Category Archives: Family Fun

Summer Camping

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Our camping trip over the 4th of July took us to Gold Basin.  One of the best parts of the trip was the hike on the Heather Lake Trail. 

Zoe lead the charge the whole way up.  She set the pace and kept it up all the way.  This was our first week with Toby and he loved every minute of it. 

Towards the top the steps kept growing.  I think the people building this trail were tired too by the end of it and just left out a few steps.  I don’t think the picture does it justice.  Imagine the stairs in the giants house in Jack and the Beanstalk.  These were them.  And there were lots.

This was the view we were greeted with when we made it to the top.  It was beautiful!  The water was so clear and still.  The reflection of the mountains was perfect.  You could hear and see a number of waterfalls on the opposite side and see the snow that was feeding them.

Every picture we took was beautiful.  I could fill a lot of space with my favorites.  On the hike up we would ask anyone we passed how close we were.  Each one would give us their estimated time and assure us it was worth it.  I kept thinking “Are you sure?  Do you realize how tired I am?”  But let me assure you…It was worth it! 

This post would not be complete without a comment on their restroom facilities.  The information sign at the beginning of the hike advertised a restroom at the top.  One you reached the top of the trail you found this sign…

At the end of a little trail this comes into view.

And as you round to the front you find this…

NOT what I had in mind.

So many memories made.  The reason we love camping…growing together as a family. 

Meet Toby

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We have a new addition to our little family.  Meet Toby.  Toby is a 4 year old yellow lab mix (notice the purple tounge).  He has been a dream.  He loves the kids and just wants to hang out wherever we are.   His previous family was transfered to Hawaii and were unable to take thier 3 dogs with them.  Because of their hard work and training we were blessed with a great family dog.   Welcome to the family, Toby!

Boys, Boys, Boys

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These boys have so much fun together already.  Zeke loves to push this lion around and Oliver loves to be pushed.  Well, at least as long as he is sitting on the lion.  We have an outside play car that has gotten so much use this summer.  Zeke tours his little brother around all over the yard.  Oliver quickly learned to hold on and keep those feet up. 

Summer Fun

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I am going to attempt to update some of our summer fun and projects.  They won’t be in any particular order or anything…that would be too much like being organized.  But, at the end of it all you will hopefully see the things we have been up to. 

One of our first projects this summer was collecting fire wood.  We are so excited to have not just one but TWO wood burning fire places for heat this winter.  I love wood heat.  We have a wood shed in the back that Greg wanted to fill.  It proved to be a lot larger than it looked and although it isn’t full we have quite a bit in there.  Many days were spent jumping in the truck as soon as Greg got home (usually with a packed dinner to keep kids lasting as long as possible), cutting wood, loading wood and hauling back as quick as possible to get tired and cranky kids (and adults) into bed. 

Some other places we went for wood were more fun for the kids and I.  Poor Greg still had to work.  We found a great campsite on the river and the kids played in the water and mud. 

We did check in and help when needed.  Zoe appointed herself photographer and helped us capture the moments.

And what 5 year old photographer can resist the self portrait.

We had a lot of fun working as a family.  Zoe was awesome playing with her brothers and helping to keep Oliver happy.  Zeke was always eager to help us load wood.  He would head over to a log that probably weighed more than he did and get so mad when he couldn’t pick it up.  Fortunately, when we pointed him to some wood he could carry it was happy and started working away.

Flashback Friday

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Greg and I were reminising over old photos and came across some favorites of Zoe.  We went through a phase of freaky eyed Zoe.  Every time I would take a picture she would come out looking like this. 

age 6 months

It was really quite frustrating.  She would be totally normal looking when I took the picture but as soon as I would review it I would see this everytime!  We finally figured out it was the red eye reducer light on the camera that was making her go all freaky.  The little red light would pop on for a split second before the flash and out would come Zoe looking like this.  

Now for some normal pictures of our dear Zoe (Between the ages of 4 and 6 months of age). 

And one of Greg’s favorites…

Childrens Museum

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Greg has been working a lot this past month.  I don’t know…that may be an understatement.  He has had one day off in the last month.  After working so much some may want to hang out at home and just relax but not my husband.  He had big plans for us and we were all excited.  One of our stops was at the new children’s museum in town.  We got there right when they opened and were the only ones there for about an hour (a great benefit to homeschooling 🙂  The kids loved the different stations.  Zeke’s favorite things were all the buttons they had.   Music buttons, light buttons, sound buttons, wind buttons.  He found them all.  I tried to capture the thrill he got from all these buttons but there are things a picture just can’t do.   

 

 

Zoe was all over the place.  I was able to capture her here… dancing with lights and music.  A huge mirror in front of her held her attention while she danced.  They also have a room with for art projects.  They have an art project (with a person managing it) every day.  She spent more time than any other.  We’ll just be sure to have here start there next time so any paintings can dry.  I think we were all covered in some color of paint by the time we got to the car.  All in all it was a lot of fun and the kids left ready to take naps.

 

Donkey Basketball

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Yes, we did.  We headed to donkey basketball at a local high school.  It was so much fun.  Despite the fact that Greg didn’t want to tell my brother why we had to cut our visit short.  “It’s so country” he said.  Greg, not my brother.  Well, actually they both said it and lets face it, it is country.   But that’s the fun of it.

 

You can’t see it but there is a very stubborn donkey on the other end of that fire fighter.  The donkeys moved pretty well when they had riders on them but as soon as they jumped off to get the ball the donkeys stopped any hint of movement.  Greg (in all his donkey experience) had great tips for these players.  “They get off their donkeys too soon.  They need to ride closer to the ball before getting off.”  He didn’t share his wisdom with the players but I think next year he may need to volunteer.

 

Zoe had a blast as you may have guessed.  The announcer kept trying to get the crowd to make noise and cheer on the players.  Zoe was making her share of noise but I knew she could do better so I told her she could make as much noise as she wanted to.  And boy did she ever take me up on that. 

 

This is what Zeke looked like most of the night.  What he looks like most of the time.  Tongue and all.  It doesn’t get much cuter than this folks.  Except when he is wondering around in footed PJs.  And the other great thing…in less than a year I’ll have another little curly haired boy wondering around in footed PJs.

Finger-painting fun!

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Who doesn’t just love finger-painting?  It’s always been a big hit around here.  We were beginning to run out of colors (and I wanted more exciting colors than what you get from the store) so I looked up a recipe and made some.  It turned out great!   Greg wanted to put it to the test for color and consistency.  I like the homemade better!  The “red” from the store looks orangey in comparison.

 

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Here’s the recipe:

 

Note:  The only change I made was the temp to cook it at.  It was taking too long on low so I upped it to medium  It worked a lot better but watch the consistency closely.  It changes fast.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

 

Directions:

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You’re ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.

The first snow

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Zoe and Zeke headed outside to play on our first snow day of the year.  Zeke decided he would hang in the car.

 

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Zoe decided she didn’t want to be caught on camera.  She’s shy you know.  I almost had her.  If only the camera was a few seconds faster.  Oh well, a good game of chase if nothing else.

 

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