Summer Fun

 

We had such a fun summer.  Most of it was spent swimming, hiking, or at the park.  I always feel bad for Craig in the summer time, he gets stuck in an office all day and I get to play outside with the kids every day.   We swam at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Nana and Pop's house, the lake, and even at Roaring Spring water park.  Most of the time we were with cousins, which makes everything more fun.  I also taught some swim lessons this summer and so the kids got a few lessons as well and McKay really became a little fish this summer.  He was jumping off the board like a crazy man and would swim all around the shallow end without floaties on.  It was really fun to watch him gain some confidence in the pool and just have a ton of fun with his cousins.

We tried to go to the park when we could, especially when it wasn't too hot.  The kids also did tennis camp and Brooklyn did a soccer camp.  They both did great and have already asked to do the camps again next year.  The kids also had a lot of fun heading over to the driving range with Craig, especially after McKay got his own clubs for his birthday.

Every summer Nana throws a tea party for the granddaughters and the girls absolutely love it and look forward to it every year.  After the girls had their party, the boys were a little jealous so Nana decided to throw the boys a pirate tea party.  They could not have been more thrilled.  Nana went all out and those boys had a blast.

We also had to say some sad goodbyes this summer.  Craig's brother Brian and his wife Brooke and their 3 sweet kiddos moved to Texas for work.  We were so sad to see them go, but wish them the best of luck in Texas and hope that they come back eventually.  Also, my friend Alisha decided to move to the frozen tundra of Rexburg, how rude!

We did a lot of hiking this summer and as always the kids were champs.  Not only do we love to be out in nature, but we hope to instill in our kiddos from a young age that we can do hard things and that it is ok for our bodies to push past our comfort zones because that's how we get stronger.  In June we tried to hike into a few new lakes, but there was still too much snow so we went back to a classic, Blue Lake.  We ended up hitting those new lakes in July when the snow had melted.  We still ran into quite a bit of snow on our hike into Blue Lake, but it was manageable especially since we have hiked it quite a bit and knew the way to go without a trail.

Later in August we tried a new hike into Deep Lake.  It was a great hike and a new favorite.  We went right at the start of huckleberry season and were able to eat our way up and down the trail.  It was a fairly short hike, about 2 miles round trip, but the lake was gorgeous.  There were some fun camping spots, so we are hoping to backpack in with the kiddos next summer to camp for a night.  We figure it would be a good way to start backpacking with the kids.  Maybe next year we can actually bring some huckleberries home with us, instead of eating them all as we pick them.

We had such a great summer and made a lot of great memories.  We are so lucky to have grandparents that have pools and to have a cabin to escape too.  It really allows us to easily create these memories as a family.  I hope my kids cherish these times as much as I do.

Brooklyn being a good sport and wearing her mask at my check-up for my shoulder.