Family Fun

This Christmas, I convinced Tim to buy our family a Wii. Of all the gaming systems out there, this is the only system that has remotely interested me. To move and wiggle instead of sit and jiggle seemed totally worth the money.

We actually missed getting one in time for Christmas, but due to a little bit of good timing, we were able to buy one a couple of weeks ago. The kids...and well...me, too....were really excited! For a while there, it was Wii frenzy around here. But as time has gone on....we aren't nearly as fanatical about it as we had been.

Okay....the kids aren't nearly as fanatical as they use to be. Me. I'm just getting started.

I have been having a blast. Now that the kids have cooled a little bit, I now find that I have time to play. The kids have even enjoyed watching me play. Even my wildly competitive son cheered for me today when I earned a gold medal on a game. Now that is a shocker!! Usually he's mad and out on a mission to be the best.

It was fun tonight watching my Tim rise to the his Ego's call. He's always Mr. Cool, Calm and Collected. Mr. Calculated. Because he is so stinking level-headed and calculated, he easily masters the games that leave the kids and I sweating and puffing. It is fun to see my oh-so-sober husband loosen up and have a blast playing the Wii. So cool.

I think tonight we had the best family time we had in a long time. No crying over someone losing. Laughing at each other attempting new games for the first time. And we all got involved. It was so much fun.

Next time I am going to have to remember to get the camera out. Click: Luke dodging wildly in the boxing, trying to show Mom how its done.. Click: Caden jumping wildly at a great shot in golf. Click: Tim being Mr. Joe Cool. Click: Daria grinning mischieviously.

Until the next fight breaks out over remote choices.....best purchase we've made in a long time.

Sportscaster of the Year!

My precious Luke has quite the imagination. Half of the time, I have no idea where he has learned some of the things that he picks up. I declare he is going to have one interesting future ahead of him! The world is at his fingers and he will seize it. I predict it!!

While I was preparing the post on our Snow Adventures, he was at the table behind me. He had pulled out about 20 plastic cups and he was enjoying stacking them up as high as he could and in fun designs. When I write, I often find myself in a zone and I don't notice a whole lot going on around me. Somewhere in the midst of my focus, I began to notice what Luke was chattering about.

Crack. Me. Up.

As I listened to my son, I noticed that he was giving a blow-by-blow description of the steps that he was taking. It was just like he was a sportscaster calling a game. So, as I tried to finish my post, I found myself focusing on what he was saying. When he would have a great line, I would scribble it down so I wouldn't forget. So, here is a taste of Luke: Sportscaster of the Year:

Look at Luke go----He's incredible!
Look at him go....he's doing great!
Good! Now it's time for the Table Maker.
If you make the biggest, you won! He makes two in a row. Oh! He knocks it over. He recatches! Did you see that? Wow!! Look at him go!
He zig zags again! He's working hard.
That is so amazing!
Look at that Zig Zagger go! How did he do that?
It's my imagination!

Oh he was so adorable. Too bad you all couldn't have gotten an actual taste of his great commentary. I declare....he's going to be awesome one day!!

Snow What Fun....

Or as the newscasters are calling it: Arctic Blast 2008.

A friend of mine on Facebook says to Embrace the Weather. That's what we're trying to do. It has been crazy snowing here. Our area is lucky to get a handful of inches of snow each year. We've blown that away in the last twenty four hours. So far....we have had 10-12 inches of snow....and about 3/8 of an inch of freezing rain. If you look behind the tape measure...you can see that the measurement is close to 10 inches. Our porch is somewhat protected...so the open road has more!



Yesterday the snow was BEAUTIFUL. It was light and fluffy and perfect for sledding. It being Saturday, the five of us bundled up and hit the hill in the park...just outside our backyard.

We also went sledding with some friends from church. We all had a great time racing down the hills....
....and eating the snow.




It really was the perfect winter day. Beautiful snow. Fun hills to slide on. Friends to play with. And Tim was home from work!! Yeah. The kids have had a blast.

Then last night, the freezing rain came in. Ugh. I love the snow....but I hate freezing rain. It just makes a mess of everything. BUT....the kids have managed to have fun anyway.




