Camping Photos

Click the photo to go to the website with the slideshow of our camping photos.

Finally getting some layouts made!

I have still been having computer woes, but perhaps I have finally solved my problems, at least for the moment my programs are up and running at a decent rate of speed again. As much as I love "playing" on my computer, I am definitely not a computer wiz! Hopefully all my computer needed was the "registery cleaning" after all the time I have put in to trying to make it run effeciently I will be mad if it dies any time soon. It is about 5 years old but until recently it has always worked great and does what I need it to do. I guess time will tell and in the mean time I am even more diligent about backing up all my stuff. As long as my new external hard drives don't quit like the old one, I will be in good shape. Photos I am a bit more obsessive about and they have always routinely been backed up to a disk as well, so in all my woes I have not lost any of my photos. Enough rambling about my computer.

We went camping "up north" with some friends last weekend and had a good (but rainy) time. I am downloading my photos from the SD card as we speak and hope I have some good ones. It rained a lot during our time at Harrisville State Park and on Saturday afternoon it also hailed. By the time the storm passed the ground looked as if it had snowed. Crazy!! We slept nice and dry in our pop up camper....our friends were a bit more damp in their tent. Over all though it was still fun. We love this campground as we had an awesome site right on the beach. We fell asleep at night listening to the waves and while sitting at our campfire we watched the almost full moon rise above the water each night. Unfortunately on the east coast of Michigan you don't get the awesome sunsets...but it is the only place I have ever seen the moon rise on the water and it is a site to behold. I tried my hand at taking some night photos of the moon...we shall see how they turn out. At least this year I remembered my tripod...last year I forgot the piece to mount the camera to the tripod :)

I spent all Sunday evening washing the damp and wet dirty stuff from camping. Today has been a rainy day, so since we are stuck indoors I have been cleaning my house...fun, fun, fun!

We are anxiously awaiting next weekend to travel to Iowa for our annual visit with Danielle's family and friends. The kids are very excited to go swimming and to try out the new golf clubs Grandma and Grandpa got for them. Oh and of course to drive the golf cart around and around and around Grandpa's yard.

New Email addresses

Gary and I switched internet/cable service providers, so we each have new email addresses!

danielleclippard@wowway.com

garyclippard@wowway.com

Kyle's 3rd Birthday

I am a month late in posting birthday photos, but normally I post scrapbook layouts and since I haven't gotten but one done in the past month, I decided to post pictures instead. If you click on the title you will be taken to the photo album with Kyle's birthday photos. He had a good celebration the weekend before his birthday with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan and Matthew traveling in from Chicago and Grandma Betty and Papa Randall coming in from Iowa. And of course the Clippard side was present as well :) If anyone notices....I am aware that Kyle had the same Elmo cake last year for his 2nd birthday, but he insisted on having Elmo again for birthday #3. He still loves Elmo and Sesame Street!! We had cupcakes and more presents on the following Tuesday which was Kyle's actual birthday. He got to help make them which he thought was great fun!

Preschool Field Trip

Megan's class met at a local Nature Center and a guide taught them about animals and the nature around them on a walk and during a tour through the nature center. They got to touch a turtle and a snake and look a a frog. Megan thought it was all very cool.

click on the title to go to the photo album with Nature Center pictures!

Washington Oregon Trip

During May Gary had a business conference in Portland, Oregon. I flew out and met him and we spent 6 kid-less days exploring. We spent a day on the coast of Oregon driving from Tillamook to Seaside (in the rain) but it was still beautiful. Day 2 we drove north to Astoria and crossed the bridge into Washinton and drove up the western coast. We stopped at several state parks and saw some cool lighthouses and scenery. That night we made our way into Seattle. We stayed for 2 nights and toured most of the popular sites. We also took time to drive by the house where we lived in Kirkland and checked out the neighborhood. Not exactly like I remembered it from 30 years ago.... Day4 we drove to Mt Rainier from Seattle. It was the only day it did NOT rain on us, we had clear beautiful skies. We drove around the mountain counter-clockwise and had to go 1 1/2 hours out of our way on the south side as Steven's Pass still was not opened due to snow. We stayed the night on top of the mountain at Paradise Inn. It was a cool hotel built during the Depression and had just reopened after being refurbished for the past 2 years. Our room was the size of a closet and it had no phone or TV but it was still a really cool place and they still had so much snow it was hard to believe. Day 5 we drove back to Oregon and traveled along the Columbia Gorge. It was so beautiful, there was just waterfall after beautiful waterfall. We stopped at all the scenic views and took little hikes and I took lots of pictures. Our last stop was Multnomah Falls, we hiked all the way to the top and it was a hike...UP!! Then we at the restraunt at the Falls. The next day we got up early, turned in our rental car and spent an entire day flying back to Michigan and our dear lovely children! Kyle says we are never to leave him again! Even so the kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Handley and are now wondering when they are coming to stay again?!?!?

You can click on the title if you would like to see my photo album of this trip, but be prepared it contains lots of pictures!

Kindergarten Class Picnic

Justin is still in school until June 16th. Today was his final party. We had a picnic outside on the playground. The kids had a blast. Click on the title to this post "Kindergarten Class Picnic" at the top to follow the link to see all the pictures.

Preschool Graduation Pictures

Megan's last day of preschool was June 6th and we had a big party outside at her school. The kids had a blast playing in the little pools and sprinklers. The preschool is located at our church. One of the things the kids get at the end of the year is a certificate telling which Fruit of the Spirit they display the most...Megan's was PATIENCE. Obviously she behaves differently at school than at home :)

About a month ago my External Hard Drive crashed and died which has been causing me a lot of delays in keeping up on my computer. I have only just started digital scrapbooking again as it has taken me quite some time to reconstruct my files to my satisfaction. Anyway here are some pictures with more to follow, just click on the link. http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/danigary/Megans%20KCP%20graduation%20June%202008/?albumview=slideshow