Peterson News

This post is a collaborative effort between Jeff and Emi. Emi did the photos; Jeff, the text. (Did you see what I did there? "Jeff, the text" is an example of ellipsis.)

Justin and Kim stopped by our house at the end of June on their way to Idaho before all the reunions happened. It was great to have them for a day or two.We wish more people would come stay with us.

Ava and Rachel made a store in our back yard. They sold green apples, red potatoes, sugar snap peas, petite peas, lettuce, lavender, snapdragons, rocks, raspberries, an onion, and snails--all grown by us. The only currency they accepted was tortilla chips. A month has gone by, and the store remains though it now also includes blackberries, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, corn, and zucchini. It will soon likely include a large orange pumpkin. I have never had a garden ready for harvest so early. We have been eating potatoes since late June, our first planting of corn was done by the third week of July, and we already have one pumpkin completely orange and ready for Halloween.

 Justin and I found this bullfrog in our garden late Saturday night digging potatoes for Sunday dinner (the frog was not digging potatoes). We found it again the next day, and the kids had a hay day. It peed on all their hands, but that didn't stop them. It also made occasional crying sounds, but luckily we had no Lennie Small incidents, and it was soon set free.

  Louisa was convinced it needed to stay in a bucket.

The next set of photos are from the Tanner family reunion on Lake Cascade. Some of the pictures are from July 24 as we celebrated Pioneer Day.

 We had some successful gunny sack races. I believe I was the only person in the ready position at the start of the race. I think it must have been really hard for the pioneers to hop across the plains.

 Apparently there's a minute to win it game wherein participants use a combination of gravity and absurd facial expressions to guide a cookie from their forehead to their mouth. I found it much easier to put the cookie directly into my mouth and avoid the forehead altogether. In fact, I was able to eat many times the amount of cookies as other participants.

From the top left, clockwise. (1) James readying himself for the watermelon seed spitting contest. He  did not win. (2) Rachel and a cousin doing the hula hoop race. (3) Rachel making ice cream the way the pioneers did as they crossed the plains (their covered wagons abounded in ice, rock salt, cream, and ziplock baggies). (4) I have no idea. (5) Attention getting activity. Emi's family has 5 boys age 2 and under and 4 girls age 3 (in addition to a 4 year old, a couple of 5 year olds, some 6 year olds, and a few older children). With 9 kids 3 and under, it was like nursery. Someone had to do something to get their attention, and that someone was me. (6) Despite the immense size difference, I beat Steve Howard two out of two times in the stick pull.