So, that is how we are surviving, I mean embracing, the weather this week. My only wishes are that: 1) Tim didn't have to go to work tomorrow in this mess; and 2) that I could be guaranteed that we could at least have our Christmas celebrations with family.

Here is to saying lots of prayers...and crossing our fingers. Stay safe, warm and dry!


Notice the downed branches in the above picture!!

Rock, Scissors, Paper.......and God?

I've been dieing to get on here for a couple of hours to share this little Luke funny, and my internet has been cranky. Tim finally whipped it into shape...and it seems to be behaving. Thank goodness. It makes me cranky when I lose my "connection" to the world!! (blush)

Tonight, Luke and I were playing with some bristle blocks. We have had them for years, but nobody in my house has really ever played with them. They have been more along the lines of just another thing for me to pick up. I've been so tempted to get rid of them, but I hung onto them hoping that someone would someday find them interesting. Luke, just today, decided that since he has them at school, that they are finally cool to play with.

Whatever.

Anyway, for whatever reason, Luke would set his "creation" down beside me, leave it there, but would always warn me not to break it. (Like I would!) Unfortunately, when he went to pick it up once, a couple of pieces came apart. So the deal, as Luke declared it to be, was that if I broke it, I was suppose to make something new. Whatever. So, I put the blocks together slightly different than he had it. At first, my creation wasn't good enough. But, after a closer evaluation, Luke declared it: "Good, Mom. Good." But, as he fiddled with it more, it came apart in his hands.

Oops.

Well, to my Little Negotiator I now had to make something new again. But as I saw it, Luke broke it, Luke needed to do his own making of something new. So that was precisely what I told him. Lately, when things haven't gone as Luke would like, he has pulled out a new negotiation trick that I am assuming that he learned at school. The trick? To play rock, paper, scissors, and the loser has to do what Luke doesn't want to do. At first, I was a little leery playing that with Luke because I didn't want to do the things that Luke didn't want to do either!

I quickly found out that playing this game with Luke is quite predictable. He will always play scissors first. So...what does Mom always play first? You guessed it. Rock. That is extremely frustrating for my little Luke. So, he quickly tells me that I'm playing it wrong. "Mom, you play paper, and I'll play scissors. Okay? Ready? One. Two. Three. Shoot....."

"Mo-om!!"

Apparently, I am prone not to listen.

After this happened a couple of times, Luke pulled a fast one on me. As I laid out my rock for the third consecutive time, Luke placed his "scissored" fingers standing up on the palm of his hands as he declares that "I WON!" No way am I letting him get away with that. As I start to point out that rock beats scissors, he declares:

"But, Mom, this is God. And God wins every time. God beats everything."

Mr. Slick Willy

Today's blog is courtesy of my guest blogger....Tim. He was like a kid caught in a candy store, he was so excited about his topic. So....please don't disown me for this blog....just love me in spite of it. So without further ado....here's Tim:



Last Monday, I grabbed a bag of cereal in the garage to bring upstairs. As soon as I picked it up, cereal started falling on the floor because a couple of small holes had been chewed in the bag. I set a couple of mouse traps and caught a mouse before the end of the day. I think my wife was relieved that I caught it. I noticed though that all the cereal that was spilled on the ground was now gone. I asked wife (don't you just love his words of endearment?) if she had been sweeping in the garage but apparently she had not. By Thursday, I had caught 5 mice; but then the traps stopped tripping yet the cheese and peanut butter kept disappearing. The cheese would be nibbled back to the very edge of the narrow plate and the peanut butter would be licked clean. For 3 days, I baited the traps at least twice a day but nothing.

On Sunday, I decided to get serious and broke out 2 more traps for a total of 4. Within half an hour of setting them, all four were licked clean even though all 4 traps were next to each other. My friend, Ryan, gave me an idea. I reset all four traps and set up our video camera. I was determined to know how Mr. Slick Willy was licking them clean without setting them off. I set the camera on night shot and extended play and went to bed. This is what was recorded 2 1/2 hours after going to bed.

Mr Slick Willy's luck finally ran out. So far, no other traps have been licked clean so we might be rid of the mice in the garage for now.


