Sunday, June 29, 2014

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!

Monday, June 9, 2014

Hair

Bryton and Preston have been growing their hair out lately. It is currently in that awkward in-between stage where it just does it's own thing and basically sticks up everywhere.

Today B's hair was just spiky. Spiky all over. And I had a total flashback to when he was little and had the same crazy hair! 

Oh I miss that cutie on the right! Amazing the difference that 5 years makes!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Stormy

One of my favorite things about North Idaho in the summer is the thunderstorms. We used to have even crazier ones when we lived in Montana, but we have some good ones here. 

Yesterday was a warm, sunny (over 80 degrees) day. The boys played with water outside, we worked in the garden until 9:00 at night, and came in just as the clouds were rolling in for a massive storm. John and I put the kids to bed and went outside to watch since it wasn't raining yet. It was beautiful. Streaks of lightning everywhere, booms of thunder...I love it! Ender sat at our feet and apparently enjoyed the storm too.

We even managed to get a quick picture with a lightning bolt in the background. Not one of the big ones unfortunately, but not bad considering it was a cell phone pic!


And my silly boy sitting in his "hot tub" yesterday (well before the storm obviously!)