As always, we had a super fun summer and were sad to see it end, but we were all ready for the routine of the school year to be back. We of course spent a lot of time outside in the backyard playing football or soccer, at the park or splash pad, at grandma's or Nana and Pop's pool, at the lake or up hiking in the mountains. We really did live our best lives this summer. With the kids getting older we were able to let them stay up later and have more adventures. It was a very hot summer (the most 100 plus degree days ever) so we spent a lot of time in water of some form. We swam so much this summer, that by the end of the summer the kids were kind of done with it. They of course always had more fun if cousins or friends were involved in our activities. They got along so well all summer long, they had very few arguments and played so well together. McKay spent most of the summer with his shirt off and was disappointed when we made him put one on, like for church, but he was always very obedient. The kids also had some sports camps throughout the summer. They went to a soccer camp, basketball camp, and a multi-sports camp. I also taught a couple of weeks of swim lessons at my Mom's pool. I always have fun teaching. A lot of popsicles and snow cones were eaten and McKay took a lot of power naps in the car. We took the kids up to Starlight Mountain Theatre to see The Little Mermaid. We love going up there but this was the first time we took the kids and they absolutely loved it. As always they did such a great job with the performance and the kids were already asking if we can go again next summer. My nephew Mason also went through the temple in preparation for his mission to Argentina. It was so nice to have a lot of my Dad's side of the family there with us. It is always nice to be in the temple with family.
We got up to McCall as often as possible and each time we were up there we tried to do a hike and go play at the lake. I got a paddle board for Christmas and we had a lot of fun getting that out onto the lake. Brooklyn was a natural at it, McKay was a little indifferent but would get on every once in a while. Brooklyn learned how to water ski this summer. I helped her the first few times but she would pop right up and each time she was able to go a little bit farther. We didn't get as many hikes in as usual but still got some good ones in. The first one of the season was the Boulder/Louie Lake Loop. We had done each lake separately but decided the kids could do the whole loop (almost 7 miles). Being the first hike of the season, there was still a decent amount of snow which made it a little tricky to follow the trail, but we made it through. The poor kids feet were soaking wet by the time we were down, I felt terrible, but they didn't complain.
Luckily the next hike didn't have any snow. We headed into Crystal Lake with the kiddos. It really was quite gorgeous and as always the kids did great. It was only just over 5 miles total but had quite the elevation gain, but it was totally worth it.
Craig and I then did 20 mile lakes just the two of us. The boys in the ward were doing the hike for High Adventure and Craig volunteered us to scout it out. Luckily it wasn't a 20 mile long hike, only about 14 round trip. We did have quite the excitement though on our way in, Craig finally got to see a bear. It was a bear cub hiding in the brush and that scared me even more because that means momma bear is usually close by. Craig quickly grabbed out his gun and I quickly let a few choice words out and then the bear cub started running down the mountain. After that we made sure to make a lot of noise while we were hiking. We got up to the first lake and found a few camp sites and then checked out 2 more lakes that were near by before we headed back. It really was quite a pretty hike, our adrenaline was just a little higher than usual.
Our final hike of the summer was quite the adventure, to put it kindly. We headed into Deep Lake, which we had done before and was a pretty easy hike with lots of huckleberries, but after we got to Deep Lake Craig decided that it would be fun to finish it out as a loop instead of just heading back to the car. So we started heading off trail to 2 other lakes, Trail Lake and Frog Lake. Well we eventually made it to the other lakes after passing by quite a few bear poop piles. Once we got to the last lake we then had to hike down one side of a ravine and back up the other to get back to the truck. This is where my patience really left me. I ended up sliding down a chunk of the mountain on my back side (it hurt to sit for a few days). We literally had to hand the kids down parts of the mountain between Craig and I. We eventually made it back to the truck and I decided it would be best to keep a few words to myself, but we made it was for the most part all put together and safe. Needless to say I will never do that hike again.
Luckily a lot of these hikes were finished off with a stop at Ice Cream Alley! Ice cream makes everything better. We did a lot of fires and smores. Took the four wheelers out around the neighborhood and played a lot of yard games, the kids were introduced to Crotchet and did pretty good with it. We sure love McCall and all the time we get to spend up there and the memories that we get to make as a family.
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