So, there you go. Have I ever mentioned the sick humor that Tim has? You should have seen him watch and rewatch this clip. He'd chuckle every time. The kids thought it was just as hilarious.

Help me...please...I'm living with a bunch of sickos!

"Cool" apparently is all in the eyes of the beholder

A year ago, Daria picked out the above backpack for her school usage. But....after the first day of school, the backpack proved too small for her needs. I was a little bummed because, really, it is an adorable backpack. For the last year, it has sat in the back of the closet waiting for someone to claim it.

This summer, Daria was in need of a backpack to haul her water back and forth to soccer practice. I thought, "Perfect. That cute little backpack will now have a good use." Oh, you would have thought that I was punishing her for the worst crimes for having her use that backpack. The drama that carried on every day was crazy. She finally settled on an old backpack with a broken zipper. To her, it was way better than the adorable, pink and black, sparkly Hello Kitty backpack.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with my friend, Lindsay. She is currently in The Know about what is cool and what isn't. She wanted me to tell Daria that her current back was cool. So, I shared with Lindsay about the Hello Kitty backpack. She looked at me like I was straight out of the Ice Age or something. Like...of course...Daria shouldn't use the Hello Kitty backpack....it is...like...so totally not cool.

Fast forward to my Women's Retreat that I went to this weekend. I needed to bag to carry my bible and stuff around the camp. So, I took Daria's beautiful and unused Hello Kitty bag. I am going on the record to say that all my friends at Retreat thought that my backpack was totally cool. I think that if I had left it unattended for a few minutes, they may have ran off with it. If the chips were in my favor, I may have even been able to "trade up!" Not that I would have wanted to, mind you.

So, Lindsay, I am cool....and so is my backpack. Though, when Daria saw the picture of the backpack on my blog, she said "HEY....that's my backpack!"

Whatever.

The Scoringest Trio

Have I mentioned lately that our life revolves around soccer right now? It makes life a little crazy, but I think we are having a pretty good time of it. We had a fun weekend this weekend with 4 soccer games. Whew.

One of my friends is new to the soccer world. Her son is on Caden's team. She mentioned to me one time that she was worried that soccer would be a drudgery...but signed her son up because he wanted to play. I finally had an opportunity to go to Caden's game on Saturday, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to her. She just laughed through the whole game. I would have to say that she had a lot of fun. She told me that she is really enjoying watching her son play. Even though the schedule gets a little crazy, I'm having a lot of fun, too.

This weekend, I got to watch 3 of the 4 games that our family participated in this weekend. Daria and Luke had games at the same time on Saturday, but I was able to watch Daria play today. Each game was a lot of fun to watch.

Luke's game is always a hoot to watch. Those kids are all over the place. But they are sure having a lot of fun doing it. It seems like those kids can hardly go 5 steps without falling down. Cracks me up. Luke is doing really well. I am surprised at his ability to dribble the ball. Of course, he certainly isn't afraid to get in the middle of the fracas and gain control of the ball. He will soon pop out of the crowd, take the long way around and take the ball to the goal. He was really excited to have scored 2 goals on Saturday. I was pretty proud of him!

Then, the boys and I dashed across the soccer complex to get ready for Caden's game. Daria and Tim arrived shortly before kick off from her game across town. Daria's team won. I am sure that she was awesome....as usual. Caden's game was a lot of fun. As I mentioned earlier, I sat next to my friend who was just laughing it up. I was also seated next to the husband of another friend and he was laughing the whole time, too. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Caden's team is doing very well so far. They've won every game....and considering the fact that they have several "newbies" they are doing great!! Caden did awesome too. He sure loves to play and really puts his whole heart into it. Some kids his age aren't totally into the game and you can watch them looking up at the trees as the ball rolls right by them. Not Caden. He's totally into the game and aware all the time where the ball is. He was Mr. Awesome and scored 3 goals! It was pretty important to him that I was there yesterday. Each time he scored, his first thing was to turn and make sure I had seen his glory. I did my best to whoop it up big for him. Not that that is a hard thing to do. I can be a pretty loud Soccer Mom. (I warned my friend!!)

