The 3rd Annual Treasure Hunt in the Maze

In spite of a miserable weather report, we decided to go ahead with our treasure hunt.  Ron and I salted the mazes with treasures we had been gathering all year on Friday afternoon in the sunshine, hoping the sun would be some miracle last through Saturday.  Since we were expecting 20 children and 10 adults, we really needed a break with the weather.  Nature stood by us, and the day that started out with rain suddenly cleared up and gave us sunshine.

While Ron and I were out in the maze, we ran across a beautiful patch of Chantrelle mushrooms.  Several of our guests were familiar with them, so we fried them in butter and added them to our meal after the hunt.

I carried my camera all around the maze and realized when we got back that I hadn't taken a single picture.  The kids all had a great time, and Kyler even found a treasure left over from last year's hunt.  When we got back, we ate and then the kids all headed for the lake and the hot tub.  

Since it was the day before I drained the hot tub for the winter, we decided to make it into a bubble bath.

Then we all jumped into the lake to rinse off and have one last swim.

Today, fall is here, but we all were happy to have one last day of summer!

Enjoying Summer

As our wonderful summer extends into September, we have spent most of our time outside.  It has been too hot to stay in our non-air conditioned home for one thing.  However, the real sun worshippers live in Washington.  When the sun is shining, we're outside!

The PUD has been clearing all the trees around all the power lines in the entire county.  For the past couple of weeks, they've been working on our road.  We lost the tree that held our road sign, but gained

four big dump truck loads of beautiful mulch.  When we haven't been out on the bike, we've been spreading mulch.

One of our motorcycle rides took us across the bridge in Duvall and onto West Snoqualmie River Road.  Then we followed the winding back road into Carnation.

Past many beautiful fields full of flowers, and a roadside flower stand.

Past the Carnation Farms

and Camp Korey at Carnation Farms

Then we continued through the valley enjoying the farms and mountain vistas.

It's hard to say which is most beautiful - the Snoqualmie River valley or the Skagit valley.  Our next trip took us north instead of south, where we followed the roads through the fields of the Skagit. Potatoes, pumpkins, corn, and cucumbers are all currently being harvested.

Many fields of cabbages also look ready for harvest.
It really is a wonderful time of year in the waning days of summer, especially when the clear blue skies, sunshine, and summer temperatures stay with us.