With the Cole girls headed out in just a few short days, we crammed in all the fun that we could. First my brother left, then my sister-in-law flew down to CA to see her family. She got an unconventional ride to the airport!

Then the kids and I took off for a hike at Flaming Geyser Park. We had a picnic lunch, saw both geysers, walked to the river, and picked blackberries.

Then we went to my parents’ house, where we got to have a Downton Abbey “marathon” that lasted only two episodes before we all collapsed into bed. In the morning, we were treated to my mom’s amazing cinnamon roll breakfast before heading out on Puget Sound in my parents’ boat.

A nice way to spend a day…

 

We were so sad to say goodbye to my nieces when they left. I miss them (and my brother and sister-in-law!!) already. We certainly missed having my nephew with us, who has just completed Army Basic Training and began his MP training in AIT this week. Until next summer!

No, not us. We’re at twelve. 🙂 And my brother and sister-in-law are at 22. But my parents celebrated 40 years of marriage this month and it worked out perfectly to have all of us here to celebrate with them. We started with a day in Seattle. And our day in Seattle started with The Great Wheel.

A few family members stayed on the ground. They’re so small!

Then we continued to the Seattle Aquarium, where we got an awesome backstage tour courtesy of some wonderful friends. 

Then we made our way to Pike’s Place Market. My sister-in-law really wanted to see the fish mongers throw fish. She got a shovel of ice over her head to prove she was there!

Haley took a Pike’s Place Nap!

Buying flowers for Grandma

 

Summer in Seattle!

Last, we surprised my parents with dinner at the Space Needle.

Beginning of dinner view

JT eating his Hot Docopus. It came with mini Space Needle mac and cheese!

End of the evening view

It was a day to remember!

What a wonderful eleven days and ten nights of sun, sand, wind, water, and a little lightning! My brother’s family, my parents, and my family spent our annual week and a half at Steamboat Rock State Park and had an amazing time. My sister-in-law and I are Clickin Moms. Between her Canon and my Nikon, we took 1148 pictures. That’s a LOT to go through. So here are some… not the best ones, just some. The really good ones go in a photobook that we all get a copy of to look through year after year!

We…

played in the water

snorkled

rode bikes

jumped off the rock

jumped off with cousins

got blonder hair

skiied ten of the eleven days

spent time with Dad

did things we loved

found new rocks to jump from

bunked with cousins when the weather turned stormy

enjoyed our family

enjoyed our children

swam

skiied at dusk

ate ice cream

ate Popsicles

stood still for photos

jumped for photos

ate breakfast in the boat

swam some more

played on the beach

wakeboarded a little

watched a movie in the boat

hiked the Rock

painted toes

skiied some more

floated

drank Coca Cola

remembered old tricks

enjoyed some solitude

worked out ARMY STRONG

learned frisbee

ate s’mores

played badminton

watched badminton

ate lunch at the beach

tubed

learned not to drop handheld electronics in the water… twice

flew a kite

… and so. much. more.

Our nephew Travis had his first birthday party this weekend! Doesn’t he look excited?

We had a great time celebrating with his extended family.

Jim and Great Grandma

Haley took a lot of pictures!

Travis got a new recliner. So cute!

Ready for cake

My handsome oldest child

We have been enjoying this streak of warm weather, so typical in our area at the end of July. I know we have a new Prince George, but we’ve been doing some fun stuff too.

Hammock nap!

Teaching Haley letters

Piggy balls in her hair!

At the park

Lunch with a friend

Oh. My.

S’mores with friends

Elisa was in charge of the s’mores set up station

  

Our garden has beans!

Playing at Lake Sawyer

Chalk drawings in the backyard

Playing at the river

I sanded and stained an end table for my guest room… woohoo!

New addition to the backyard – free.

JT’s first tennis lesson with Grandpa

Skiing at Long Lake

Poor Grandpa!

John, as he now likes to be called, turned FIVE this past week. It was a pretty big deal. This is his official five year old picture, taken in May in North Carolina. And this is how he looks a lot: happy and full of adventures.

We celebrated his birthday mostly on Sunday. John got to pick breakfast (banana whole wheat pancakes) and help make it, which he loves to do. We ate in the sunshine. Hooray!

Batting practice after breakfast

We started the afternoon with a friend party: Superhero theme! The boys earned power bracelets by completing challenges like tossing Kryptonite into a bucket, spraying bad guys with spider webs (silly string), and tossing Batman discs.