Then today Daria had a game with her competitive team. I really enjoy those games. I am always amazed at the skills of these young girls. I always like to watch Daria. I guess that I am a little envious of her skills. Whether her team wins or loses, I always love to watch her play. Today, her team lost....2-5. And...I'm proud to say that Daria scored those 2 goals!! I've been anxiously awaiting for her to be able to score a goal on this team. Today she did. Times two. She typically plays defense, so her opportunities to score have been limited. The last two games, her coach has put her in as forward. Last week, she probably had about 7 shots on the goal with no success. Today...she had success. Needless to say, not only was I proud....but I was loud!! The other team was a tough team....definitely more aggressive. Our girls sure got muscled around a lot. I was proud of the way that they played.

So. All in all it was a good weekend. I was sure one proud Mama.

Memories for a Lifetime

When I think back over the many experiences of my childhood, I think some of the best ones come from attending our church camp. It wasn't one of these fancy-schmancy camps, but I remember having a blast. Those were also some of the most profound spiritual times of my childhood, as well. So, when I became pregnant with Daria, I remember telling Tim to brace himself....we were sending our kids to camp when the time came. He had a good 6 years to prepare himself for the expense.

Daria and Caden had the pleasure of attending Tilikum last week. They would come home tired, dirty, completely exhausted, and a tad crabby....but they had a good time. I can hardly wait for Luke to have his opportunity next Summer when he is entering the first grade. Tilikum will be completely up his alley! Caden wasn't so sure about camp last year before he had any experience with it. This year...he was raring to go. He was so excited that he was the first kid at our church to finish memorizing his scriptures that qualified him for a scholarship. He could hardly wait.

The extra fun thing about Tilikum is Family Fun Night. It is always so much fun to go up and experience a small taste of what the kids do each day. Even though our family has been up there a number of times, my kids still can hardly contain themselves as they dash to show us their favorite parts. Tilikum has a pretty big campus so it is hard to get to all the places. Inevitably, someone is disappointed that we didn't make it to one part or the other. We sure give it a valiant effort anyway!

This year, Daria and Caden had the fun of having a couple of cousins attend Tilikum at the same time. They weren't in the same groups, but they got to see each other fairly often, too. We did get to go to Family Night together, so some of our pictures include them.

A big part of the fun at Tilikum is the great lake there at the camp. It really is a wonderful place to swim. Boating is also a lot of fun. My kids love going out in the canoe and riding in the raft. Fun!! On family night, Caden got to take a canoe ride with Aunt Cindy and cousin Marcus.


Another favorite Tilikum place is the big Tree House. It is pretty cool. They have a rope bridge that the kids love to conquer. They also have a rock climbing wall. It was amazing to watch Caden scale that thing like a monkey. He was amazing!! Luke particularly like the rope bridge and had fun crossing several times.

Daria, of course, believes that she is the best and had to show off her skills as well.


Caden, of course, refuses to be outdone by his siblings.

I also enjoy getting to meet the staff people that help to make my kids' experiences a blessing. I am not sure why I always get so teary-eyed when people tell me how special my shy little man can be. One little comment and I find myself fighting back the tears. Crazy...but it sure is sweet to hear. Caden was so excited to get a picture with Suds, his staff person, but once it got down to doing it...he was so shy! We managed to get a good picture anyway.....

I love camp. It is such a special time in life. In my opinion, it is worth every penny to make these incredible memories for a lifetime.

On the Edge of My Seat

I am exhausted. But what a wonderful exhaustion to have. When I think about it, there really is no good reason for being as tired as I feel right now. I think all I did all day was sit. I guess it all has to do with where I was sitting.

Today I had the extreme pleasure of driving to Eugene, Oregon to watch my nephew, Kyle, play baseball on route to become Regional Champs for his age group. Words can't even begin to describe the game today and how I felt about it. Wow. Over the Top. Or...as my friend, Lindsay, would say....it was EPIC. For those that need to know what epic means, it means: very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary. There....I think that just might begin to describe it.



I know that I have gushed on and on here about my own kids and their accomplishments. Proud Mom. You bet. Most times, when I sit back and watch them play, I am in awe. I am in awe of all that they have become and are becoming. Sometimes my feelings are so profound that I feel that my own participation in their process has been close to nil and the only thing I can say is: "Wow, God, you are doing an amazing job with that one!"

