A week ago Sunday Grandma and Papa G were off to Farragut State Park. The plan was that we would meet up with them on Tuesday when our camping spot opened up. Kayda had decided weeks in advance that she was going to go with them. Of course that was difficult enough for us, it's hard to be away from any of the children for very long. Well Sunday morning came and Daddy, Carson, Dillon and I are all dressed and ready to head off to church, saying our last goodbyes when Dillon decides "I want to go!" So we packed his stuff as quickly as we could and they headed off to Idaho.
They did really well on the car ride. Of course we made plenty of calls over the next couple of days to check in on them and say goodnight and such.
They had a great time at Lake Pend Oreille with the sharks Grandma and Papa G got for them.
Apparently at one point Dillon's shark started floating out away from shore, with him on it. He slipped off and started to panic. Papa G tells me that all Dillon needed to do was put his feet down. Don't know where the panic came from, he's usually pretty brave in the water.
Meanwhile Daddy, Carson and I headed to Moses Lake Monday night and spent the night there, then we headed off to Farragut on Tuesday. We got there right around 2 and were VERY happy to be able to snuggle our big kids again. Though it was nice to be temporarily down to one kid again!
After we got there and had set everything up the kids were off playing. I came back to say hi to Grandma and Papa G and found this, a minute earlier Grandma was also asleep. I think the kids wore them out! Course Papa G spent FIVE HOURS at the lake with them on Monday!
Carson was quite happy to be wandering around, he is very excited to get his shoes on now because he realized how much nicer they are to walk in!
The first night there Carson and Brett got to take a bath. About 5 seconds later Carson started freaking out. Weird since normally nothing can bother him when there is water around!
These two girls were inseperable this trip! They were apart to sleep.... and not much else. Ella rode with us in the car, went on all kinds of activities with us. This particular day I was doing Kayda's hair because her hair gets CRAZY, Ella decided to let me do her hair too and they would match. Well they decided on three ponytails and took turns choosing a color. When I did Ella's hair the rubberband wasn't quite strong enough so she was going to have to put in an extra rubberband. The color they had designated for that spot was gone. I asked them what color they thought I should use. Kayda started to say "purple" and Ella said "purple" and Kayda continued to go "I said purple too!!!" and they got all excited.... we're in trouble...
This little dude is just the cutest. When there is water around he'll scooch around on his bum to get to it and then he's happy as a clown once he gets there.
Papa G got REALLY worn out towing the raft around that first day so he got smart and busted out the flippers!
That raft was BUSY. Those kids wanted to be in it most of the time, the last day there Uncle Pat and Aunt Sarah also had a kayak so the kids would bounce back and forth between the two, occasionally playing with the sand, throwing rocks or playing with the intertubes.
We decided to set the baby out, alone in the middle of the lake on a random rock... not really, if you look you can see Papa G underwater.
Checking Papa G out.
On Wednesday the programs started. There was a junior ranger nature scavenger hunt. Carson fell asleep so I stayed with him and also fell asleep while Daddy, Kayda, Dillon, Ella, Mikey, Peyton, and Uncle Scott went to it. Each kid earned a junior ranger badge and had a great time "seeing", "smelling", "hearing" and "touching" the various things on their lists. It was led by Larry a volunteer there at Farragut. Whom we ended up seeing again the next day on another adventure.
Here's Dillon hanging out at the Navy Officers' barbeque pit area.
Making a list and checking it twice...
Brotherly love. Carson LOVED sitting in his very own chair. He didn't care which one but he loved to sit in one all by himself.
The rest of the crew hanging around the campfire. The adults were kicked out of our chairs.
See, poor Aunt Anna holding Brett and chairless!!!
Meanwhile....roasting marshmellows.
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Kayda and Dillon had flashlights, Ella did not so they were quiding her around in the dark.
At one point all THREE of these boys were sitting on this longboard as it rolled.
"Hmmm... Mommy and Daddy said no but it looks REALLY interesting!"
Catching bugs with the cousins
The afore mentioned bugs.
Some Grandma H loves. They were so excited to show her their bugs!
Thursday's adventure was a nature hike down "Squirrel Cache Trail". Guided by none other than Larry! These kids had SO much fun together! We learned a LOT of interesting things, how to tell apart Lodge Pole Pines (sets of 2 needles), Ponderosa Pines (sets of 3 needles), Grand Firs (grow in batches of 3 and flat like your hand) and Douglas firs (needles grow all around like a bottle brush). Names of some various plants, what pine pedal piles are from (squirrels eating newly formed pine cones), we also got to see a tree that a wood pecker REALLY likes.
Here's the crew! Daddy, Carson, Kayda, Dillon, Ella, Aunt Anna, Uncle Scott, Brett, Peyton, Mikey and me. It was our own personal tour since we were the only ones there!
This little shelter was apparently built by the boy scouts and moved here at some point, all the logs are numbered and labelled based on where they were in the shelter.
Here's the wood pecker tree! The kids even got to put their hands in the holes!
When I was little I used to find bark that had "trails" from the bugs on it. I would pretend it was a map and play. Dillon found a piece of bark like that and I told him. Pretty soon he had a treasure map but then he got a short stick and that was his pen to mark where he had been.
Kayda was too scared to do this at first, so I started it with Dillon. It was fun to take them over to the bathrooms this way!
This is Brian, a friend of Nathan's who has come on our camping trips before. Dillon decided he REALLY like Brian, partly because Dillon's middle name is Brian. So Brian had a little mini-me, hero worship thing going on.
Dog pile!
At the city beach in Sandpoint. Here are Grandma and Papa H with all 11 of their grandchildren.
And here is the Grandma and Papa H branch, minus Uncle Greg and Aunt Liz and adding in the "adopted" Brian.
Brian was spinning Dillon around so his legs flew up in the air.
Dillon was having a great time wrestling with Jarrett on the grass.
Escorting Carson to the water. Such a good big sister and cousin.
Carson was trying to make his way back to the water, Jarrett and Mikey were trying to distract him for me.... it didn't work.
Pretty soon the water faucet became the playground for a whole bunch of small children. Carson included.
Playing "kick the can" Dillon was helping Aileena and spotted Nathan for her.
Ah!!! Cousin hugs!
And there is Brian... Dillon loved that boy.
Gnome pictures on Lake Pend Oreille.
We took Ella with us to do the gnome pictures and stopped by the visitor center on the way back. Ella, Dillon and Kayda decided to get skunks so that they could "stink" people. The first victim was Papa H. His response was "You know I didn't notice a difference because it smells how you always smell" or something along those lines...
Uncle Pat and Nathan were determined to have a BON fire. So they made a huge stack of firewood and lit it.
And nobody would go near it... Until Uncle Pat decided to use his tongs and start lowering the upper logs so they didn't crash down towards somebody.
Since Grandma and Papa G are going to be gone for Carson's first birthday they wanted to watch him eat cake. He REALLY likes cake... Oddly he wouldn't feed himself, Grandma G had to feed it to him.
We spent Friday down at the lake Carson really enjoyed floating on the interubes with Daddy and I. We spent the day playing with the kayak, the raft, the interubes and the sand toys. I spent a good part of it playing sea monster or tug boat for the kids while Daddy did the dry land play.