One last bad guy to get with Silly String! 🙂

He opened presents and you can tell the boys are impressed with the Superman Launcher!

They had a Super Snack before getting ready for the final challenge: an obstacle course at the playground.

The boys were invited to come wearing super hero outfits. JT wanted to have real superman red boots and a real superman belt. So we ordered new rain boots and blue shiny warm up pants, and took a trip to JoAnn Fabrics for belt making supplies. Doesn’t he look great? I love this picture!

JT and Asher were both dressed as Supermen

Super Tired!

Lois Lane

John got spoiled with lots of new cool gifts, like a Razor Scooter, a tennis racket, a snorkel set, new tools, puzzles, Legos, and other toys. He even got a new wallet and some cash!

My mom did an awesome job making his Superman cake. It was soooo yummy.

Our nephew, Travis, soon to be ONE!

On his actual birthday, we spent the day doing fun things. First stop: his new marble race set.

Then John started getting allowance, and he put it in his new wallet. He gets $5 every two weeks. He puts 50 cents into his church jar, 50 cents into his bank jar, and the rest in his wallet.

 We went to the lake with friends and enjoyed the warm sunshine!

Haley brought me a dead fish from the water. No squeamy tummies here!

 

Then I surprised the kids with frozen yogurt as an afternoon snack.

As soon as we got home, John put the batteries in his new truck and tested it out. It was so fun!

We had his five-year-old checkup this week. He is average height and weight for his age and will probably be just under six feet tall as an adult. He had a hearing test, vision test, hemoglobin count, and a urine test. He had to pee in a cup and everything! Everything checked out to a healthy, growing boy. We sure love him, and can’t wait to see what God has planned for FIVE.

I would really like to get Haley into gymnastics at some point. I’m hoping it works into our fall calendar! This is the pose she wanted me to take a picture of…

For no reason at all, Grandma Keene sent us a Zoku quick pop maker and storage case. We were so excited to get it in the mail! And now we’re making popsicles that make me happy: organic fruit & veggie juice in a truly kid size frozen treat. It takes about one juice box to make three popsicles, which is exactly how many spots are in our Zoku. And then it takes about ten minutes to have a frozen pop, ready to eat. Seriously!

Today we tried another batch using Honest Kids juice packs and we layered flavors. We even did three layers on the next batch. We’re getting crazy! 🙂

I bought new chairs for the kids at Costco today. Their old beach chairs fold over in the sand on the beach, which is awfully annoying and sometimes catastrophic, and they didn’t have cup holders. We eat lunch at the beach a lot when we’re camping, so that’s a nice feature to have. Also, I was forever moving their chairs to be in the shade. Now – ta da! These cute little camping chairs (with cup holders) come with their own snap-on adjustable sunbrellas that are SPF 50.

They love their new chairs. They are also perfect for popsicle eating!

Today we hiked Twin Falls with friends. It was a last minute idea late last night, and it was a blast! The kids did great. We didn’t quite make it the whole way, but we did about two miles and got back to the car before a melt down. That makes the trip a success for sure.

Getting started

At the first falls overlook – lunch!

Ready to hit the trail again

Ranger Elisa points out a mouse on the trail

Twinkling our hot toes in the icy river water

 

This year we have TWO trips to Steamboat Rock State Park planned, and we are very happy about that. We took our first trip for eight days with our friends the Bonnells and the Schmalzes, and Grandpa and Grandma Keene. This trip was pretty amazing. The weather was hot: above 100 degrees a couple of days. The water was high and the air was calm. We only had one bad mosquito day out of eight, which is fabulous, and the food and company was wonderful. I took 400 pictures and narrowed it down to just a few to post. It’s so tough to choose!

Haley skiied. 🙂

And enjoyed the rope swing.

And drove the boat.

And tubed with her brother. She kept saying she wanted it faster!

Getting ice cream at the marina

Getting ready to hike the rock

Haley got a ride from Dad the whole way up!

My three loves.

Happy to be out of the pack!

Proud to have made it by himself.

From the top

Family photo at the top

We made it!

Haley enjoyed riding Tyson’s tricycle

I enjoyed the rope swing too. 🙂

Haley and Dad in the boat

These three were inseparable for eight straight days!

Lunch!

Playing at the beach

Again, inseparable.

Haley.

Beach!

Water!

And she swims too.

Our Roll Tide beach attire, courtesy Cathy Keene last Christmas!

I think they were only apart to sleep.

Morning ski runs…

…for two.

Growing up

Loves the tube rides

On the sand