Here's the three of us. George really wishes he could wear a cool fishing shirt like me. But he has no desire to actually catch a fish (let alone gut one). If you ever get a chance, ask him about the time he came along when we went deer hunting some seven years ago...

Here's Marilyn with our good friend George, from back when we lived in Olympia, WA. Christian and George worked as consultants for the same company for several years.

Another shot of the same. There is something mighty fine about sitting outside next to a large body of water like the ocean or Puget Sound, especially when the place you are sitting serves good beer and sandwhiches.

Here she is sitting out in front of the Steilacom Pub, with a coffee shop across the street in the background.

Cool view of Mt. Raineer, peeking through the haze in the distance.

Marilyn obviously has not been eating much pizza.

These shots were taken later in the day as we're riding back across the Sound on the ferry. You can tell Marilyn is feeling better now that she's had a nap.

Who, me??? I'm innocent! Honest!

...and After. Mmmm. Who'd been snitching Grandmas pizza?

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen: Before...

Marilyn and Ciarra, both looking beautiful. I think they could pass for sisters, don't you?

Jake on the other hand would rather sit and relax as he reads about elk. Not a bad plan when you are vacationing on an island...

He also likes to ride his motorcycle. Very fast.

Did I mention my stepdad Kevin? Kevin likes to invent things...

And so are these...

My siblings all make fun of me because I like flower shots. I am obviously deeply concerned about what they think of me (ha). Dang these are pretty!

And yet again.

And again.

And again.

Here's a closer shot - check out the variance of hues in individual petals.

She also has some beautiful flowers. One of the things I love about WA is the fact that Rhodedendrums grow everywhere.

Did I mention my mom has a plethora of critters, ranging from chickens to ducks to dogs and cats and even a couple of goats.

...or maybe she's just trying to get used to the scent of farm animals.

And speaking of cute little girls, here's my own sweet Rebekah. Why's she wrinkling up her nose? Either the sun is too bright...

And here's a shot of Saint Jen, with little Samuel. It's a little blurry because I shot it without a flash, but I love the warmth the picture exudes.

For some incomprehensible reason, Hannah has decided that she likes me a lot. For my part, simply accept it without trying to understand it.

Speaking of sweet daughters, here's Naomi's sister Hannah.

Of course there is hope in all this, as evidenced by Jake's daughter Naomi. Naomi has the sweetest personality and the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. She also likes flowers. Every time I see her and her little sister Hannah, they both come and give me big hugs. So God must obviously have compassion on the wives even as he humbles their husbands...

Of course, she went and married Nicholas, who as you can see has a thing for cats. So much for Mia...

Here's my sweet sister-in-law Ciarra, who probably never did anything wrong as a child.

Remember that verse about "judgment is mine, sayith the Lord?" I'm fairly certain this takes the form of kids, as in "everything you ever did as a child will come back to haunt you in triplicate". Case in point: meet Korban, Uncle Jake's firstborn son.

My brother Jake is really the one to blame.

I didn't give her grey hair. I swear. At least not all of it anyway.

This is my mom, making pizza for lunch.

Hey, Samuel's outfit changed! That's probably because he chucked on the previous one since that's what babies do when they eat lots of food. Besides, he likes blue better. Who wouldn't smile with clothes like these...

While Samuel is busy birding, his niece Mia is attending to more important matters.

Yeah, we thought it was funny too.

"Ooh...what IS that bird doing up there???"

Like typical Cryder kinds, the one thing Sam is a wee bit short on is hair. Here's a great shot of his nice shiny noggin.

Did I mention he likes to smile?

He also likes the bird in the birdcage

Samuel likes to smile

Jacob's son Samuel, sitting in Grandma's sunroom.

Here we are, at 5:45 AM on Friday morning, ferrying our way across the Puget Sound to Grandma's house on Anderson Island. Judging by the expressions on our kids' faces, they obviously slept more than we did the previous night.

Scroll up to see the rest of our trip unfold in photos...

Driving Through Montana

These are some miscellaneous photos we took while driving home from Seattle. Here we are looking southwest from I-90 as we heading from Missoula to Butte (we're still about 30 miles from Deerlodge here). Beautiful view on a fine afternoon...

(jump to the bottom if you'd like to see them in order)

...and watching out for what's ahead. Gotta love that Pipestone Pass.

Looking at what's behind...

Trucker Marilyn, barrelling up a steep grade in her 7.3 Liter Turbo Diesel.

Some fine looking farmland in the foreground, with some fine looking mountains in the background, and some fine looking sky and clouds in the distance. Montana is just plain fine.

And another one