Back To School 2011

And they're OFF! Yep School is officially here ready or not. I was heavy on the not but oh well. I sure love having my kids around during the summer. I love not having to deal with homework and  to be extremely honest I love having the help with the housework! That said I am excited for my kids to start a new year with new teachers, new friends, new experiences.

  Here is Brock sporting his all attitude t-shirt.  He informed me this year that he doesn't like shirts with collars.  I think that kids should dress up a little for school so it presented some challenges. I also don't normally buy shirts like the one he is wearing because I don't like the attitude but this one I thought was actually pretty funny and lets face it my kid has some "AMAZING AWESOMENESS!"

  Can you just smell the newness of these bright orange shoes? Calvin, by brother, would LOVE them! I will say that I do like the new cloths, new crayons, new shoes,  and new markers part of school.

   Mikele spent some serious time last night trying to decide what to wear on her first day of school.  I have to admit that I was the same way! She finally had Brock pick her outfit out for her. Brock said he picked an outfit that he thought would get the most attention from the boys. WHAT!! I totally smacked the kid. (in a totally non abusive way!)
  Anyways. I have to admit I didn't get much but what we did pick up mostly off the clearance rack is DANG CUTE!

 Mikele REALLY wanted laced shoes this year.

 Morgan (the neighbor) and Mikele - 2nd Grade and Brock 5th grade

One last shout out for Summer

  At the first of the year I bought my family some wristbands to Hollywood Connections for a great deal. Jenny bought enough for her family too so that we could go together. At first we planned to go in the spring before it warmed up as a great indoor activity. We never went. So then we decided to go in the summer. We finally made it on the last Friday of break. With the wrist band the kids were able to play as much miniature golf, ride all the rides as many times as they wanted and go rollerskating. The cousins had so much fun spending the day together and it was a great way to wish a fond farewell to a very fun summer!

I think they had a good time or at least they wore themselves out.

Road Trip - Part 3

Here is the final post for our trip to northern Idaho. This post is all about the camping.  Every spring Jason and I vow that we will go camping. Honestly most years we never go. This year we can count our 3 night at Priest Lake as a successful camping trip and mark it off our "to do" list for this year. YIPEE!!!

The food always tastes better when you are camping!  Each family was in charge of one breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Needless to say we ate really well.  Krissy made tin foil dinners for her dinner and we helped her make scones to go with them.  They were DELICIOUS!!! (Note - if you ever want a picture that shows lots of emotion just take it of Kassie.  More great facial expressions to come in this post.)

 The kids loved our campsite.  We had plenty of rocks to play with.  We actually had a nice wooded area to the south of us so the kids played in the woods most of the time we were in camp.  On the last night the kids all got glow sticks and had a great time running around in the dark.

 You can't go camping without having a campfire.

 Another great facial expression from Kassie.

 Allie didn't like the popping the fire would make. It would scare her and she would hide her face and make Jason put his hands over her ears.

 Monkey in the tree.

 Krissy, my sister, and I.  I think we look a lot a like in this picture.

The whole gang!

Priest Lake, August 13, 2011

  I don't have any pictures from our drive home but it was somewhat eventful.  We didn't have any flat tires which was a nice change. (On the way out we lost the tread on one of the tires.)  We took two days to drive home. We made it just past Missoula on Saturday.  We stopped at a campsite for the night but it was all full. (seems to be the theme for this trip) So we headed further down the road and decided to stop at a rest stop.  We all slept in the motor home which wouldn't have been so bad except it was hot so we had the windows open and this big semi truck pulled up next to us.  He was having problems with his brakes and kept releasing the air out of them.  It was extremely loud.  Finally after about an hour and a half of trying to go to sleep my Dad comes up to the front and says. "We are driving on!  Between the trucker outside, Kassie getting up and going to the bathroom 3 times and your mother who can't get comfortable there is no point to even pretend to get some sleep!"  So we drove further down the road to the next rest stop.  It was much quieter and cooler.  Ironically Mikele had no problem falling asleep at the first stop and was snoring contently.

  Sunday we finished the drive to Blackfoot, had lunch, unloaded the motor home, loaded the van and finished our last two hours home.  It was a great trip but I am sure glad to have all 1500 miles of driving behind us!

Road Trip - Part 2

  We spent two days at Priest Lake that is located near the Canadian Idaho border in Northern Idaho.  We drove over on Wednesday and after many failed attempts at finding an open campsite we finally found one in the Beaver Camp ground.  I couldn't believe how full ALL the campsites were.  We needed two sites, one for My parents and us and the other for Krissy's family.  Krissy's family were able to stay in a campsite that was only available for the first night and then needed to move to a different site the next morning.  My Dad, Jason and I walked over to an empty site and got there just as another man on a bike rode in.  He jumped off his bike and said "Oh sorry I have this site." Really we both got there at the same time.  I suggested that the only fair way to decide who got the site was "paper, rock, scissors."  The man agreed and even had a little Japanese song that went with it. Random I know.  Jason played the guy because he is far better at the game then I am. (I always end up changing the diaper).  The first round was a draw, both scissors. The second round Jason WON!!! Talk about pressure.  Now that we all had a campsite to stay in we headed off to the beach. The water was nice, the sand was white and the sun was warm. Perfect!  The kids played all the rest of the day and only stopped for a quick lunch on the beach.  We finally dragged them away as the sun was setting behind the trees.

This is my sand monster!

My Dad building his own fort on the beach.

On the second day Jason, Brock, my Dad and Krissy's family took the canoes and paddled up to the upper lake and back.  I stayed at the beach with the girls.  Mikele decided after a short canoe ride on the first day that canoeing is boring because you just sit there looking around and she would much rather play in the water and in the sand.  Mikele being the social butterfly that she is made friends with twin girls that were her age and they played most of the day.

 Look, I even ventured out into the water.

 Needless to say the kids did not want to come home and leave the beach behind.  

Stay tuned for Part 3 - the final chapter.

Road Trip - Part 1

Our family had the opportunity to take a LOOOONG road trip (approximately 1500 miles and yes that is long for me) to go visit my Sister in northern Idaho.  We spent 2 days at her house and 3 days camping next to Priest Lake.  Here is just part one - drive there and her place.

Off we go! (obviously these first two pictures were taken at the beginning of our trip.)

We celebrated Austin's birthday while we were there. The kids enjoyed a chocolate fire truck cake.

While the adults enjoyed a fresh berry pie.  We went out to the huckleberry patch that is on the property where my sister lives and picked huckleberries.  Then my Mom and Adam made a pie with the huckleberries, fresh raspberries and blackberries. Can I say YUMMY!!!

(this would be one of many crazy faces I captured of my father)

Present time! This kid LOVES trucks!

Adam looking so prestigious.

One more fabulous shot of my Dad.  It is probably a good thing that he doesn't read my blog.  

Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip.