Summer Adventures in July

 

And just like that, summer came to a close. I'll be honest and say that I tried really hard to get into summer this year but with Covid, I just wasn't really feeling it. Between having to postpone our season passes to the waterpark and not having my kids enrolled in swimming lessons, I was missing the fun filled summer routine. After our annual trip to Bear Lake, I got home ready for fall and school to begin and it was only 4th of July weekend. Yikes! haha But then as I've looked back on the pictures I took during the month of July, I can see moments of that summer magic and how I soaked it in when I embraced this summer for what it was. My first saving grace, the river. A place we didn't have to wear masks with water for my kids to play in and an endless supply of rocks and sticks to collect. 

My beach babe! She LOVED Sita's paddle board. My mom had a friend visit for a week and we took her down for some fun at the river one morning. 

Liam found a random piece of fishing line and constructed himself a fishing pole with a stick. It was adorable watching him persevere all day trying to catch a minnow. 

My mom in her happy place ...

One of my favorite things about summer, Lyla's bleach blonde hair!

The river has the perfect hiking trails through the woods next to it. We spent a lot of weekend days exploring them. Lyla would make it as far as her little legs would carry her and then beg for a shoulder ride.

We also spent a lot of time at a neighborhood playground. One day, Lyla brought along her "sheepy" to swing with her and we made up a song together to sing as they rode on the swing together. 

We celebrated our twin nephews turning one! For me, it felt like the fastest year ever. I'm sure for their mom, not so much. haha They have gotten so big though and it was fun seeing them take some of their first steps around their birthday! 

It made me so nostalgic seeing Liam's first birthday banner at a Where the Wild Things Are birthday party again. 

This cutie and her many entertaining facial expressions!

It has been a big blessing for our family having Nic work from home. Liam misses building legos with Nic while he is in his office but one day he made his dad out of legos, found a box in the recycling, wrapped it up all by himself with leftover Batman wrapping paper and electrical tape, and wrote a tag on the top to give the present to him at lunch time. Is that not the cutest thing ever?!

Having dinner with "Aunt Janel" and trying on Sita's shoes!

Summer days spent with some of my favorite people!

4th of July 2020

After only being back from our trip for a day, it was already the 4th of July. This summer is flying! It was fun to have it on a Saturday this year.

My mom bought the kids this little pool and water toys for entertainment at her house and they loved having it to play in! Liam was all about the squirt gun. Took me straight back to when he was two and my mom stayed with him while Lyla was born. She brought him this tiny squirt gun she had to fill every 5 seconds but it was his favorite thing ever!

What is summer without a water balloon fight?! p.s. If you haven't tried the self seal, fill 100 water balloons in a minute package you are missing out! Whoever invented that is a genius who has to be making millions right now. I remember 100 water balloons back in my day would cause your fingers to bleed form having to tie those suckers one after another.

Liam absolutely pummeled Lyla at every chance he got and my mom and I were in a fit of laughter watching it all go down. Every time Lyla would say "ow" with the most serious yet joking face and then keep chasing him, throwing her balloons along the way, each one missing and crashing to the ground. 

I can almost HEAR him laughing through this picture. The most authentic giggle I could have captured. 

When the balloons were running low they both just dove right in to the cooler. Somehow it turned on me and I was dripping wet from being hit a few times while trying to take their picture. Stinkers! haha

Their favorite one ... the "baby" water balloon. They took turns carrying that thing around the whole day.

In the past two years I've hosted a neighborhood bike parade but this year we joined my mom's instead. There were a handful of kids who did it too but not many. This was Lyla's first year riding a bike in one! She was SO excited to decorate it. Liam sadly wanted nothing to do with decorating his and I had to honor that choice. He said his bike already had red which is a "4th of July color, mom". Fair enough.

Getting ready to race to the starting line!

By the time Lyla rode to the starting line, she was already tired and made Nic carry her bike the rest of the way so she could walk the parade. haha After the first loop they were given the opportunity to ride an available wagon instead and they took the offer! Sita pulled them along for the second loop.

I taped red, white, and blue "hair" on the back of Lyla's helmet. 

Parade cuties!

My mom was handing out candy at the end of the parade and gave them a bunch.

