Life with our little family of 3...

We recently attended Cascades Camp's Labor Day Family Camp. We had a good time relaxing and having fun. The camp had great food and lots of activities. They had a guest speaker but after the first night, we decided to skip out on the rest of the sessions and just do family stuff! We took a trail ride together. This was Emma's favorite part! Especially since she got to ride her favorite horse from camp, Maverick!  Emma learned to paddleboard! She did great!  Next time we decided we need to do this in Hawaii!  Robert and Emma took a canoe ride during a couple of the morning sessions. The lake was very quiet and peaceful.  Emma had some "down" time contemplating life. :-)  She was brave and decided to climb to the top of this and jump off!   Then her bravery led her to this...  A 700' long zipline that was over 150' up at some points! (More on this later) There were two 700' lines....

Emma has found a new side of her that loves thrills! We are so proud of her trying new things. She decided she wanted to try the paddleboard at camp. She was almost a natural! Then she decided to step it up a notch and try this... Nothing like seeing your baby fly away dangling over 150' above trees and there isn't anything you can do to help! But she was hooked! And did it a few more times before they closed! You can tell in her face as she comes down the second line how happy she is! I wonder what she'll try next!

I recently purchased a picnic basket for $2.50 at the evil box store. I bought it not for a picnic basket but more of a all purpose carrier. It always seems I need to cart stuff in and out of the car. Such a library books, snacks, etc. I saw this and thought it would be a great way to carry stuff since it was lightweight and cheap! Unfortunately since it was from evil box store, it soon fell apart. I was pretty disappointed since I had high hopes it would be my next greatest thing to make life easier for me! But the cheap plastic "pins" kept popping out which led to the reinforcement stakes to cause the basket to collapse. Which then led to it just being a big pain! Then I had an idea... What it I made it more fun and functional! So it began with this... And then I did this... I poked holes through the bars that kept it upright. Then strung some ribbon through it to help keep it in place. But I didn't stop there... And ta-da! Fun meets f...

I am not sure how in the world I married into a family like this...

We are experiencing some unusually hot weather this week. It's been in the upper 80s to mid 90s. Too hot for us Northwesterners! We decided to head down to our beach to try to stay cool. The kids had a blast! They spent over 6 hours playing in the water!  They swam... Built sandcastles... And worked on perfecting the perfect jump... In order to make the biggest splash... This is what summer is all about! 

Emma returned from camp this weekend. It was all that she had hoped for and more! After the kids were checked out and we picked up her stuff, we were able to go down and visit some of the horses. Not only did she get to see them but she got to ride one of them too! We were very impressed at her first time up on a horse! She did amazing! Goodbye cheers and closing!  Ready to go!  All by herself! So proud! 

Emma went off to camp for the first time this week. She will be gone 7 days and 6 nights. She picked a camp that offers not only the summer camp experience, but horses as well! She was so excited to go she could hardly stand it! She was all packed up and ready to go hours before we had to leave! She went with a couple of friends. I think it made it a little easier being gone so long to know she has friends with her. I love this picture! They are going together... not only physically but on a deeper level. Here is where they get to stay! How exciting! It even has a full bathroom in each cabin/boxcar! There are 9 girls and 1 counselor in her cabin. After they checked in, they got to choose their beds. Emma picked a top bunk. It's hard to believe she will be gone for a whole week. I know she is going to have an awesome time! There will be so much to hear about when she returns. It's also the beginning of her slowly becoming her own independent ...