Beautiful day continued....

Here are some more of my favorite pics for the park we visited today.

The above photo was at our final destination on our hike. The kids were so excited that we made it. The maps we had didn't exactly match the path so we weren't sure if we'd find it or not. The photo below is just to prove that, yes, I actually did make it to the end as well.

This final picture is a tribute to our Nathan. This was the last set of steps that we climbed. It was right at the end of the final trail. If you look closely, you can see Nathan in a dark blue shirt at the top of the steps. (Yes, John is in the red shirt right behind Nathan at the top of the stairs. He must've gotten a burst of energy since he'd been saving it most of the day.) We figured that we hiked somewhere around 5 miles today with the kids. And it wasn't a flat hike either. Especially at the first park, there were a lot of steep climbs. Nathan was always leading the pack and never complained. On the stairs he was consistently one or two sets of stairs ahead of everyone else. If I hadn't actually given birth to him, I would be convinced that he was part robot and part human. It will be interesting to see what he does with his future when he gets older. I will not be shocked if he ends up being an army ranger or something else that requires super human strength.

It was perhaps the most beautiful day we've had this summer so we decided to not mow the grass and go play instead. If you are familiar with our state you might recognize where we went today.

Let the hiking begin....we'd already been hiking for awhile when I took this picture. John has taken his normal position in the line. Our most popular statement when we are hiking: "C'mon John".

This is one of the many overlooks that we got to hike to. This was the first one. I'd share the other overlook pictures with you, but they all look pretty much the same except Nathan, at some point, decided that he was done smiling for the camera.

"Hey John, come on!" In fairness to John, we'd walked up and down maybe 1000 stairs at this point--and I am not exagerating that much. The kids were great hikers. The best quote from this park came from Ashley as we were touring the area called "French Canyon".

Ashley: "This doesn't look french"; Mom: "What would make it look french?"; Ashley: "French clothes." Ahh, somehow I think she would have rather been shopping.

After that park, we ate lunch, got spontaneous and decided to visit another one that happened to be nearby. And we were so glad we did. The first stop at the park was a replica of a fort. We felt that we definitely needed to stop and take a picture in honor of Aunt Kim.

This park was full of canyons, streams, small rivers, and waterfalls. We took the trail next to the water. It crossed back and forth by the creek. Yep our feet got wet, we walked in the mud and we loved every minute of it.

Okay, and I now I feel I am pressing my luck on the number of pictures I can have in any one post, so this is to be continued in the next post which will actually appear before this one on the blog....confusing, I know.

The first of our harvest

This is the first pickings of our garden for this year. Okay, technically not the first--I guess we picked some broccoli. I don't think that counts because, well, we had the wrong variety of plant, didn't really get any, etc., etc., etc. The broccoli was very disappointing this year. This is a zucchini for those of you who may be wondering. It's also bigger then this picture shows. I'm going to stir fry with it tomorrow night. YUM!

If I had remembered to get my camera out...

this is what you would've seen this last week:

• both girls jumping off the diving board (we hit the public pool twice!)
• John & Nathan swimming like fish with their life jackets on (we hit a friend's pool twice too!)
• lots of playing in the yard with our new slip & slide (what can I say, it was very hot last week and we enjoyed the water)
• two ticks that Nathan pulled off of himself--YIKES!
• John dressed up as a private investigator
• the girls learning how to do Sudoku from their Grandma Snow
• John & Nathan riding without training wheels--but ONLY in the grass. At their rate it may be a couple of years before we ride without them on pavement
• me cooking fruit loop cookies--hey, they were pretty good. Don't knock them until you try them.
• Sara learning how to mow the grass. She's decided that it isn't nearly as fun as it looks. To quote "Wow mom! This is really hard work!"
• Lots of sitting around in our lounge chairs outside with my parents who came to visit for a couple of days. It was great to do nothing.
• me downloading my first ever ringtone to my new cell phone. What fun! But it has to last forever since I actually paid for it.

Milestones

Well, today we had two milestones. First, John went to the doctor's to get his kindergarten physical. Just a couple of more steps and he'll be ready to go. (Our state requires vision and dental exams as well.) He got three big shots and was so brave. The nurse even commented on how well he did.

