MJ talk

This afternoon I took Kay and MJ with me while I ran to a couple of stores (I prefer to do this while Kay is at school but on Fridays there usually isn't enough time). I put MJ in the back of the cart and Kay put her feet on the bottom of the cart and held onto the side. MJ was in one of her bad moods and kept trying to hit Kay. I said to MJ, "Hey, we don't hit." To which she responded, "I didn't hit her. I punched her."

More evening fun!

Tuesday, July 23

S'mores and Apples to Apples!  We tried to have a fire each night at the fire pit and roasted marshmallows for s'mores and toasted crescent rolls on a stick for Hobo eclairs.  Yum!

It was funny watching the kids' reactions when their marshmallow unintentionally caught on fire!

It's also fun watching the kids get older and being able to play games like this together!

Mount St. Helens

Tuesday, July 23

On Tuesday we drove to Mount St. Helens and hiked up Windy Ridge.  It is a lot of steps up and very windy - we almost lost a few hats.  It was a beautiful day once again.

Mt. St. Helens in the background

Spirit Lake

Mt. Adams in the distance

Evening fun

Monday, July 22

A neighbor of ours makes and sells a Swedish lawn game called Kubb which we brought and played Monday evening.  I also had some giant bubbles and snake bubbles to help entertain the younger kids.

Mossyrock State Park

Monday, July 22

We hung around the house a little in the morning and then headed out to Mossyrock State Park for the afternoon.  We weren't quite sure what to expect because none of us had been there before, but it was an awesome place to take the kids!  And it ended up being free too.  They have a lake area where you can use non-motorized boats or floatation devices and swim.  They had some sand for the kids to play in as well as a playground.  They also had a small general store and cafe, volleyball nets, picnic tables and lots of open grass areas.  Aunt V had brought some inner tubes and two small inflatable row boats and we borrowed a couple more inner tubes from the rental home.  The weather was nice and sunny and not too hot and the kids all had a blast!  We were hoping to make it back there again later in the week but ended up not having enough time.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our excursion:

DH swam from the shore to the logs marking the boundary of the swimming area.

Uncle S didn't want to deflate the row boats in case we wanted to come back to the lake so they tied them down to the top of their minivan using belts.  Our job was to drive behind and make sure they didn't fly off although it was funny watching Aunt V keep popping her head out the passenger side window to make sure they were still there!

Sunday with family

Sunday, July 21

On Sunday we headed up to Mossyrock after attending church together in the morning.  Here are some group pictures we took right after church:

All the grandkids - good looking bunch!

I think it was a little sunny - everybody seems to be squinting!

Waaaay behind!!

So I know that I am way behind in updating my blog!  Please bear with me!  I have not given it up, just been super busy with life once again!  We'll see how many posts I can get done before the end of the year!

Cousins!!

Saturday, July 20

DH's brothers' families arrived on Saturday and the kids spent some time watching a movie together and eating outside on the deck!