You know, today, as I was watching Kyle play, I had those same feelings. My feelings of awe and pride at the things that Kyle is accomplishing matches those feelings that I have regarding my own children. I sat there on the sidelines of the game and felt nervous to my tummy....just as if he was my own child. When Kyle made an awesome play at short stop....or slammed a magnificent triple...I rejoiced as if he were my own. I yelled and cheered....just as if he were my own. Who knows? I may even have embarrassed him as if he were my own, too! Ah...the joys of being an Aunt.

What a game! Needless to say, if you hadn't already guessed, they won the game...6-3... in extra innings. Kyle's team is the Idaho State Champs for their age group...and they are rocketing their way to becoming Regional Champs. Isn't that just the coolest? As a matter of fact...it is completely and totally epic. Today I was on the edge of my seat during the whole game. I'm dieing here at home that I can't be there to watch the rest of the games. Guess I will just have to be here...at home...on the edge of my seat.

Proud Auntie? You bet!

Evil Willamette Mutant Fish

It is amazing to me that two people can look at the same piece of scenery and come away with two totally different perspectives.

I took a friend to the Willamette River tonight. It was in the evening hours and the river was so calm and peaceful. I could have sat on the dock all evening, soaking in the moment. It was so beautiful. The water was calm...and even warm. In fact, if the evening had been a little warmer, I would have jumped right in. I was a little envious, at that moment, of the beautiful homes that overlooked the river. They have a priceless view!

Now, my friend on the other hand....could hardly stand to sit too close to the edge of the dock. The water was gross...and in her opinion, you couldn't see more than two inches past the surface. She wouldn't even look as I stuck my foot in several inches....and I could still see it!! Shock. Yes...the Willamette River is not the cleanest river in the world. I certainly wouldn't go drinking a big ol' glass of it. But, there is no problem with putting my foot in the water. I managed to come home and have no mutant growths sprouting over my foot.

Oh the things that we miss when we limit our points of view. Which is the better way to live? To live on a little on the edge, dipping our toes into new experiences....or do we sit in the middle afraid of the unknown? Or even afraid of the things that live only in our imaginations? You do realize that the Willamette River is flowing with Evil Willamette Mutant Fish. They like to nibble on toes that dangle from docks. They lurk in the murky depths just waiting for some unsuspecting fool to jump right in. I think they have even been known to walk on land and jump out of the bushes to capture only a few unsuspecting souls.

Maybe life is really what we make it. Either life is an adventure....or a horror movie.....all in how we look at it. Kind of an interesting thought for me tonight.

(This one is for you, Lindsay! )

Gag Me!

Disclaimer: All content of this post is the responsibility of Tim. If you become gagged out on this post, do not blame me. Send all complaints to Tim. Do not, I repeat, do not shoot the messenger. If you are squeamish at all, please stop here. Consider yourselves warned.

When we moved into this house 4 years ago, I was thrilled that I was finally in a house with a true foundation. Our previous home was a manufactured home and it seemed to have an open invitation to all critters. Particularly mice. It was just gross. I have a particular memory to being awakened in the early morning hours to a trap going off and hearing a mouse flopping through its death throes. Gag. Tim thought it was so funny that he taught two-year-0ld Daria to do the "Floppity Mouse." She would throw her self on the ground and flop her legs around. She was cute....the memory of the mouse was not. Now, I know that homes on foundations are not exempt from getting critters....but my impression has always been that the likelihood was less. Until a couple of weeks ago, that proved true for ours.

While attempting to get things in order for our vacation, I was doing a little cleaning. It was then that I found a lot of Mouse Rice behind our couch. WHAT???? Of all places to find evidence. Yuck. I moved our couch out and gave a thorough cleaning under there. Tim set the traps out for a couple of night...and nothing. Then we left on vacation. I was hoping that with a week of absence, the mouse would somehow disappear. (Die.)

When we came home, I checked around and found a little more mouse rice. Not much, considering it had been a whole week. I cleaned it up and checked every day. I didn't seem to find any more. Good news. Then two nights ago, while we were sitting on the couch, Tim sees a mouse dash into the kitchen from the direction of the stairs. YUCK. Gag me. Out came the traps again. The first night, we put peanut butter on it. Nothing. It just looked like the mouse had a tasty little treat as he licked it off. Darn.

