COWBOY UP!!

Our 2nd week of vacation this year was wet, wild and wonderful!

It started with a 2 day white water rafting trip on the Salmon River in Idaho. The weather was perfect- warm and sunny, and the water was cold and refreshing when we jumped in, but not freezing. We camped along the shore of the river on soft white sand that made for comfortable sleeping under the million stars. The rapids were way fun and definitely worth all that paddling and sun screen slathering!

Next on our agenda was a trip to Rexburg to see Rachel and Nate. We arrived on Thursday before Rachel was off work, so we dropped by the Bridal store where she works to surprise her. We got to see her in action, measuring men for tux rentals and helping brides pick out their dream dress. We all went to dinner that evening down in Idaho Falls at their favorite steak restaurant called the Texas Roadhouse. It is a very casual place with a metal bucket of peanuts at each table and you are encouraged to throw the shells on the floor. They have huge steaks, BBQ ribs and chicken to die for and the best hot homemade rolls served with honey butter. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Rachel and Nate have the cutest little house and Rachel has done a darling job of decorating it.


The next day we all drove up to Montana to spend a couple of days at the ranch. The ranch is gorgeous, a beautiful valley with a river running through it surrounded by mountains. I told Nate he had 3 days to "hickify" Jared. He did his best. Jared got to feed carrots to a horse and even kissed the horse on the nose! Nate took him fishing in the river right behind the ranch house.

Nate let Jared drive the swather (cuts the hay in the field) and Chuck got to drive a tractor- they were both pretty excited. Jay tried to pick up a 180lb bale of hay. Nate says it is called "buckin' hay".





































Everyone got to ride around the ranch on the ATV's that are kept up there, and Dad & Jared got to chase cows through the mud in the river bottom. Chuck even made some friends with the lambs in the pasture. There were lots of animals on the ranch, besides the cows, horses, and lambs there were also chickens, ducks, turkeys and 2 dogs. I told Jared I would pay him $50 if he could catch a rooster, and although he spent 3 days trying, I never had to pay up.

Nate took the whole family up in the hills above the ranch for some target practice. It was the first time either Jared or Chuck had ever shot a shotgun- the recoil just about knocked them over. Nate also had two .22 caliber rifles that we all took turns shooting. It was a wonderful experience to be out on the farm away from TVs and cell phones. Just the crickets at night to put us to sleep and those dad-blasted roosters in the morning to wake us up.





It was really hard to say goodbye to Rachel and Nate and start the long drive back home, but it was satisfying to see how happy Rachel is, and how much she loves Nate and obviously loves being married. She took such good care of us all the time we were there. My little Jo Jo is all growed up!!

Whistler Vacation

FAMILY VACATION TIME

Although we have been too busy to go the past 2 years (last year we had a wedding), a summer trip to Whistler has been a family tradition for the Escotos. There is so much more to do there in the summer than winter. As Becca is leaving for college soon, this may be one of our last vacations with her, so we made the most of it. We frequently ATV, hike, swim, ride bikes, roller blade, eat out a lot and shop, shop, shop! I frequently do a lot of my Christmas shopping on the Whistler trip, but this year the terrible exchange rate put an end to that.

This year we tried a new activity- paintballing. Jared, Becca & Chuck loved it- me, not so much. You have to be fast and agile, darting from rock to stump and crouching low to avoid being hit. We had 11 people playing, Jared the youngest at 13, all the rest 15-20 year old boys. Then there were us old folks. You could practically hear the boys groan when I walked out on the field! They were thrilled with Becca however, and she proved to be pretty good, winning the game by capturing the flag for our team. chuck was able to keep up with those young'uns just fine. But I was a definite liability. I kept shooting my own team members because my face mask was so fogged up from all my huffing and puffing running up( well, walking really) and down the hills, I couldn't tell who was friend or foe. The most interesting part of the game was the fact that the local bear population loves the taste of the paint (it's non-toxic) and as soon as the game starts and the bears hear the sound of the guns they come for a snack. They just amble right onto the playing field and start licking the ground, stumps, tires and anything else that has been hit. They totally ignore the people, but they aren't shy around them either. They will come within a couple of yards. Whenever one of them wandered onto the field, we would have to stop play, while the referee would chase them off with sirens and firecrackers. Pretty soon they would be back- in fact one of them climbed a tree right in the middle of one of the playing fields, so we had to vacate it for another field.

This year for the first time Jared rented a high-tech mountain bike and took it on the gondola to the top of Whistler mountain and rode down! He loved it. Actually he did it 4 times . Chuck was so psyched!! He could never get any of us girls to go with him, so he has been riding the mountain solo for years. Now, he has a riding buddy.

We all have our favorite stores and restaurants, that we go back to year after year. This year Chuck made a point of recreating some pictures we had taken in years past of the kids when they were little in front of their favorite places. I wonder how long it will take me to get around to scrapbooking them all!

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

These last two weeks I have been covering a dog-walking route for my friend who is on vacation. I have gotten a real taste of what this career can be. It can be a lot of fun (especially when the weather is gorgeous) and lucrative. I walked 4-5 of her dogs each day and made over $1000 in the 2 week period. Consider that is only working 4 hours a day. A lot of professional dog walkers have 10-15 dogs daily!! The most important aspect for me is that it is something I LOVE to do. Each day you have a new combination of dogs which makes it a whole new adventure. Each dog has its own personality, there is the crabby old lady, the class clown, the intense- all business, ball obsessed, the socialite who has to greet everyone she passes, and the dog that entertains himself- off in his own little world. It is like being surrounded by a group of your best friends, and best of all they adore me because I give them treats. It makes my day that the dogs are so excited to see me when I arrive, and race out to jump in my truck for another day of fun and games. Who needs Prozac? Just let me walk dogs and all is right with the world.

