To beat the heat this summer, we spent a lot of time at the river and Rattlesnake Lake. It was the longest, hottest summer I can recall, so much so that the river and lake got incredibly low and revealed ground and stumps that I don’t think had seen the sun in many years! We had a fun time canoeing, paddle boarding, and swimming around. Each week we returned to the lake it revealed more stumps and treasures to explore!

My little monkeys! I’ve always wanted to get a shot like this of the boys (thank you Pinterest).

That’s Rattlesnake Ridge up there in the background

Paddle boarding

That’s Jonathan towing the boys back to shore.

Cheers!

This little guy had a close call. As I returned to shore with the paddle board, I discovered him just before I stepped into my flip flops, he was perched right in the middle of one of them. He became the boys’ pet for the afternoon.

Dry, cracked earth. I never realized that when lakes dry up, the mud left behind is so sticky that any and every bug that lands on it gets stuck. Sooooo gross!

The weekend after the cousin swap, we drove over the mountains to return Nicole/retrieve Avery, and visit with the Avery’s of Pullman. We had a really fun time. We took it easy, dropped by the farmer’s market, played at the local park, and just generally enjoyed each other’s company. We got this cute pic of all the cousins together.

And here are the adults

My favorite brother and me

Does this kid love the camera or what?

Silas sitting on his Great great aunt Bernice’s old Cosco chair

This summer has been hot, hot, hot! To keep cool, Jonathan and I have been taking the boys to the Snoqualmie River in the evenings. We can’t believe we’ve lived in Snoqualmie for more than four years and hadn’t been here yet! We tried a few different spots, and found our favorite. It’s beautiful!

This is a spot we checked out on the south fork of the river. We were having a great time and the boys decided to swim across to check out the other side (the water isn’t moving much here). Avery made it across no problem, and Kieron even made it too with a little help and encouragement from his big brother. They played over there for a while as the sun moved and the area became shady. When it was time for them to come back, the water felt much colder, and the boys didn’t want to get in the water/didn’t think they could do it. Long story short, it took a lot of coaxing, crying and drama before the boys made it back, but finally they did it!

We also found a canoe on Craigslist and have been padding around Rattlesnake Lake and Lake Alice with the boys. It’s small, and it doesn’t have an engine, but it gets us on the water! All Jonathan’s years on the crew team at Western are coming in handy, and the boys love taking turns giving Mommy a break paddling!

Avery and Kieron at Lake Alice. Much of one end of the lake is shallow enough for the boys to walk around. There are lots of lily pads, cute little houses along the water, and very few people. Avery swam the whole way back, probably 1/2 mile (with his life jacket on)!

We went to Bellingham at the end of June. We caught up with good friends, visited a few of our favorite spots, and ate a lot of yummy food. The first night we stayed at a hotel. The following night we had a camping mishap. We originally planned to camp in tents at Larrabee State Park (my first such excursion since becoming a mom), but when we got there, we quickly realized this was not our kind of camping. Mostly RV’s, generators, packed close together, and our site wasn’t on even ground! Fortunately, our friends, Jim & Renee, had tried to persuade us to stay at their house earlier in the day, so we quickly turned around and headed back to their place. We made it back just in time for dusk. Jonathan and the boys camped in their back yard, while I opted for the guest bedroom. We had so much fun we decided to stay another night!

With Jim & Renee (3 out of 4 of us woke up at 4:30 am during college to sit in a boat together). Here’s to sleeping in!

The kids

The weekend happened to fall on my birthday, so we celebrated

Avery in the pool. This sweetie pie chose to stay in the room with me the second night instead of camping in the tent (which he loves). His reason – because it was my birthday and he didn’t want me to be alone! He melts my heart!

Silas on the slide

With Jen, home from Singapore. So happy to see this girl!

Bjorn & Avery

With Jen & Oliver

At Lake Padden. This photo was taken before Silas tripped and landed on his face, resulting in a bloody nose. We had no tissues, so my medics, Avery and Kieron raced  (quite a distance) to the bathroom together to fetch some toilet paper.

We found salmonberries!

Silas’ favorite!

That night the boys slept in Jim & Renee’s back yard while I opted for the guest room.

Daddy & Kieron, happy boys at Chuckanut Brewery

At Rocket Doughnuts

La Fiamma Pizza

The boys at Rumor’s Cabaret, an old favorite dancing spot

Me and the boys

Kieron digging sand at Boulevard Park

Grammy and Papa took a road trip through the western half of the U.S. last month, and they swung by our neck of the woods at the end of May. We had a fun time together! Here are a few pics from our visit.

The boys love it when Papa pushes them on the swings.

Pizza night

We hiked the Iron Horse Trail through the Snoqualmie Tunnel. The tunnel is 2.3 mi long, and you have to go through it both ways, so it was a pretty long, cold trek for the boys, but they enjoyed it.

Grammy shares some “jelly jeans” with the boys

Then Silas asked to try some of her lipstick!

We remembered to get a couple shots together before Grammy & Papa drove away