July 20
We spent the day at the lake with our friends, chilling on the beach, swimming a little bit, and trying out paddle boards. And we did all of it with good friends and no children! It has been a very relaxing vacation.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Day 200: Back to Bloomington
July 19
We returned to Bloomington Lake with our friends, and this time I braved the rope swing! We also hiked partway around the lake and then swam over to the low cliffs you can see in the bottom right corner of this picture. I won't say how long it took me to actually jump from there into the lake, but it's clear that if all my friends jumped off a cliff, I would at least think twice. My mother would be proud.
Day 199: Peace
July 18
Everyone has gone home, including the girls, who are staying at Grandma's house for a few days, and Chris & I are alone at the cabin, enjoying the silence and tranquility until our friends arrive for a kid-free weekend.
Day 198: Bloomington Lake
July 17
We came to this spot a few years ago. Here's Uncle Britton again, jumping from the rope swing. The most notable difference between this time and last time is that there is no snow on the mountains, so the water was much warmer. It was a beautiful day, and not only did Uncle Britton jump, but also the rest of Chris's brothers, his brother-in-law, and his sister. Everyone wore swimsuits this time, though, since his dad vetoed the underwear jumping.
Day 197: Nathan Has a Shovel
July 16
Today was spent at the beach. Bear Lake is usually pretty crowded in July, but the clouds and the fact that it was a Tuesday kept most of the crowds away, and we had this little stretch of sand pretty much all to ourselves. The girls played in the water, rode on the boat, drove the waverunners, and attempted to waterski, and our nephew Nathan had the time of his life playing in the sand.
Day 196: Slippin' and Slidin'
July 15
We spent our first full day at the cabin relaxing, playing, and just having fun with all of Chris's family. All the kids (and one or two of the adults) had a blast on the slip'n'slide, but Ellie kept it up the longest.
Day 195: Sister, Daughter, Mother
July 14
I'm incredibly blessed and proud to be related to these three amazing women. Also, my daughter should not be nearly as tall as her aunt and grandmother!
Day 194: Kiss the Bride
July 13
Chris's youngest brother, Scotty, got married today. We're excited for him and his new wife, Vickie, and her - and now his - little girl Izzy.
Day 193: Derpy Alpaca
July 12
We're off to Utah! We made a pit stop at "The Middle of Nowhere" in Idaho, where the bathrooms were, unfortunately, out of order, but the resident alpaca was happy to pose for goofy pictures.
Day 192: Level Pro
July 11
Lexi passed level 10 in swimming lessons today, meaning she has now learned all the have to offer at our local pool and they proclaimed her officially in "level pro". She's pretty proud of herself, especially since she started the summer in level 7 and only had two and a half weeks of lessons this time around!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Day 191: Blueberry Syrup
July 10
My friends Rachel and Donna and I got together to make syrup with the berries we picked last week. This may become a tradition!
Day 190: Waiting
July 9
Vicki broke her finger the day before we left for Seattle, but I didn't believe her until we were already in Seattle. The doctor we saw there wanted us to get it checked out again in a couple of weeks, so here we are. As you can see, it was some great mother-daughter bonding time.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Day 181: Vicki and a Fuzzy Ellie
June 30
Not a great picture, but unfortunately the best of the two I managed to take today. The girls were video chatting with their grandparents, as we do just about every Sunday.
Day 180: Garage Sale for a Good Cause
June 29
Two years ago Vicki & I worked to help her class raise money to go to Outdoor School. Now it's Lexi's turn.
Day 178: Back to Wild Waves
June 27
We returned to Wild Waves and after a few turns on the rides, we hit the waterslides before heading back home. Definitely a trip to remember, and a great way to end our journey together. I'll miss these amazing girls!
Day 177: Seattle
June 26
We spent today touring Seattle, both above and below. We did the Underground Tour (which I highly recommend), a Duckboat tour, and we rode to the top of the Space Needle. We also had an adventure in the world's weirdest McDonald's. Another great day!
Day 176: The Disk"o"
June 25
We took Vicki's Girl Scout troop on their last hurrah - a three-day trip to the Seattle area. Our first stop was the Wild Waves amusement park, where we enjoyed some rides before the rain hit, drenching the unfortunate group of girls who were stuck on the roller coaster. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent swimming in the hotel pool, eating a huge buffet dinner, and playing laser tag. I'd say it was a pretty successful first day.
