13th Anniversary

 

To celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary we headed up to McCall with the kids and Craig's parents to spend the weekend.  Craig's parents were kind enough to watch the kids for us while we went for an 11 mile hike to Anderson Lake.  We hiked to Anderson Lake a few years ago, but decided to come into the lake a different way.  Towards the beginning of the hike we had to ford a pretty good stream.  The water was running pretty strong and I had to use a stick to help balance, but it definitely added to the adventure.  The hike was beautiful and the lake was gorgeous.  There were some fun camping spots that would be nice to backpack into.  We made it back to the cabin by mid-afternoon where Craig then spoiled me with an anniversary gift, which mind you I was not allowed to get him anything, he got me a GORGEOUS ring.  We had always talked about getting another band for my wedding ring, but because it was custom made and our jeweler is retired, the other jewelers didn't feel like they could get a great fit.  So he decided to get this ring instead and he planned this all out back in March while I was in Mexico with the kids.  It was a wonderful surprise.  We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out with the family.  The following weekend we went out to dinner just the two of us to finish off the celebration.  At dinner we got talking about how lucky we have been in our marriage.  We have had our ups and downs, but our ups are way bigger and longer lasting than our downs.  Our strengths and weakness compliment one another and over the years we have learned how to fill in each others gaps.  I couldn't have asked for a better eternal partner.

Interesting School Year

 To say that this school year was interesting might be the understatement of the year.  The kids both had a great attitude and really enjoyed the school year even with the obstacles that they faced.  McKay's year was pretty normal.  Luckily his preschool did not require masks and they just were extra cautious with hand sanitizer.  He loved Ms. Carey and all of the friends that he met. He did a great job learning his letters and their sounds.  According to Ms. Carey he was a good listener and student in general.  Brooklyn's school year was a little more up in the air.  It started with online learning and then after a few weeks went to hybrid, where she was in the classroom half the time and at home learning virtually the other half.  They then went to school fulltime for a few weeks before heading back to hybrid.  By Thanksgiving time they were back in the classroom fulltime for the rest of the school year.  Brooklyn did have to wear a mask the whole year and was a great sport about it.  By the end of the year they no longer had to wear their masks when they were in P.E. or outside at recess.  Brooklyn's teacher, Mrs. Cox, was fantastic the entire time.  She really handled everything so well, she kept the students safe but wasn't crazy about the rules.  When some of the teachers went on strike, she was still in the classroom.  She really was fantastic and Brooklyn really enjoyed her time in her class.  I wish I would have been able to go help in the class and get to know her better, but they didn't allow any volunteers in the classroom.  We've got our fingers crossed that next school year will be a little more "normal".  Brooklyn was over masks by the end of the year and really doesn't want to have to wear them again, which I don't blame her at all.  And just like that Brooklyn is done with 2nd grade and McKay has finished his first year of preschool. As a parent all you can hope for is that your kids teachers help them love to learn and look forward to going to school and both my kids teachers did that.

Spring Round Up

 Besides having a couple of super fun trips this spring to Mexico and Florida, we had a lot to keep us busy.  The kids both had soccer, we did a few hikes around the valley, went to parks and played outside as much as possible, had fires, spent time with friends and family and did I mention soccer?!  I feel like soccer kind of rules our life in the fall and spring and we only have two kids, luckily we had a lot of grandparents that were willing to help when games and practices overlapped.  The kids both had great seasons.  Brooklyn's foot skills and understanding of the game got a lot better.  McKay was still as crazy as ever but had a lot of fun and even scored a few goals at the end of the season.  Craig and I coached Brooklyn's team for their end of the season round robin tournament and they got second place and had a lot of fun doing it.  I may or may not have lost my voice.  They are both already looking forward to their fall season of soccer.  We had great weather this spring and really enjoyed all the time we got to spend outside.

Memorial Day Weekend

 

We decided to brave the crowds and head up to McCall for Memorial Day weekend.  We headed up late Friday night trying to avoid the bulk of the traffic.  Stan and Diane and also Eric's family came up for the weekend too.  Saturday morning we got up and got ready for our first hike of the season.  We decided to head to Goose Creek Falls because we knew we wouldn't have any issues with snow.  We took the route from Last Chance Camp Ground which is about 5 miles out and back.  The kids did awesome and the falls looked fantastic.  It is always a fun spot to stop and each lunch.  We even ran into Brooklyn's kindergarten teacher on the hike.  The kids all the sudden decided they wanted to run right at the end of the hike and I thought they would stop after a few minutes, but no they ran the last half mile and because I could no longer see them and Pops and Craig were in the back chatting, I had to run after the kids to make sure they didn't get eaten by a bear or wolf.  Lucky for them I'm pretty fast.  After the hike we met up with everyone for a little Ice Cream Alley.  Memorial Day weekend is the first weekend it is open so we definitely needed to get our ice cream fix.  We had to wait in line for a while, but it is always worth it.  After ice cream we spent the rest of the day just hanging around the cabin.  Brooklyn got out her BB gun and tried that out for the first time and did quite well.  

Sunday was spent at the cabin shooting BB guns, exploring, playing corn hole, eating way too much, laying on the hammock and just spending quality time with family.  The kids always have a blast when cousins are at the cabin.  It's amazing what they can come up with to play and how the t.v. isn't turned on once and they don't even care.

Monday morning we were back on the trial.  We were up early to get to the trailhead before it got busy.  We decided to try out Boulder Lake this time.  We used to hike it all the time but then it just got way too busy and wasn't worth it, but we were hoping that we wouldn't run into that this time if we got there early enough.  I think this is the first time the kids have actually hiked the whole thing, the last time we did it they were still in hiking backpacks.  They did great though of course and even crossed the logs over the fast running stream really well.  We were the only ones at the top and only saw a few people on our way back down.  Boulder Lake always amazes me with its beauty.  The weather was great and we couldn't ask for much more.  That afternoon we again just spent at the cabin and then headed home that evening back to reality.  It was a great weekend full of great memories and quality time spent together.  It truly doesn't get much better than this.