July Cabin Visits

We went to the cabin 3 weekends in July.  We love it up there!  We decided to switch it up this year and go down the river from Big Springs to Mack's Inn.  It is a SLOW 5 mile trip!  The kids had parts they loved and parts they were asking how much longer.  It took 3 hours!

 The kids had decided they didn't want to do it again and at the end they played in the water and dug in the sand and begged to do it again!

 We spend most of our time at the cabin either playing games or out on the water!

 The kids all successfully rode the knee board this year.

 Mom attempted to water ski over and over until we figured out it just didn't pull anyone over 190.

 The kids loved the water trampoline to jump off.

 I was determined to make the cabin a healthy place instead of somewhere we gain weight so we brought up lots of spa treatments and worked on service projects.

 Moose Sightings!  

We saw a moose on the drive home one time and then a couple of moose just hanging out by our driveway!

11th Anniversary!

For our 11th Anniversary, Mark took the kids up to scout camp with my mom so Vic and I could hike Table Mountain.  The night before the hike we grabbed dinner from Vic's favorite Bolivian restaurant and ate in the park and walked by the river.

 The next morning we got an early start and hiked the face of Table Mountain.  It was SO STEEP!  I kept trying to get a picture of just how steep it was.  I had never done the face before.

 We were so happy to finally make it to the top of face!!! From here on out it was a normal hike with beautiful views.

 We made it!!  We had lunch and hung out for a bit on the top.  Pictures don't do justice of how beautiful it is up there!

 We went down the back side on the way back and it was a much easier hike, but covered in lots of snow!  After the hike we headed back to the cabin to get the kids and I was so sore the next day that I laid on the couch all day!!!

4th of July

On the 3rd of July our neighborhood had a 4th of July party.  Tommy was so excited to go that he jumped in to help Whitney blow dry her hair.  What a cute sweet brother!!!

 Our neighbors take turns doing popcorn booths, face painting, hot dogs, etc.  It's a fun carnival!

 Everyone brings fireworks to share.  The kids had a blast.  At the end, one neighbor hosts some really nice big fireworks in the grass pit.  It was a wonderful evening with friends!

 We got great seats with Jen & Destiny's family for the parade.

 Destiny hosted a lunch at her house after the parade.

We played in the backyard and did lots of water fun and a BBQ with just our family this year.  It was a nice relaxing day with the family.

 The city fireworks were in a new spot this year and we were able to ride our bikes down just minutes before they started and had a great, wide open spot. with speakers blasting the music around us.  It was perfect and the best seats we've had in years.  We loved the firework show!

Tommy's 7th Birthday Party

Tommy's obsession shifted from dinosaurs to dragons because of a Dragon City App on the iPad.  I wanted to decorate with cute bubbly dragons and he corrected me several times that they needed to be life like and scary.  That made me sad to realize he was fully out of the toddler/little kid stage, but I went with the flow the best I could!

 I had a hard time finding decorations that weren't too scary so I talked him into doing some "How to train your dragons" decorations.  The other kids were more excited about those decorations than Tommy.

 The cake was a home run.  It was so simple, but he thought it was awesome.

 I was going to skip this watermelon, but Tommy saw it on my Pinterest board and begged for it so I caved in and made it too.

 The snacks were so simple, but the kids are getting old enough to get the clever labels and they loved it.

I had all of the kids decorate their own shield while we waited for everyone to get there, which was a good thing because some of the kids were really late.

 We set up an obstacle course where the kids acted like dragons shooting fireballs at the viking running the course and the one with the least hits won.

 Fierce Vikings! 

 Dragon Pinata

 Tommy loved the candles shooting out the dragon's mouth

 Happy Birthday Boy with his presents