Summer Vacation

As soon as Kevin's Summer semester of school ended, we hopped in the car and embarked on what is becoming our annual Summer Vacation. We first drove to visit Grandpa Keith and Grandma Megan at the farm. After a long 12 hour drive in the car and kids who I couldn't have hoped to be any better (we only made 2 potty stops--can you believe it?), we arrived. The kids knew exactly where their room was, and they knew it was stocked full of toys, games, and coloring books. Kevin and I enjoyed relaxing at the farm for the next few days while the kids helped with all the animal feedings every morning, played king of the hay stack, listened to books read by Grandma Megan, colored, tagged along outside with Grandma and Grandpa, and climbed the rocks on the river. We drove to visit our friends at Lake Chelan for one of the days. The kiddos got along great with their girls, Susie especially enjoyed swimming in the lake, and we were even able to sneak away for dinner with our friends, Kevin & Crystal, while the kids stayed at home with Crystal's parents. It's always great to catch up with old friends. The next day, my dad and Megan took us out to dinner at a Japanese Hibachi grill place called The Bamboo Shoot. The food was great (even the kids loved it). And, Tyler and Susie were thoroughly entertained. So much fun. Our last big outing of the visit included a round of "Wee Golf" (Tyler's been talking about returning to that place since we played there last summer), ice cream cones and french fries at the Log Cabin restaurant, a trip to the playground on the river, a visit to the local library (where Grandma Megan is substitute librarian), and then back to the Log Cabin for dinner. At the park, we discovered Tyler can now pump his legs and swing all by himself! What a great new skill he has learned! We really had a great time. The kids loved all the animals. Susie's favorite was Ducky and Tyler's favorites were the turkeys. Oh ya, we were able to visit the neighbor's horses one morning and Susie had fun going for a short ride one of the horses. We really had a great time.

After a week at the farm, we headed over to Idaho (Warm River) to go camping with Kevin's family. Everyone was able to make it except Marc, Michelle, Jackson, and Bennett. We slept in tents and camped right on the river. The kids had so much fun camping. Tyler was even able to use his new fishing pole and catch some fish. No huge catches this year like last year's big catch, but we still had fun catching all the planter fish that are so heavily concentrated in the river. We decorated the campground and celebrated Brittney's birthday while we were there, so along with all the other great food, we had Texas sheet cake and some scrumptious birthday ice cream to help fill our tummies. Because Susie was willing to take a nap each afternoon, the kids got to stay up until it got dark--which is actually 2 hours past their bedtime--and be with us around the campfire for a bit. The best part? They had worked into a later wake-up time from our visit to the farm, so they didn't bother us until 8 every morning. It was heaven! Camping was great. Actually the entire vacation was great. Other than keeping an eye on the kids, I was able to forget all my responsibilities at home and just sit and relax. Maybe next summer I can take a moment to rejuvenate again. Now it's back to life...back to reality...