Me and my girl, taking a break to eat candy!

This festive culinary masterpiece was my contribution to the bbq! My mom made all the hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, and watermelon. Thanks for dinner, Mommasita! Then we had a flag fruit pizza for dessert.

Our kids were still exhausted from our trip and trying to catch up on sleep so we made an early night of it ... starting with pop-its! Lyla LOVED these this year but didn't quite have the arm strength to crack them against the street so I showed her you can drop one and jump on it to get them to pop. She was a big big fan! I have the cutest videos of her jumping away! 

Sparkler safety 101! The wind was really strong so these were tough to light. I think we only got through 2 of our 5 boxes of sparklers. Liam did 90% of them in one go! haha 

I know this picture will be one of those I'll see one day and it will instantly take me back to this moment. They were so sweet, sitting together and watching Nic light the fountains in the street. 

Liam was on "cool down duty" with his squirt gun. He was pretty proud of this job! haha

Lyla got jealous and started squirting the bushes in my mom's yard. She'd squeal and run for her chair every time a firework went off. Her expression was the cutest but it ended very unfortunately with a big old face plant on a metal chair and a swollen cut up lip to prove it.

This was pre-lip catastrophe. She is so dang beautiful ... look at those baby blues!

We went home promptly at 7 with really fussy kids and were in bed ourselves by 9:30, completely missing the big fireworks but so exhausted. I take that back, I caught one out our bathroom window while I was brushing my teeth. haha Some years are just like that though, especially as a parent. It was still a great 4th of July! 

Happy Independence Day!

Pocatello & Bear Lake 2020

Buckle up, this is a long one.

Our trip felt so much easier this year with good travelers and even better sleepers. It was their first time having a slumber party on the floor together and they were often up way past their bedtime giggling about who knows what. haha A true childhood right of passage! 

How sweet are they when they're sleeping?!

I'll admit, the biggest bummer of all during our trip was the weather. It rained the majority of the time we were there. If you know Pocatello, it's a small town with not a lot to explore but when the sun is shining, there are some outdoor places we wanted to take our kids. We weren't able to do any of those things but we fulfilled the real reason we went and that was to spend time with family and friends. We had dinner with Nic's mom one night. Wish we could have gotten a picture. We also had a brief play date with old neighbors part garage, but backyard in short sleeves. Brr! I definitely didn't pack enough long sleeve clothes for myself this trip. I had a get together with a few girlfriends from our old neighborhood one afternoon and Nic had lunch with an old co-worker another. We had a blast catching up with our friends, the Southworth's. Liam and Hadley still play together like a dream! We got to meet their two month old baby and he was such a doll!! They finishing their basement and have hired interior designers to complete most of their house and it was looking amazing! Made me want to come home and start another home project. We'd make the most of our time with Dee when she wasn't working. We'd catch moments here and there where we could try and walk Papa's neighborhood between rainstorms and even take a ride on his golf cart! Always a highlight. 

Because of the rain, our original plans got all sorts of turned around but near the end of the trip, we finally made it. My favorite part of all is always, Bear Lake. 

Look how dreamy it is! We were even greeted by a pelican when we pulled in! 

My father-in-law always makes this trip a dream for us. He cooks every meal no matter how many times I offer to help. He contributes our portion to the family fund to stay the night there. He makes sure we're comfortable and happy. Rents a jet ski every year because he knows how much his grandkids love it and how much it makes them smile! My memories at this place will always be tied to our time with him. We missed having Dee with us this year too! 

I think this might be the first year that Lyla will remember the memories she made here.

The first thing he did was disturb an ant farm. haha

They both filled their pockets, buckets, and shoes full of seashells to bring home and spill over into the car on the way home. ;) Again, the best memories so it was worth it!

Tiny paddle boat riders!

Begging him to carry her in the water with him and giving kisses for rewards ...

The way she snuggles up to him and how he makes her giggle like no one else does ...

Not sure I'll ever be able to cut her hair because of those curls! How her hair bleaches out in the summer sun reminds me of my toe head days at her age. 

Next to shells, they filled their hands full of sand, tossing it into the lake and making the water as murky as possible. 

