The Gathering Umphrey Family Home Site

Dev was in charge of the cakes--so one was decorated with Lightening McQueen and the other with a Yankees symbol. 

This was one of the cars off the cake, but everyone seemed to know about Zoran’s car obsession. He got cars of all shapes and sizes, tractors, books about cars, clothes with cars on them, cases for cars...(and of course a few Diego and building things thrown in, too)

We had the party after the morning soccer games. Everyone was pretty hungry so we had lunch before cake and ice cream. 

Zoran and Bryce enjoying their cake.

Bryce and Isaac had a comfortable spot to watch Jenna play.

The girls did a pretty good job actually playing soccer most of the time they were on the field. Though I’m not sure why they decided to hold hands in the middle of the game here. And I did see Jenna get in a bit of cartwheel practice. I didn’t know girls actually played this little clapping games, but this is how Azia and Jenna amused themselves during halftime while they had a snack. 

Taken from Ken Scott’s Hughes 500 helicopeter, July 2007

The ride up provided good views of Flathead Lake, but the nicest part was the smells and colors of the woods, just beginning their autumn show.

Beach Bums--the ocean was the kids’ favorite part of the trip

Like father like son...he’s already completely brainwashed

Outside Angels stadium, waiting for the gates to open

Israel excited about his baseball. He had to run up to show Zoran and Azia. Dev (in the Mantle #7 jersey) stayed close to the field to try to get his own ball. 

Azia and Zoran liked the game, but they probably would’ve liked it a little more if it was a few innings shorter. Zoran spent a lot of time playing with his cars and of course, , as pictured, they were always lined up in an orderly fashion when he took a break to watch the game. I think Azia’s highlight of the game may have been her cotton candy.  She waited impatiently for two innings for one of the vendors to get close enough to hear her yelling “Cotton candy!...One cotton candy!” like all the people around us yelling to the peanut-selling guys. She did also like the waterfall in centerfield and cheering against the Yankees with all the Angels fans around us, but that last one really annoyed her dad. (I think that’s partially why she enjoyed it so much.)

The 3-D glasses worked a little too well for Zoran and Azia. Zoran thought monsters were coming to get him and Azia just hid for the whole show. She also hid for much of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion (though she later said it was her favorite), and pretty much all of Splash Mountain. (She was so far down in the boat she didn’t even show up in the photo they take when you go down the waterfall.)

Our age range made it a little difficult to formulate a plan for the day so for about half of it we split up. Zoran, Azia and I spent a lot of time in Fantasyland on rides like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and riding carousel horses and sitting in teacups.  Israel and Dev tried out the more adventurous rides. 

Ariel was very excited to talk to Ariel...until she got close to her. Then it was too scary. Zoran was brave though so eventually she decided to go with him. 

We spent way too long waiting in lines. Even going midweek didn’t seem to help. I think you can only go in January or February. At least in this line (and then once we got on the boat) Zoran kept himself busy “hunting” all the animal-shaped shrubbery. I think he killed a deer and a buffalo. It seemed like there was an elk or moose, too. 

It was a very long day for everyone, but Zoran didn’t quite make it out of the gates before he feel asleep. 

Hanging out on on Huntington Beach with Dad

Israel is all about catching the waves, and Azia spends her time playing in the sand and trying to look good. 

Zoran got dunked a few times and rolled in the waves. Then he spent most of the time just getting his feet wet and burying things (including himself) in the sand. 

On the days we didn’t get to the beach the kids thought we had to spend every free moment at the hotel pool. If we weren’t at the pool, they were looking at it longingly from our balcony. 

She has a great big belly laugh, and we hear it A LOT.  She’s a very happy, if somewhat intense, little girl.

Cuddling with Daddy. . .these two are best buds.  They drive each other absolutely nuts, though (they’re a lot alike)

Keilana is quite the actress. . .she was throwing a huge tantrum about 30 seconds before I snapped this picture.

Everyone’s always saying he looks just like Doug, and I don’t always see it because I get so focused on his eyes, which are NOT Doug’s. . .then I take a picture like this and its, “Oh, mini Doug”.

