Summertime!

Occasionally I talk to someone who hates summer and wishes fall and winter would come faster! I truly can't comprehend these people because summer is my happy place. What is better than sunshine, water and long days? Especially with kids! It's so much better than being trapped inside all winter. We can still be friends-just like I'm friends with a few people who hate chocolate (they must be aliens I think), but...I hope my summer-hating friends will come over to the bright side one of these days because it's the best!

I have to say that though we do miss the beach in the summertime here, we really enjoy all of the amazing local produce that is available here in the summer. We've done lots and lots of u-picking. It was definitely easier to pick fruits last summer while pregnant than with a very mobile and curious baby though. She has eaten a lot of dirt this summer scavenging for berries and also dumped out several of her brothers' unattended buckets. But we've all survived and enjoyed lots of delicious fruits!

Russell got stung by a wasp while picking blueberries one day this summer. I didn't think he really got stung until we got home and his eye was swollen shut. He was hamming it up for this photo-he wasn't really that miserable. But he was swollen for a few days!

Healed! Are everyone else's kids obsessed with taking photos of their toys? I have archives full of lego and block creations that they want to take a picture of so they can remember them. I'm certain I did not do that as a child, times have definitely changed!

The boys had swim lessons this summer and really enjoyed them. I was pleasantly surprised Thomas liked it as much as he did. Caroline loves the pool and we snuck in some swim time during her brother's lessons.

A nearby small town has dinosaur statues all over the town and a dinosaur park and playground. We went to it with friends one day this summer and the kids had a blast, they love dinosaurs.

Thomas is roaring at the t-rex here. It's 100 degrees and Russell is in a long sleeve black shirt and black pants because he wanted to look like a velociraptor. He's always very dedicated to playing pretend.

My mom was in Utah for a few weeks this summer and she drove up with my little sister's family to come to visit us for a few days. It was a lot of fun! We took them berry picking of course. We also went on a fun hike to a cave. The boys were excited to bring their flashlights and headlamps.

Baby cousins!

We also spent a day in Leavenworth which is a German-esque town not too far away. They have a reindeer farm which we toured and we enjoyed some German food and of course, some outside time looking for rocks to add to the boys' never-ending rock collection. :)

We got to feed the reindeer-they are pretty gentle but Russell got nervous and dropped his branch on the floor when the reindeer came close to him.

Grandma is always nice and buying these kids some ice cream.

There's a walkable island (you just cross a little foot bridge) that we went to and the boys enjoyed wading in the water on a hot day and digging up rocks.

We wrapped up the day at a nutcracker museum, which was actually a lot of fun. The kids did a scavenger hunt and found various specialty nutcrackers. Here's the dentist nutcracker we brought home to show Ricardo since he was working that day.

(A wardrobe change for Caroline since she got soaked crawling in the river before this)

These two cousins are only 2 months apart and had never met before this trip so it was fun to see them together. My boys were also obsessed with their little boy cousin, they thought he was so much cooler than their sister!

July 24th festivities-we had some friends over to make candy-covered wagons and play some pioneer games in honor of Pioneer Day!

They're pointing at a little dragonfly which they named "Dragy" and had fun watching this summer.

Thomas was also excited to find some snails! (My kids rarely dress weather appropriate-they always want to wear long sleeves and long pants! I fight them on it sometimes but other times it's not worth it)

August was a great month! We took a really fun road trip to Yellowstone with all of my family. On the way there we did some exploring in Idaho and visited some good friends from Jacksonville who now live in Idaho.

The hotel hot tub after breakfast. Thomas has such a good life.

We stopped in Twin Falls to see Shoshone Falls, which apparently they call the Niagara of the West. We don't have any great photos of it because the kids were hot and uncooperative when we were next to the falls, but it was beautiful!

We did enjoy a little beach area at the lake that feeds into the falls and everyone was much happier after getting in the water. The boys loved seeing their dad jump off this cliff.

Afterward, we had a great time with our friends in Idaho Falls. They were so kind to host us for the weekend. We enjoyed going to church with them, going to to the zoo and of course, Chick-fil-A. We don't have one where we live so it's a must on every road trip.

The boys had a blast playing with their buddies. Caroline had a baby friend too!

We drove a little farther and were able to stay near Yellowstone in a really fun cabin with my parents and all my siblings for a week. It was a fun week of cousin time and enjoying Yellowstone. We all had a wonderful time!

My mom got binoculars for all of the kids. Russell loved putting them in front of his eyes for almost every photo! We saw several bison and some elk on the trip. No bears which disappointed some people and was a relief for others.

Russell and his cousin-they are 6 weeks apart and have been friends since they were babies and we lived close by them in the northeast. They had a lot of fun reuniting.

The whole group with our matching shirts. They actually came in pretty handy with the big Yellowstone summer crowds-easy to find everyone!

Lots of beautiful hikes and scenery. Our world is truly an amazing place.

Eyeing down Grandpa.

Relaxing at the cabin-spinning tops.

There go those binoculars again!

There was lots of driving in Yellowstone but Caroline was a trooper and took naps when she could!

Enjoying a local lake on our last day there.

We spent the night in Montana, Caroline curled up with Russell on the bed was just too cute.

We absolutely loved driving through Montana, it was so so beautiful. We stopped in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on the way home and fell in love with it too. It is such a picturesque town and it was such a beautiful day. The kids enjoyed a fun local playground then went swimming in the lake, which was surprisingly warm.

Ricardo has a good friend in Spokane from dental school, so we stopped and had lunch with him and his family on our way home after the lake. It's so fun to meet up with old friends when we travel!

Daniel Tiger came to town the day we came home and the kids enjoyed meeting him (for free!) at the local convention center.

Caroline is a tough cookie since she has 2 older brothers who don't always remember to be gentle with her. They really wanted me to put her on top of Thomas for a dogpile on Ricardo. Things like this happen daily!

She turned 1 this month! Time just goes by faster and faster with each baby. It's so sad. She is walking up a storm, climbing everything and following Russell and Thomas around wherever they go. She loves playing in the water, eats everything, but hates sitting in her highchair so she didn't last very long for any birthday photos. She had just eaten dinner right before we took out her cake so she had pretty much met her capacity for sitting still. The boys happily blew out her candle and "helped" her open all her presents (i.e. gave her half a second to try and then took over).

We just love this sweet little angel!

We were lucky to have more visitors come visit last weekend, Ricardo's brother and his wife flew into Seattle from Florida for a wedding and drove down to spend a day and half with us. It was fun to see them! We took them to hike near Mount Ranier, which we had never done before and enjoyed.