Day 175: YoCream Date
June 24
Lexi had a gift card, and today seemed like the perfect day to use it.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Day 174: Beauty All Around
June 23
We spent the day at Three Pools. If the weather had been better, it would have been a great swimming hole, but it rained pretty much the whole day. We still had a great time bonding under the sunshade while it rained and skipping stones when the rain stopped.
Day 173: Gerald and Piggy!
June 22
Ellie scored on the Elephant and Piggy books at the library today. And she read half of them to me while we waited for her sisters to choose their books.
Day 172: Silly on the Swings
June 21
I know it's a little blurry, but I think this picture captures Ellie's personality pretty well.
Day 171: I Can Do Hard Things
June 20
Yet another running picture! Today I ran three intervals of five minutes each, with three-minute walks in between. Four weeks ago it was a huge challenge to run for even one minute at a time, so being able to do this is a big deal to me.
Day 169: Swimmer
June 18
This will probably be Lexi's last year of swimming lessons. I've been so impressed with her hard work this summer! She's basically been swimming laps for a half hour straight each morning.
Day 168: A Sign
June 17
I've been doing the Couch to 5K running program, and this evening, even though I ran for longer than I've run in a long, long time (and the first time I've done it without being forced!), I was shocked to discover that I could have kept going. When I came around the corner to my house, I saw this rainbow, and it felt a little bit like God was telling me how proud He is of me.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Day 167: Charburgers
June 16
I grilled burgers this evening, and our neighbor asked if we needed her to call 911.
Day 166: Penguins!
June 15
Ellie's class danced to "Jolly Holiday" from Mary Poppins. And I spent the evening backstage, wrangling penguins and ballerinas alike.
Day 165: Triple Falls
June 14
I joined Vicki's youth group on a hike today to Triple Falls. I'm sad that we've lived here eight years, and this was the first time I'd seen this! I love Oregon.
Day 164: Three Monkeys
June 13
It was great to spend the day at the zoo with some of our close friends who moved out of our neighborhood last year.
Day 163: The Last Ones
June 12
I finally finished off the last box of Girl Scout cookies. Now I have to wait until next February for more.
Day 162: I Gotta Feelin'
June 11
Dress rehearsal for Lexi's jazz class. She's the one on the far right.
Day 161: Rock Collection
June 10
If you live in my neighborhood and are missing some rocks, they're probably on my porch.
Day 160: Almost Home
June 9
I love having this beautiful landmark to let us know for sure when we're getting close.
Day 158: Creekside
June 7
Chris's office designed this amazing camp, and they opened it up again for his office to have a family weekend there.
Day 157: Graduation Girl
June 6
Lexi has been blessed with an amazing teacher for her last two years of elementary school. We're sad to say goodbye to Ms. Reneé, but hopeful that Ellie will be able to be in her class in a few years. And now Lexi is excited to be moving on to middle school.
Day 156: Their Last Parade
June 5
After seven years, Vicki's Girl Scout troop is dissolving. These girls' interests are changing and they're moving on to different things. We've always walked in the Junior Rose Festival Parade, and they chose to do it again one last time. I'm going to miss these girls!
Day 155: Talent Show
June 4
The curtain call for the talent show at the elementary school. Ellie is on the far left, in a penguin costume.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Day 153: Flat
June 2
On the way home from church today it suddenly became very clear that there was no longer air in this tire. Chris was at home working, so I tried to change it myself (while wearing a knee-length skirt - I KNEW I should've worn pants today!), but I wasn't strong enough to budge the stupid nuts. Fortunately, a good Samaritan stopped and gave us a hand.
Day 152: Coolest Geocache Ever
June 1
We took a trip up Mt. Hood today to check out some campsites for this summer, and we decided to do a geocache while we were there. We picked one at random, and it turned out to be the coolest cache we've ever found. It was at an abandoned hot springs resort. All that remains are some cement walls, an old foundation, and this crumbling fireplace/stove that was used to heat the water for the "natural" hot springs.
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