The Cousins Visit

I have been terrible at keeping this thing up-to-date, but we are fully immersed in summer...which means 3 boys to keep busy, a garden to tend, plus this crazy thing called self-employment that seems to be eating up way more "extra" time than I actually have!

But I have lots of pictures that must be blogged, or they will disappear! Last week my brother and his kids came to visit. We had F-U-N! The kids play so well together, and we were all sad to see them go. But we managed to pack quite a bit of fun into the time they were here, and we have plans for an end-of-summer camping trip with them, so it's okay!

First off was a trip to downtown CDA for dinner and a little playtime at the new park!

That night, the kids and dads pitched tents outside for a backyard camp out. It started out fine, but by about 4:00 am 3 of the 5 kids were inside. And of course I woke up each time another kid came inside, while the other adults slept peacefully outside!

Archer and Anni having a tea party in the tent

Next...Silverwood! It was supposed to be questionable weather, but it turned out to be warm enough for the water park PLUS it was completely uncrowded. Everyone got to go on all the rides they wanted to go on, plus water slides, wave pool, lazy river... We left totally exhausted! 

Preston (in back, avoiding the camera), and Jackson

The big kids and dads going on a roller coaster

I took the little kids on the kiddie rides...definitely more my speed!

All of us soaked from the raft ride

Next up was Hayden Lake. We were totally worn out from our day at Silverwood the day before, but we were kinda afraid that the nice weather wasn't going to last!

And just a few random "in between" pictures...

Thank goodness for $1 movies when the weather was bad!

Cowgirl at the shooting range!

Another day was spent at Lake Coeur d'Alene/Tubbs Hill:

The kids LOVED this little family of ducks! 5 ducklings and their mom & dad. So sweet, and super friendly!

And that pretty much sums up the visit, although we did fit in a trip to the Dino park too, and some other little fun adventures (like backyard bird hunting!).

Definitely looking forward to our August camping trip!