Then comes last night. We pulled out the big guns and used peanut butter and cheese. I was fearful last night that I would wake up again to hearing some mouse flopping to his death. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well at all last night. So, when Tim headed off to work this morning, I asked him if he'd caught anything. He gets this devilish look on his face and says, "Maybe."

Victory, I thought. Yeah. So, I get up and get ready for the day. I turn on my computer and this is what I see:

My precious husband decided to take a picture of our little house guest and placed it as our wallpaper on our computer. So here is this LARGE, beady-eyed bugger staring at me this morning. If he'd been around, I'd have been tempted to slap him. He practically dared me to post this on my blog. So that is why I did. Here is his response to my tirade about the picture: "I thought your blogees might get a kick out of real every day occurrences so I
got you a picture. Love ya!!!" See. This post is all Tim's fault. Blame him.

I am seriously hoping that this mouse was a one-mouse show. I don't know how it got in here. It could have been the time that the front door got left open for several hours while we were gone a couple of weeks ago. I've been checking around for other signs....but haven't seen much. Please, please, please....let this be the only one.

Yech. Gag me.

Say Your Prayers, Varmint!

a.k.a: Grammy's Revenge!


I know that I have mentioned before that the older you get, the more aware our bodies are of how cold the water can be. Thus, when we are on family vacations, the kids play willy nilly in the lakes....while the grown ups park their fannies on the beach. If it is hot enough outside, I still like to get in the water....but sometimes it is harder to get in than I wished it was.

But, I digress.

My mother did a very surprising thing while we were at Farragut. The kids, particularly Kyle, had been giving Grammy grief all afternoon. Splashes here. Splashes there. They were truly relentless. Grammy was throwing back some grief all afternoon as well. Threat here. Threat there. Even if all the splashes and threats never mounted to anything, they were all having a lot of fun.

Over time, some of Grammy's threats started showing a little more buffoonery. Every once in a while, she would charge into the water, puffing up her arms like a peacock on alert, heckling them along. The kids thought that was hilarious and would charge back into the safety of deeper waters, giggling all the way. At one point, I remember asking my mom at what point does she go charging in after them. She told me that she was contemplating it....but I never really thought that she would go in after them. The kids clearly thought that she would never go in after them.
Boy...did she surprise us all.



So the mantra became: "Say your prayers, varmint." Translation: You have thrown around enough guff....now sit there and take your medicine.

Kyle, of course, was the first target. He had been taunting and teasing more loudly and more relentlessly than all of the others combined. I haven't decided if he has gotten some sort of death wish or something.

Of course, the other kids thought that having Grammy in the water and dunking people was just too priceless to ignore. The heckling picked up to a feverous roar. They all must have had death wishes, too......


Grammy must have really done some damage to those kids' egos. I just sat there and laughed as I watched kids, still throwing out the guff, mind you, paddle themselves clear across the bay to avoid the dunkings. It is easy to throw out the threats when you are out of range!!


Even after Kyle had been dunked a time or two, he still came back, begging for more. (Sorry about the picture, Mom....it tells a story! Besides....I don't think it looks bad.)

Silly boy. Doesn't he ever learn?

Lots of fun. Lots of laughter. Lots of memories. And....a lot of prayers.

Hayden Creek

Having lived outside of North Idaho for the last many years, I had kind of forgotten how glorious it is up here. Within just a few miles of my parents' home, there is just endless opportunities to enjoy God's glorious earth. God really did a good job when He made our earth. It is a lot of fun to enjoy it. Thank you, God!!

Today, we traveled just a few miles away to enjoy Hayden Creek. It is just a haven for all kinds of outdoor fun. I remember in years past riding motorcycles up in all the mountain roads up there. It is fun for that. There are several areas where people have apparently set up target practice with their guns. The ground is just glittering with used bullet casings and shattered glass. The glass bothers me. Even where we pulled off to play, the ground was littered with broken glass. I was very worried that the kids would slice their bare feet if they walked too far away from the creek without shoes. Poor respect for a beautiful area....in my opinion.