The other milestone I wish I had my camera. I didn't even have my new phone which happens to have a camera (I feel like I have a really cool phone now even though it was the most basic one you could get. They didn't even sell ones that didn't have cameras)! Anyway, at the pool tonight (where else would you be when it is this hot?!) both girls jumped off the diving boards into 11ft of water. No life vests or anything--not even their goggles! They did so great. The swimming lessons have really paid off. As Ashley said "Today I faced my fears!" Yea Ashley! She even did it before Sara. I think it had helped that they had gone down the water slid a bagillion times early in the evening. Yea Sara & Ashley!

We're back!

Well, we are back from vacation. Most of you probably didn't even know that we were gone. Yep, we are home--even Sophie made it home earlier this afternoon. So once we get everything put away I'll share pics and stories from the trip. Now to fix supper in my air conditioned kitchen and help the hubby put away the tent that is now dry.

PS I got a new phone today! Woohoo!!!

the siblings

I actually think they love each other...at least when they are together at the zoo.

best friends forever

A boy and his dog...is there anything better?

Summertime

I'm always convinced that I've posted more than I really have. Maybe that's because I've started about 3 posts recently and haven't finished them. We've been in the midst of summer. I've got pictures from the last day of school which actually happened about a couple of weeks ago here, but obviously I've not gotten those shown to you yet. Here are some of our activities:

Chore time! The kids love chore time in the summer. No, I'm being serious. I didn't have their chore charts put together when school got out and they begged me until I got it done. I don't have them do many chores during the school year because there just isn't a lot of time. So I use the summer to teach them new ones and have them help around the house. This summer Ashley is learning how to do her own laundry (which will continue into the school year. Sara learned how to do hers last summer.) They are also doing the dishes, sweeping the floors, cleaning the bathrooms, taking care of the trash, and dusting. Nathan, of course, is vacuuming. That's his one chore and he does it very well. The girls have also been learning how to do some cooking. Sara can make her own breakfast at this point. Her favorite--either scrambled eggs with toast or egg in a nest.

Library! We love the library in the summer. However, I'm not real fond of our library's summer reading program. So this summer I found a nice, although brief, alternative for the girls (you have to be in at least the first grade to participate). It is through Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/). If they read 8 books they get a free one. They are already halfway done. Their current love is the American Girl series--especially the mysteries. Ashley did read How to Eat Fried Worms one day last week--that was one of my childhood favorites. I wanted them to read Where the Red Fern Grows but they weren't real excited about that when I told them that it has been one of the only books I've ever cried when I read. For some reason they don't like to cry when they read books.... Maybe I'll read it to all of them on our summer vacation.

Water, water, water! We usually like to hit the pool in the summer. We have this summer--the indoor one! What is up with the cold (for the summer) weather?! We have pulled out the sprinkler, water guns (love Dollar General!), and water balloons (not a fan of water balloons--have you ever tried knotting 30 balloons in one sitting? I still have a blister.)

Thank you Louis Rodier

I've spent most of my afternoon basking in the sun (with sunlotion on of course!) reading Street Lawyer by John Grisham while the kids have played in the sprinker and played cops and robbers with their new water guns. I just finished filling up 32 water balloons so they can each have 8 balloons to use in some manner later. (I was going to say throw at each other, but they have proven in the past that they are too creative to use them in such a basic manner.) I would have done more but now I have a blister on my finger from tying knots in them. Life is hard... which brings me to my gratitude for Louis Rodier. He invented the washing machine--patented in 1857. I'm sure there must be later forms of it patented, but he was the originator. I looked it up. I must admit that before I even looked it up, I knew it must be a man. I'm not trying to be sexist, but a woman would not have had time to invent a washing machine because she would have been too busy doing laundry! So a big huge thank you to Mr. Rodier and his successors for their wonderful inventions. Because of you I could sit in my yard, soak up some rays, play with my kids all while doing 4 loads of laundry. It's not folded yet....hmmmm...maybe I could get creative....