Hannah and Caleb started school again on August 8th and this year they're both high schoolers. Hannah is now a senior and Caleb is a freshman, and they're both going to Sierra Lutheran High School. We are so proud of our kids and thankful they can attend such a great school.
The first week of August, Hannah flew by herself up to Montana to spend time with her Grandpa and Grandma Potts. Grandpa and Grandma had recently sold their beautiful place in Gallatin Gateway to move into a smaller and much easier place to maintain in Churchill. It was a wonderful time for Hannah to reconnect with her grandparents.
Grandpa and Grandma on the front porch of their new home in Churchill.
Bob's Dad assuming his favorite position.
Before moving in, Grandpa and Grandma remodeled and update their new house. This is a picture of their new living room.
Grandma's new kitchen.
Looking out to their backyard.
Bob's Dad and Mom, his brother Jim, and Hannah alongside one of the wheat fields that surround Churchill.
Hannah out fishing with her Grandpa.
Now this is the way to go fishing!
Bob's Dad at the controls of his fishing boat on Hyalite Lake.
One of the many small trout Grandpa and Hannah caught while fishing together.
After every school year we've tried to encourage our kids by giving them a graduation present. This year we sent Hannah to Ireland with the youth group from our church and bought Caleb a new Nikon D3400 DSLR camera. Hannah caught this picture of him as he started opening his gift.
Caleb surprised and pleased.
Bob showing Caleb some of the features of his new camera and how to use them.
The first picture Caleb took with his new camera was this picture of Hannah taking a picture of him.
A couple of weeks after giving Caleb his new camera, he joined Bob and Hannah for an early morning photo shoot while camping next to Summit Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park. To see all of the pictures he took while on that photo shoot, CLICK HERE.
To go to our Lassen trip camping page, CLICK HERE.
One of the images taken by Caleb while on our Summit Lake photo shoot.
One of the pictures Hannah took while on our Summit Lake photo shoot.
To see all of Hannah's pictures, CLICK HERE.
By Hannah
By Caleb
One of the other things we did while camping in Lassen was to take the very fun and scenic three mile hike to Cold Boiling and Crumbaugh Lakes.
This picture of Lisa and the kids was taken at Crumbaugh Lake.
For a topo map and stats of this hike, CLICK HERE.
One of the other big adventures we did this year while camping at Lassen was to hike from Summit Lake all the way to Butte Lake in the northeastern corner of the park. Bob and Hannah did the full hike, while Lisa and Caleb drove around to shuttle them back and to hike part way up to meet them on the four mile trail to the top of Cinder Cone. In total the trip for Bob and Hannah was 13.4 miles long. This sign says it's only 9.6 miles, but they took a detour to Snag Lake which added another 3.8 miles to their hike.
For a topo map and stats of the route we took, CLICK HERE.
On June 23rd, Bob and Caleb joined a number of dads and their sons from our church for a weekend river trip down the Middle Fork of the American River. Unlike most of the other river trips we've been on, this was a very exciting, one-day guided paddle raft trip. In total the trip covered 18 miles and we went through 16 class III and IV rapids. This picture was taken of us as we headed into Tunnel Chute rapid a class IV+ rapid.
Tunnel Chute is where the river drops 80 feet through a very narrow chute about 18 feet wide and then goes underground for about 90 feet as it travels through a tunnel blasted by the gold miners years ago.
To view a sequence of pictures running Tunnel Chute rapid on the Middle Fork of the American River, CLICK HERE.
Looking down into and preparing for one of the big holes in Tunnel Chute rapid.
And into the hole they go. It was a great run as everyone came out of the hole, and no one came out of the boat.
It's well worth the time to look through the sequence of pictures on this page.
Bob and his wonderful kids celebrating Fathers Day. This year Lisa and the kids blessed him with the great book on the table in front of Hannah.
You can go through an on-line version of this book by paging though the embedded version to the right. Make sure and set it to "Full Screen" so you can read through all the great things they wrote.
One of the other great things we did this summer was go on a group camping trip to Great Basin National Park. Great Basin is a wonderful park with beautiful backcountry, alpine lakes, the second highest peak in Nevada, really great caverns, and an amazing night sky.
This is a picture of Wheeler Peak, the centerpiece feature of in Great Basin National Park and the second highest mountain in Nevada at 13,065 feet.
Another wonderful feature in Great Basin are the Lehman Caves.
This is a picture of our Great Basin camping group in Lehman Caves. From left to right are Hannah, Chris England, Caleb, Erin Nason, Kathrine and Phil Spargo, Alex Heindl, Frank Nason, Lisa and Bob. It was a great group!
For a full write up of this trip make sure you visit our Great Basin Camping Trip page.
Caleb and Hannah on the summit of Wheeler Peak (13,065 feet).
The big hike/climb we did on our Great Basin camping trip was the 8.2 mile, 3,000 foot elevation gain hike to the 13,605 summit of Wheeler Peak. It was a very rewarding climb, and Caleb and Hannah were the first to summit.
For a full write up of our hike and climb to the summit of Wheeler Peak, make sure you visit our Wheeler Peak hiking page.
For a full write up of our hike and climb to the summit of Wheeler Peak, make sure you visit our Wheeler Peak hiking page.
Hannah and her good friend Alex Heindl on the Timber Creek Trail.
The other great hike we went on while on our Great Basin camping trip was to hike up Timber Creek and back down the South Fork of Baker Creek. This was a great three hour, 6.5 miles hike through some of the most beautiful country to be found anywhere in Nevada.
Click here for a fun video of this great hike taken by Hannah on her phone using an app called "relive".
Click here for a fun video of this great hike taken by Hannah on her phone using an app called "relive".