Fishing at Soldier's Meadow

Early Saturday morning, Ray suggested we go fishing for something to do. We woke up the kids, loaded up the car (and yes once again half the house) and headed up to Soldier's Meadow for some fishing. It was fun, much more successful than the first fishing trip. Ray caught 7 fish, I caught one (using the lucky Scooby Doo fishing pole), and Nicholas caught his first fish...a bass. The boys had fun throwing rocks in the water, Elizabeth enjoyed hanging out and helping me supervise. It was a short trip, as the kids got restless, thus we were home by 11:00am. Needless to say, we had a pretty relaxing morning in the great outdoors.

Elizabeth's first swim

Friday Ray got home from work early. It was nice to have him home early so we could all just play and hang out. Seaners decided he wanted to play in his pool. So, Elizabeth & I headed out to help him clean it out. We've decided that Elli is an outdoor girl & a little water baby. She hung out in her bouncy until the pool got cleaned out, then Sean & I decided to take her swimming. While the pool filled, we found her a little swimmer diaper (which was way to big for her...Ray called it her hip waders) and then took her for a dip. She loved it! Daddy had to come out and check her out and I roped him into taking some pics.

Potlatch Days

Every year, Potlatch holds its annual Potlatch Days celebration. This year, they were dedicating the VFW Memorial and my Uncle was the guest speaker. Ray was working, so I took the boys up to watch the parade and the dedication. This was the first time in 12 years that I have been back to Potlatch for the Potlatch Days celebration. The boys had a blast watching the parade and came home with a ziploc full of candy. My Uncle gave a wonderful speech and the dedication was very nice...I even found my Grandpa Bidlake's name on one of the plaques, which was very special. We didn't stay for long...just long enough to watch the parade and the dedication, then we headed out to my Grandparents for a visit and to let the kids cool off. Here's some pics...

Fun at the Beach

Over the weekend I had a last minute surprise...my good friend, Candy, and her husband and kids were in town and wanted to get together at the beach on Saturday. All of the kids (including babies) are very close in age and always have a great time playing together. We get to see eachother about once a year and it never seems to amaze me how the kids just naturally have so much fun together...almost like they play together on a pretty regular basis. It was great visiting with Candy and Chris and seeing their new little girl, Lucy. Lucy and Elizabeth are just 2 days apart, and already have lots in common...they like to sleep, cry, and eat. Already the greatest of friends!

Picnic at Castle Park

The boys have been asking to go to Castle Park (aka Webster School Playground) for several weeks. Things have just never worked out to go. So, I decided one afternoon to have a picnic in the park...we headed to McDonald's for their free cheeseburgers from the Summer Reading Program, loaded up a cooler with some drinks, chips, and snacks and off we headed to the park for a fun couple of hours. The boys love Castle Park and had a great time. I even got to see Sean slide down the fireman pole for the first time, he thought that was really cool & had a huge ole grin on his face afterwards.

4th of July

As is our yearly 4th of July tradition, we headed up to the Greencreek celebration to celebrate the day with Tom & Tonia and their kids and Tonia's family. This is a wonderful, small town, event that is held and is a fun time for everybody. We started with a wonderful pancake, sausage, bacon, eggs, and hashbrown breakfast. Then it was off to the outside to let the kids run and play. There is a riding lawn mower train, a little car ride and a bouncing castle for the kids. There is also a small store where the kids can purchase items from bow & arrows, to pirate/ninja swords, to candy necklaces (can you tell what came home with us?) It's also a nice time for us adults to just visit with friends we haven't seen in a while, as we can just let the kids run and know that they are in a safe environment. There was a time or two where one of the kids was MIA however, all you had to do was look for a few minutes and they usually turned up in the jumping castle or the cars. That evening we headed over for an housewarming/4th of July party at Aaron & Amanda Remacle's. The kids all had a blast playing on the slip & slide, lighting off fireworks, eating, and just being kids. Aaron & Amanda have a wonderful new home that overlooks the river and the Valley firework show. It was relaxing just sitting there on the deck with a lot of great friends and watching all of the kids ooohhh and awww over the fireworks. Needless to say, we had some very tired kids on the way home. Thanks to the Schumacher, Jones, and Remacle Family's for a wonderful 4th of July.

Fishing!

Saturday morning Ray had the great idea to go fishing. Sean got a new fishing pole for Christmas and we finally had a relaxing weekend to try it out. We loaded up the kids, (and half the house), and headed off for Moose Creek Reservoir. We had a good time their last year and thought we would try it out again this year. The location was a flop (no fish) however, we had a wonderful Saturday in the great outdoors. Nicholas had a bite after Daddy let him put a real lure on his line. Ray caught a small baby fish. Sean just had fun throwing his plastic fish in the water. Elli took a long nap and I supervised from the edge. It was a blast! Nobody fell in, Nichols didn't "catch" anybody, and all of the fishing poles were accounted for when we were done!