We still had fun though. The guys were going to take out the motorcycles and four-wheeler for a ride while the women and children played in the creek. BUT....on the way there, the bike Tim was riding developed some issues....and they couldn't get the four-wheeler started again. So, we ended up just enjoying the beauty and water as a family. I think the boys still managed to have a good time.



And how can you be playing in a creek without building a dam? Daria and Tim spent some time sort of making a dam. They didn't go all the way across the creek. Daria declared that she was making a calm spot for the fish to settle into. We did see a little 2 inch guy that Kyle attempted to catch....but he was a quick little bugger. I think Kyle actually touched it once. Eeewww!

There was a little mini waterfall where we had set up our little spot. It was fun to watch and attempt to cross there. The current was pretty strong so we were cautious. Caden lost his flip flop there and it was hilarious watching him attempt to rescue his shoe. He almost fell in once.


Being the mom that I am, I couldn't just wait for my son to tumble into the current, (not that the water is very deep....but it is moving!), I decided that I needed to help. I handed him a stick....and SUCCESS!!


Daria was the only one who was brave enough to wade out to the edge of the water fall and sit in the water. The water is COLD!!! I think I gasped just about every time I took a step into the creek. If you were in there for any length of time, your toes got numb. Daria didn't seem to mind, though.

We ended the day with a little marshmallow roast in Mom and Dad's back yard....and some night time frisbee.




I would have to say that it was another successful day. Tired kids. Tired parents. Tired grandparents.

Lots of great memories.

Round Lake!!

North Idaho is a land full of glorious lakes. We could probably go to a different lake every single day of the week. Round Lake is one of the best lakes around....in my opinion anyway. There are endless possibilities of things to do when you are there. Swimming. Hiking. (You can walk all around the lake on a gentle, family friendly pathway.) Fishing. Boating. An adventure awaits you around every corner.

The reason I enjoy Round Lake is because it is plain ol' beautiful. There is wildlife to see. Last year we saw a moose. This year was herons and turtles.


The other reason I love it is because the water warms up faster than the bigger lakes....thus the swimming is a little better for aging bodies. :-)

While we were at the lake, we enjoyed just about everything there is to enjoy while we were there. It was awfully muggy yesterday....so we chose not to do the hiking....but I really do enjoy that trail. One of these years, I will have to take my kids on it.....it is just cool.

We enjoyed swimming. Luke was enthralled with the new life jackets that were purchased for the canoe. This year, he was brave enough to do a little swimming on his own. Last year, I had to drag him in. Each year, he is getting a braver. Here he is decked out for an adventure in the water. Isn't he just adorable???


Caden was totally enthralled with fishing. He could hardly contain himself with excitement. He was totally beside himself when he actually caught something. Not that the fish itself is anything to write about. It was probably about 2-3 inches long....not weighing hardly anything at all. BUT....it was fun to catch and release. I think Caden caught 5. Kyle had 14. Daria caught 3. Luke didn't have the patience for it....but he was enthralled with the process.



Boating and canoeing were also a highlight of the day. We kept those boats going almost the whole day. What a ton of fun!!



Here, Caden is attempting to learn how to row the boat. The flow of the paddles was a little difficult to master.


He eventually took over complete reign of the oars, while I had the life of leisure. Granted...we never got very far....but we attempted to have fun.


Luke even attempted to try to master the boat, too. He was having a grand time trying to be a pirate on his own. Once again, I don't think he got very far.


When I asked the kids at the end of the day what their favorite part of the day was, they responded fishing. I think that my favorite part of the day was when I sat myself on the prow of the rubber raft and loaded all the kids into the boat. We paddled out to the middle of the lake and had a grand time. The kids were playing pirate...and walking the plank.



We had a wonderful day. Full of fun, laughter, and great memories. As we packed things up, the kids were already begging to come back again. Round Lake is becoming a family favorite for family activities. I know that my dad would love to take the kids there in the winter and have a winter picnic. I'm actually a little surprised that we didn't do that this past winter. Oh well. I think I just refreshed his memory.

All in all it was a great day that ended with a big splash......

And an even bigger bang....bang....bang. (We made it home....just in time!!)