**A Summer's Tale**

This is a story of three children, a mom, a dad and their super summer adventures...It has been some time since we last checked in with our family, so this is a long chapter in their book of life. It is a tale of swimming, hiking, boating, traveling, happiness, tragedy, and other novelties. Here is our story...

The kiddos spent 2 weeks in Utah. The first was spent being spoiled by their aunt and grandpa. The next was spent in swimming lessons...

We were in Utah for the 24th of July so Grandma and Gramps bought up BIG sparklers for the
festivities!
We went out one day in our canoe and the girls swam in a lake among lily pads. We went to Cave Falls and on the way home stopped off at a swing we found last year that is huge and goes down the face of a mountain.

We went to a nearby lake with our friends the Ashton's. The sand was a great entertainment and it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Last week we drove up to Yellowstone (no pics from there...sorry.) And then went down through the south enterance into Teton National Park and into Jackson Hole. We got there in time to see the nightly "shoot out" and it was also the same night that there was a 4.8 earthquake 25 miles away. I didn't feel a thing, but some people next to us mentioned it. The kids loved the shoot out!

We waited in the "town square" park for about an hour. Judy and Gene went with us that day and I am sure they are still recovering from the long drive that it was. This summer we got ourselves a little kitten. It was from a litter that the Ashton's cat had and my kids were so excited to get a cute little pet. We named him Thunder. Unfortunately, our cute kitten was not so lucky when I was backing out of the garage. I am experiencing some trauma over the situation and even though we only had him for about 4 weeks, he is greatly missed. (Even by me a very NON pet lover!) Another addition to our house is this AWESOME tandem bike!! We inherited this beauty from my aunt Tammy and uncle Paul who we LOVE very much!! It has been so much fun to work on and get fixed up. Mike has put in a lot of work. (It used to be bright yellow, but MJ didn't like it so much and we painted it blue. Whatever floats your boat I guess.) It is the funnest bike around and we are so appreciative for our inheritance!!

We took the kids bowling one afternoon. It was Aidan's first time and he loved it. He wanted it to be his turn every time. Cam and Brin realized that Wii bowling is so different from real bowling, but had fun anyway.

(Brin just got a strike!)

Well, this concludes the chapter of "What We Have Been Doing This Past Month". Please check back for more thrilling recaps of 12th anniversaries, roommate visits, school starting and more!