Movie in the Park

 Some people in the neighborhood put on a movie in the park. They provided the movie as well as popcorn and light up rings for all the kids. It was really a fun little event. Bryce and I made a little date of it since Landon wasn't able to come (it being in the middle of the week and him having to work early the next day) and Chloe and Tanner were both gone that night. We had a fun time just the two of us. 

Jurassic Adventure

There is a dirt road about 30 minutes from our house, that if you drive down, leads to some dinosaur tracks. It is called the Warner Valley Dinosaur Track Site. We had been there years ago when Chloe was about Bryce's age. I thought it would be a fun thing to do. We invited Sandi to come along. We loaded the kids up and headed out. Things seemed to be going pretty good. The dirt road was bumpy and you could tell it hadn't really been maintained but it wasn't horrible. As we got closer to where we thought we should be it got a little worse and then things started to get really bad. The ruts and holes in the road were so bad at times we didn't know if we would make it. We found a spot to turn around after some scary four wheeling in the old explorer and got out our gps and that's when we discovered that we had somehow missed the turn. We went back and got on the correct road and we finally made it.

The kids were happy to get out and explore. The few tracks we were able to see were pretty neat, but you could tell the site hadn't really been kept up over the past few years and you couldn't see as many tracks as you once could and the ones that were there were really weathered down and not preserved well at all. I was a little disappointed but the kids were happy so I guess that's all that mattered. After exploring for a bit we loaded up and headed back home. 

Pine Lake

Chloe always wants to go camping for her birthday, so that's usually what we try to do. This year we weren't able to go right on her actual birthday, but we were able to go the following weekend instead. Between that and the new fishing pole we bought her she was pretty happy. She chose to go to Pine Lake a destination not to far from us that we had never been to before.

We headed out only to discover halfway there that Bryce had no shoes on and in fact had none with us at all. I really don't know how these things happen, but he just doesn't love to wear shoes and sometimes I forget to check. So anyways we tried to stop at a Dollar General-the only place along the way that might possibly have some-we did find some flip flops, but he couldn't tolerate or walk in them. So he pretty much went barefoot or wore Chloe's shoes the entire weekend. Oh Bryce!

Of course a campout isn't a campout without roasting some marshmallows.

The kids had a blast fishing. The fish were biting like crazy. They weren't big at all but they had fun reeling in one right after the other. Even Bryce was able to reel a few in all on his own. 

 They also had fun playing in the lake. Chloe and Beckett went for a little swim and then we all took turns paddling around the lake on the kayak. Even Beckett went out for a bit. One of our favorite things about this trip that as we were kayaking and fishing we could see little otters swimming around. The first time we saw them we weren't sure what they were. We had never seen otters in the wild before. It was pretty awesome. 

We had a lot of fun and will definitely be going back to this lake in the future. 

Happy Birthday Chloe Girl. I hope you always keep your love for adventure and free spirit. 

Basketball and Softball Camps

The first day of summer vacation started with basketball camp. It was hard for Chloe. She got a text from her coach asking if she was planning on going and from there things got a little bit emotional. She cried. She said she wanted to quit. We were shocked-she never cries and basketball is something she has always been so good at. We didn't understand. We were frustrated and didn't know what was going on. We finally figured out that partly what was happening was that she actually had not been on the court since her concussion-this alone caused her some stress and anxiety that she just didn't understand. Add that to the stress of the softball season and we could finally understand where the tears were coming from. We talked through it and she ended up going to the camp. She even had fun; it just took her getting back out there. She even played in some of the varsity games, which she didn't want to do, and then afterwards said that it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. We were just relieved to see her back on the court. 

Over the summer she attended two basketball camps and one for softball. The original plan was for her to go to more softball ones, but it just didn't work out because of her schedule with so many other things-girls camp, youth conference, vacations, etc. 

We are glad she was able to go to the ones she did though and hopefully she learned lots and had fun at them. 

Camping Mugs

I have been looking around for some fun and functional mugs for the trailer. I happened to spot these super cute mugs at the Target dollar spot and snagged them up. My local Target only had 3 different designs, so I called my Mom and she stopped by her Target and was able to get me a 4th. I'll have to update the picture when I get it.

Happy 15th Birthday Chloe!!!

Chloe turned 15 this year. We asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner-her answer was "crab and steak". Of course it was those are her favorite foods.

 She also doesn't love birthday cake so we did something a little bit different and made a donut tower instead. We invited the family over for dessert.

Next weekend we are going to go camping to celebrate, because that's what she wanted to do for her birthday. She loves spending her birthday at the lake. 

And then it's time to think about getting her learners permit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!!

Walking the Cats

Around here we take our cats for walks instead of our dog. We don't do it intentionally, but it is so funny, because whenever we walk anywhere they follow right along with us. I've never seen anything like it. #BlueandTango