Our Summer Madness Wrap-up!!

We had a super summer!  It was so fast paced and packed full of fun times.  I have declared MJ to be the "Master of the Day Trip".  He knew just how to make the most of the days off he had, and we spent lots of time exploring the area around us.  We had a lot of picnics and lots of together time in the car. (Which had some definite pros and cons.) :):)

We took our little canoe up to a place called Teardrop lake.  It hod this fun little outlet that streamed across the road and it was warm water.  So Cole played and played in the creek.  The kids floated on tubes and we rode around the lake in the canoe. 

Cambree out in the tube.  This kid could float for hours on the water.

 This summer Aidan learned to ride his bike without training wheels.  He actually just got this bike at Christmas and so it was a big accomplishment to watch him achieve.  He was pretty stubborn at first and said he would never ride it, but once he had some success he was ripping up the pavement.  We can't keep him off it now.  We can't keep him home either, which has been quite the struggle.

 We went to the hill at the park by our house and ice blocked.  The kids thought this was such a great time!  We did this a couple of different afternoons when we needed something to do to get out of each other's hair.

 We usually go up to the old Teton Dam once or twice a year.  It has an eery feeling to me but it is such a pretty river.  The kids love throwing rocks into the water.  It never gets old.

And when you catch a frog it makes it that much more exciting.  

 A couple of nights we stayed up after dark and watched some movies projected onto our house.  Mostly we watched a few episodes of Kid History.  It was a fun way to wind down a busy day.

 We invested in a fish tank and MJ took us up to Warm Springs.  It is a great little stream that has quite warm water.  (Properly named.)  There is tropical fish in the water and we spent one afternoon catching our new pets.  (They lived for about 3 weeks and then slowly started dying.  It was very strange.)

 And once again we couldn't keep Cole out of the water.  He loves to play in it and this water really was warm.

 This is at the top of the spring where the water comes in.  Pools have been created up there and the kids swam and swam in them.  It's warmest up at the top.

 We celebrated our 14th anniversary in August.  On the 14th actually.  :)  So, we decided on a whim to pack the kids up and head to Pocatello for a little getaway, followed by a fun day of swimming at Lava Hot Springs.  It was a great treat for our kids to stay in a hotel and they were so excited about it all night. 

One afternoon we went up to Cress Creek and did the mile loop hike.  It is so pretty up there to look down on the valley.  This summer has been so smoky that it was strange to be up there and see all the smoke around the valley.  Kind of depressing, but still very beautiful. 

We spent 2 nights a week thru August watching Cambree play soccer.  She loves playing and it was so fun for her to be on a team with her cute friend Lily.