My favorite picture of ALL TIME! I asked her to "say cheese" and she posed with this face! Where did she learn this?! ;) So much sassiness and personality in such a cute little thing.

In their happy place ...

I love this sandbox overlooking the water. I never got a picture but we built a giant sand castle together on the second day we were there while dad and papa went to rent a jet ski. Liam's one request was that it had a moat. We made several weaving channels that all connected around a big castle and they had a blast filling every one with buckets of water. 

At the end of the first day, we tucked the kids in bed and left them with papa to go for a sunset hike up Bear Lake West. Our shadows looking out over this incredible view... you can even see the moon over the lake!

My father-in-law told me a story from Nic's childhood about how they were in the hot tub together one night and he said something about the sun going down and Nic said, "Dad, the sun doesn't go down, the earth rotates." Always with the best answers that guy of mine. ;) As it slipped behind the mountains we cheers'ed with s'mores!

Liam's bear ear sweatshirt came back to Bear Lake again on Lyla girl this time. <3 p="">

Our kids woke up at the crack of dawn like kids do while camping with the birds loudly greeting the sun. In order to not wake papa, we whisked them outside for a sunrise hike. 

I'm so glad our kids love hiking! They were so excited! Lyla's little legs didn't take her very far before she was wanting a shoulder ride but it was a valiant effort. 

There's Liam, finding more things to collect and add to his gem collection along the way. <3 p="">

That view is something else! I need to find a place to hang this in our home.

I loved spotting so many daisies on our walk. While they haven't bloom just yet, we planted several in our backyard this year.

When we made it back down to the cabin from our hike, the water was like glass over the lake. Liam was already eager to be down by the water, just like I was. We made our way down there just the two of us and sat on the end of the pier. He told me all about his favorite Pokemon characters and their powers. He asked me who my favorite was and I asked him, if he could be any one which would he choose. It really didn't matter what we were talking about, it was the connection we both felt. This moment was so special for me and needed between the two of us. I told him how much I loved it there and he agreed. Then I propped my camera on the edge of a dock and took our picture to remember this moment. A moment where I knew his soul was connected to mine and where I could see so much of myself in him.  

Finding quiet moments to take in nature ...

He found another stick he called his "grappling hook". There are big metal rings cemented into the pier. He'd wedge the pointy ends of his grappling hook into the metal rings and climb his way up. He loved that thing ... until it snapped in two and the tears followed. We helped him search and search for another one but he just couldn't find one that was quite like it.

Another moment that stopped me in my tracks was this one ... the Williamson's Last Resort paddle hanging over the kitchen window. I remember the very first time 10 years ago when Nic brought me here. I was in awe of all the nicknacks and family heirlooms that adorned the walls of this place. I took 2 pictures of us that trip and a million others of all the other special things that I know hold so many memories to such a big family that visits here. I'm grateful to be able to share summer memories at Bear Lake with our kids. 

"Motor boat, motor boat, go so slow ... motor boat, motor boat, go so fast! ... motor boat, motor boat, ran out of gas."

With their papa ...

What they love the most and always remember about this magical place is jet skiing! Especially him ...

Going 10 mph: "Mom, don't go too fast!"

She loved spotting the birds that would dive under water when you got too close to them. We'd wait for them to pop up a few yards away. The boys found one that wouldn't dive under no matter how close you got and we think it had a baby on its back!

In his element!

My favorite picture of him!!

Lyla looking a little disheveled after her ride. haha She liked it, I promise. Just not too fast. 

We ate a famous raspberry shake from LaBeau's and just as our kids were yawning, packed up the car and made the long 5 hour drive home. We said our goodbyes and agreed to come back again soon. Per my father-in-law's suggestion, we took the Logan Canyon direction home and it was an incredibly beautiful drive that first hour! We got caught in the most unfortunate road construction accident that had us at a stand still for close to an hour. Between that and stopping for dinner the trip back took about 6 1/2 hours total and we finally pulled into our driveway around 10:30 pm. Post dinner and the hype of the road hold up, the kids finally drifted off to sleep. We've been trying to fix their sleeping routines ever since all of those late nights. ;)

Already dreaming of Bear Lake next year and looking forward to seeing family and friends again as soon as we can.