This is a crab pot. You put your bait in the cage in the middle, then lower the big cage into the water. It sits on the sea floor and the crabs (and starfish) crawl in the doors to get the bait, but the doors are IN only, and they cant get out. After half and hour to an hour you pull it out of the water, and hopefully it will be full of crabs. We never caught more than a couple at a time. When theres a starfish in it, the crabs will not go in. They are natural enemies. After you catch them, you chop them in half immediately, then boil them for about 4-5 mins. YUMMMMMY!!!!! Mike worked really hard at peeling the ones that didnt get eaten, then he made a cream cheese crab dip that everyone munched on. It was really good. When Elektra wasn't playing IN the water, she was playing WITH it! She loved to water Grammas beautiful flowers. That blur is Zachary. I dont think any of the boys ever walked. Just ran. Mikes parents are in the middle, then Kevin, someones legs ?, Barney, one of the girls, Aunt Donna and Aunt Jan (Mikes dads sisters) This was pretty much how Elektra's face was all the time. A huge smile and lots of laughter! How did the kids sleep? Very well. They had so much more room, but at night we would put on the DVD player in the RV for them, and then they'd fall asleep. Just like this! We moved them to their proper places when we came in for bed. Zachary found a "Zebra" bug. It actually a banded alder borer. If we would of known that collectors pay good money for this bug, we would of kept it! (I looked it up) Ugh Zachary, I cant believe you were so brave as to let it crawl this high on you! Saturday was the big Family Reunion. I thought I had pictures, but I dont have any...too bad, because it was a great reunion. It was on Mikes dad's side from his mothers side. There was at least 50+ people there. It was held not to far from his parents house, at one of the cousins place. Which by the way, was beyond beautiful! They had it catered. Then one of the cousins from dads generation gathered everyone and introduced all the cousins who then introduced all their families. It was really neat to listen to the older generation talk about their lives as youngsters. I hope that our generation will keep up the reunions. This is cousin Kevins motorcycle. The kids all ooohhhed and aaawwwed over it. Make that the BIG kids too! And no Caleb and Elektra, you may NOT ride or drive one of these when you are older. Mikes cousins, Kevin and Sharon came in also. They are Aunt Jans kids. They are the same age range as Suzy, Kevin, and Mike. Kevins wife and two kids (not children, but adults now) couldn't make it. Sharon brought her 4 girls. They are 14,12,10 & 8. Suzys girls are 14 & 10. Rivers is 6. All the cousins got along wonderfully! On Sunday we went to Kevins house. (Mikes brother Kevin that is) They have a great basement that everyone hung out in playing ping pong and WII. I was pretty exhausted by this point, so I sat down on their big chair. Caleb and Elektra climbed on my lap and the 3 of us fell asleep. They continued to play the games next to us, but we were so tired, we weren't even bothered by all the noise! This is the only picture any of us have of cousin Sharon! She is in the background playing ping pong. This is cousin Kevin. He too is playing ping pong, so he doesnt normally look like that. I love this picture that Kevin took. Its going on my facebook and myspace! We left Kevins house Monday about 11. Another late start since Mike and the Kevins were up till 4 playing WII. We headed back to Medford,OR and stayed in the same hotel in the room across from our first room. The next morning we headed back to CA. We decided to head over to the coast and drive down the one and see the Redwood trees. Again the kids were great! Today ended up being a much longer day due to construction that had us stopped for long periods of time. But that was OK, because I had finished reading Twilight to Mike on our way north, and was now reading New Moon, the 2nd book in the series. I finished reading it right when we pulled into the blue houses driveway just after midnight. The kids were fascinated by the gigantic trees in the Redwood Forest. We even took a small little road to go look at some up close. We all needed a break to stretch our legs, so we stopped at the beach for about half an hour. It was a tiny bit chilly, but beautiful. Stretch Zachary! You still have 5 more hours in the car! When Leonard and Michelle came over on Wed they noticed all the sand in the car, along with wrappers and fast food packages, and papers, and toys, and feathers, and God only knows what else. Well, this is where the sand came from! (yes daddy, your car is now spotless thanks to Leonard being appalled by it and taking it to a car wash, although he may never want to show his face in there again!) We had a great trip together. It was wonderful seeing all the extended family members and we came back thoroughly exhausted, but satisified. Just what you should be like after a 12 day trip with 4 of it being in a car.