He is a fishy! Dylan LOVES the water!!

Enjoying some of the presents and cake at his cousin Clayton’s birthday party.

Next to food and water, dirt is his most favorite thing in the world.

I thought a side by side comparison might be helpful:) OK, so maybe they ARE Doug’s eyes!

Eighteen months and counting!

Shepp Ranch, on the beautiful Salmon River--the Wild and Scenic River Corridor through the Frank Church “River of No Return” Wilderness--the largest wilderness in the lower 48, was the scene of my civic duty.

Normally, the cost is $900 for 3 days, but I had a different deal.

My favorite meal in the evenings was the barbecued pork ribs, though the grilled salmon was also quite good--and, come to remember, the roast lamb was also tasty. That’s Crooked Creek on the left in the picture. The Salmon River isn’t really shown. 

So here’s a view of the river--the sandy beach as seen from the orchard (apricots, peaches, pears, cherries, apples) in front of the lodge.

There were rafters and kayakers passing through most days, and the river has sandy beach after sandy beach. . .unfortunately, years ago a firefighter drowned in this river, so to this very day the Nez Perce National Forest bans all firefighting employees from swimming, wading, splashing or looking too closely at the water. Too bad--it was over 100 degrees most days, and the nomex the goverment provided isn’t great as beach wear.

The fire started in an ordinary way.

I was the first EMT to the Incident Command Post (nobody but Team Leader Jim Gross--a noisy ex-marine) and I helped set things up at an abandoned air field at the guard station near Dixie. It involved quite a lot of walking and I hadn’t ever put those fancy boots on before and I was just wearing cheap cotton socks since it was a travel day and my feet started to feel a little blistered, but I wasn’t too concerned. As soon as we got the tent up and the swamp cooler installed, things would slow down.

Later, the ICP was moved to the Red River Ranger Station, 15 miles farther north, which made it hard for me to get all the stuff I left behind when I was told, contrary to info Gwen had given me, that I was going to spike camp! (Later, Michael K was assigned to this Dixie station, though by then I had left the world of telephones, roads, and even radios and helicopters).

The first morning--well, it was really about two in the afternoon when the ship lifted off, but I was standing on the airfield with my duffels and wearing the cozy nomex by 10:00 am--I was given a ride down the canyon about 15 miles from Dixie to the river.

As we got into the canyon farther, I wondered how the pilot could see to fly. Most days, it turned out, no helicopters flew before about 1:00, waiting for the inversion to lift so the smoke would clear out, and some days there was virtually no flying. This would have been less of a problem if we hadn’t been 15 miles into a roadless wilderness area.

At Shepp Ranch, the main transportation is jet boats. People here boat down river 17 miles to Vinegar Creek, which is just a landing, then they drive their car another 15 miles or so to Riggins, Idaho. To get supplies or “resources"--fire code for “people"--the fire had a four-hour drive from ICP to Vinegar, then a half-hour boat ride to Shepp Ranch. They never did figure out how to make it work.

The front boat is 26 feet long and has a 460 horsepower engine. With a 2-ton load on, it draws only 6 inches, which is about the depth of some sandbars on the river. A few miles upstream from where I was are the Ludwig rapids, which only smaller boats can navigate this time of year (and local lore has it only one pilot can get through). The fire is moving that way, so I imagine logistics is interesting--though even farther upstream at Whitewater, there’s an actual road that connects to ICP (though its threatened by fire).

We ate most breakfasts in the lodge. Eggs cooked to order, with bacon or sausage, fresh fruit, pancakes, whole milk from the cows on the ranch, orange juice. One morning we had to have MREs, because the ranch was full of guests. It was pretty rough.

Since there really wasn’t a fire, I mostly hung around with overhead.

From left: Our communications team leader, Dennis Schlabach, a former DJ from Tennessee (Michael, if you were there you may know him as “Shepp. Spike. Com.”; Linda Barbee, EMT and faith healer; Ruby Moore, facilities director who negotated the use agreement for the breakfasts; Mike Goyette, Helicopter base manager; and Division Supe John Gubel, who I spent three days with at Indian Creek Ranch (which was a totally different experience).