Summer Fun

I spent a week up at Bear Lake with the kids earlier this month. I love going during the week because it is much quieter than on weekends. It was especially fun because our friends were staying at the KOA campground part of the time, so our kids got to play together a lot.

The water was a few feet higher than before and we found lots of leeches in the water. Uck! But the kids had fun catching them and releasing them where they would die. They also tried their hand at catching the little fishies in the water. Even Ryan and I joined it. Great fun.

Our own private beach/road - yay for high water levels. 

catching the little fish & leeches 

lots of little fish

 three leeches

Walking from the cabin to the water.

All sass & dazzle. Love those glasses on her.

We also spent time doing crafts, painting birdhouses, and making jewelry.

Two rascals...photo courtesy of Finley. 

 Her new foam jewelry.

Chillin' out.

We also went for a nice little nature walk behind the city park. The nice part is that it's short so Berlin cannot complain about having to walking too much. This walk is a great spot to look for little snakes. Finn came prepared with his snake hunting stick.

Water Babies

I know, they aren't babies anymore, but they will always be my babies no matter how old they get. And these little babes of mine love the water. They just finished up their first swim session with Miss Amber & Miss Taylor. They LOVE their teachers. The progress this year has been amazing. 

Last year, Berlin would NOT put her face under water and she cried a lot. This year she learned Circle arms (breast-stroke), the Superman glide, and practiced her kicking with the kick board. She is doing fabulous and even went down the slide and off the diving board today ... for the first time ever! 

Notice her smile below? She is LOVIN' it!

Last year Finley was a little bored so I worried he might not like it this year. But he loves it. He is my little fish who tries to do handstands in the water, somersaults, loves the slide, and the diving board. He asked his teacher if he could dive in and she told him no. I guess he has to be in level 4 for diving (he's in level 2). Darn it! I wish she had let him try. He was pretty bummed. But he's learned the Breast-stroke, the Crawl-stroke, he can float on his back unassisted, and has perfected his Superman glide. He is a little swimmer.

getting ready for his handstand. 

the result of his handstand.

They both can't wait for their next session in August. 

Kinda makes me wish we had our own pool. I realize how spoiled I was growing up with a pool in our backyard. I would be all over it, but seems like the cost for only 3 months of use each year isn't worth it.

Video of Finn on the slide

Video of Berlin on the slide

Video of Berlin jumping in

Mosquito Love

No, we do not love mosquitoes. Unfortunately, they do love us, way more than they should. And, sadly, Finley seems to always have the worst of it. We went to an outdoor neighborhood magic show a few weeks ago. The next morning, Finley woke up looking like this. 

I was convinced it was a spider bite because I hadn't noticed anything the night before. I finally caved in and took him to the doctor when he complained of his eye itching and feeling hot. According to my pediatrician, it is a mosquito bite, not a spider bite. He claims that you just don't see spider bites that much these days. Something to do with their teeth/pincers being to small to break the skin. Not that I believe that, but whatever. So after getting a prescription for some eye-drops and administering lots of Ibuprofen, things looked better a few days later. 

Today, it's all cleared up, but one thing we've learned is that Finley and mosquitoes don't mix. Even bites on his body swell out of control - way worse than they do on the rest of us. Kinda crazy. And of course Finley now freaks out anytime he sees a mosquito near him (serously - tears and screaming). This made for a very interesting incident at Bear Lake last weekend. 

Needless to say we hate these miserable creatures.

Bear Lake & a quiet July 4th weekend

We usually don't go up to the cabin over big holiday weekends. The crowds and noise drive us bonkers. But this year we went up from Friday thru Monday and it was FABULOUS! The water level is so high that they have closed the Garden City public access road. This is a good thing for us as our cabin is off that road. I don't think I've ever been up there over a weekend and had it be so quiet. We spent the first day up at the North Beach in Idaho, but the rest of the time we just walked around the locked gate and set our chairs up at the top of the road. It was kinda like having your very own personal beach. I think I might just kinda like the high water level.

In the car ...

The gate....

See those reeds way out in the middle of the water, that is usually the end of the road which then opens up to about another 75 yards of beach.  This is how it used to be when Ryan was a kid. Now it seems like this happens about every 10 years or so. There were cranes, a grey fox, birds of every kind, and pelicans to be seen in all that marsh land. Kinda cool. 

Eating dinner down by the water...

  

Here we are on Sunday up at Tony's Grove. This is usually a beautiful lake surrounded by hiking trails and lots of greenery, butterflies, and little critters. Unfortunately, the lake is still frozen and the hiking trails impassable (unless you have snow-boots). Seriously? In JULY!!! 

So we headed back to the lake and stopped at the Limber Pine trail instead.

It was a perfectly relaxing weekend and we can't wait to get back up there.