This is my son Jared just prior to his begining his paper route. Of course with 800+ papers its become a family activity. The first day it took us 9 hours then 8 hours, last night we got it done in 5 hours, so we are getting better.

I'VE BECOME A PAPER BOY!!

Yes, it's true- I've become a paper boy!! Of course, I'm not the only one, as Chuck and Jared are involved in this new business adventure as well. Jared has been looking for ways to make money this summer. It is hard for a 13 year old to find jobs that make serious money. When the local Bellevue Reporter advertised that it was looking for delivery personnel for some of its routes, Chuck and I thought it was the perfect opportunity. Chuck had a paper route from the time he was 11 til age 16 and thought it would be a good experience for Jay.

However, this is a whole different animal than the route Chuck knew as a kid- he delivered 100 papers, whereas our route is 800 papers! The very first day it took us 9 hours to fold the papers, stuff them in a plastic sleeve, wrap the paper with a rubber band, find all the addresses and throw the papers. That was with 3 people working!! 2ND day it was 8 hours- we're getting better. Luckily this paper is only delivered twice a week- Wednesdays and Saturdays. All this, just to get Jared a summer job.

More exciting news in our household as well- Chuck has been offered a promotion with his company as a National Account Manager. It will involve more traveling than he is doing now, about the same amount as he was doing years ago when he was a District Manager. His area will cover the Northwest ( WA,OR, ID, and UT) plus No Calif and Arizona. Although he is not that excited about the travel, it is an opportunity to do something different, as he was getting bored after being a sales rep for so many years, plus there is always the additional $$$. If nothing else, it will look spectacular on his resume when the time comes to make another career change.

Becca is leaving this am for her vacation- which is a week in Canada at a special youth conference for our church known as EFY (Especially For Youth). This is her 4th EFY, the others being in Utah, Idaho, and Washington. This year is special because she is old enough that she and her best friend Carly White are driving to Canada by themselves- their first official ROAD TRIP! They have been waiting for this for a long, long time. They just walked out the door with spoons and a large jar of Nutella in their hands to satisfy any chocolate cravings during their trip.

I love my dog walking business, it is a lot of fun. I not only enjoy the dogs, but the owners as well. Anyone who would spend that kind of money just to let their dog have fun is my kind of person!! I am getting more confident handling multiple dogs simultaneously and am anxious to build up my client base. I have gotten somewhat sidetracked by the paper route, but it is time to get back into investing time into my own advertising. So, if you know anyone who wants their dog walked.......

It is officially summer

The kids are all out of school and summer has officially begun at the Escoto household.

Becca is working full-time as a nanny besides being responsible for laundry and cooking dinner every night at our house.

Jared is doing summer school, tennis team, distributing flyers for my business and walking dogs around our own neighborhood, washing cars and anything he can think of to earn money.

Chuck is spending this week in Denver and New Jersey interviewing for a promotion with his company. He has started playing some golf with Jared, so his knee is slowly improving. He still gimps a little bit, and winces when he steps on it the wrong way.

My business is starting to move. I picked up a new client last week that has 2 dogs, and I am meeting with another client on Friday for the first time, who is looking for a walker for her lab 2-3 days a week. I am still walking Carol Fairbanks' dog (I take Fozzi to Marymoor 2 days a week and Jared walks him around the neighborhood the other 3) but not for pay, I am trading walking for embroidery services. She is embroidering matching dog collars with my business name and phone number, in case I lose a dog, whoever finds it will know who to call. She is also embroidering my business name on sweatshirts, hats and rain jackets so that I can advertise everywhere I go. Soon I will be known as the "Moosepaw Lady"!!

Rain, rain, go away

It has rained the entire week, which is dismal after the gorgeous, warm week that it followed. speaking of rain, a funny thing happened to me at the dog park today. The off-leash dog-park I take Kobe to is 60 acres of fields with a river running through it. Kobe always loves to wade into the water up to his chin, (he is too lazy to actually swim), and while he is out there I throw dog biscuits to him. Most people throw tennis balls for their dogs to wildly jump in the water to fetch, however, Kobe could care less about retrieving ( he is a herding dog, remember?) and the only thing he is not too lazy to chase is food. Well, as most fishermen know, fish come to the surface when it starts to rain, I guess they think the droplets are insects landing on the water. At any rate, every time I would throw a dog biscuit to Kobe a fish would eat it before he could get to it. It was driving him crazy. He would see the biscuit fly through the air, and the splash when it hit, but when he got to it, magically it had disappeared. Pretty soon I had a whole gallery of people (yes, I am not the only maniac willing to walk my dog in the rain) watching this crazy fish practically jumping out of the water to get those biscuits!!

Chuck is now officially off his crutches and cleared to go back to work on Monday. Actually, he will be flying to San Francisco early Monday am and be down there most of the week. So he goes from no activity to full speed.

Becca will be graduating this week, with Baccalaureate and seminary graduation tomorrow. She is glad to have her senior boards over. Just 2 more finals to take and it is all over but the shouting and the clapping.

Jared's final band concert is this week, so his school year is winding down as well, just not as quickly as Becca's. Jared is hoping to get a job for the summer delivering newspapers. So maybe all 4 of us will be working this summer. Yikes!