Bacon and Eggs.

I am not quite sure how we got to this point...I think it all started when I started asking the girls "What's shakin' bakin'?"  Somehow that transpired to Bacon.  Then to Bacon and Eggs.  Now my girls refer to themselves as Bacon and Eggs.  The other day I came home and said hello to Sidney.  She responded, "No.  I'm eggs.  Kendall is Bacon." 

Kevin took Bacon and Eggs on a camping trip to Montana the last few days.  They are due to be home in the morning and I cannot wait.  The silence was great the first day, good the second day, quiet the third day and sad today.  The question I always ask myself remains, "What did I do before I had kids?"  I must have been a huge time waster and life was probably really boring. 

I am looking forward to having them home, only to see them leave again for another week.  They will be here for a few days then off to Grandma Karen and Papa Mark's house.  I love that they get to have these memories with their family.  I would not trade that for anything, I just wish it was a little louder around here when they were gone. 

Kevin has already warned me that they are not coming home the same way they left.  Isn't that what grandparents are for?  We have five days to whip them back into shape.  Then they will be off to their other grandparents to get spoiled rotten again.  Livin' the good life!
 

Kids will be kids.

What do I love about camping?  Aside from no cellphones, no "to do" lists, no agenda and plenty of quiet time, I love that kids get to be kids.  In this day and age, it seems the era of imagination and child's play can be rare.  I remember growing up and building forts on our property, spending entire days making true "mud pies" using sticks as our utensils and running wild. 

We have city kids.  There are swimming lessons, play dates, art classes and story times.  Those are all incredibly awesome things, but when I watch the girls play while we are camping it just makes me smile.  They hide behind large trees hoping that Kevin and I would not find them.  They help haul fire wood to the campfire.  They spend hours practicing their casting with their fishing poles.

They tromp around in the rivers in the absolutely freezing cold water.  I recall when we were up at Bulltrout Lake a couple of weeks ago Kendall was wading in the freezing cold water and announced to Kevin and I that she was going "swimming".  We gave each other a sideways glance and watched her proceed to plunge into the frigid water.  She came up and the water had literally taken her breath away.  These are good times.  These are the times that I remember as I child. 

I will never forget fishing with my Dad on the dock during a VERY cold spring morning.  I must have been about 8 years old.  It was so cold out that we were bundled up in pants and jackets.  There was a rope tied to the end of the dock that I kept throwing in as far as possible, teetering on the edge of the dock.  Despite my Dad's warnings, I continued to do this.  After about the fifth warning, I threw the rope with all my might and landed in the freezing cold water fully clothed.  The water was over my head and I remember the cold taking my breath away.  I came up from the water to see my Dad laughing and yelling all at the same time.  "I told you so" was all that I remembered hearing him say.

Sidney was so proud of herself.  She was walking across her log.  As we were leaving camp on Sunday morning, she kept begging to walk on her log "just one more time".

We went exploring on some of the back roads and found a really awesome spot where the creek had dammed up.  There was quite a pool of water behind it.  The day was so hot, Kevin even jumped in with all of his clothes on.

The girls were sitting in the cold water asking Kevin to time them to see how long they could sit there for.  Silly girls.

Yes, we are busy.  Life is busy.  I have found that these moments that we get to steal, away from all of the hustle and bustle, have become something that I really look forward to.

Pool Party 101

The girls went to their first pool party.  They were super excited to get their suits on and join their friends for some fun and sun.  We met up with the Parson girls and Little Emily.  Claire was home not feeling so hot.  Bummer deal. 

The girls had a great time and took a mere 30 seconds to warm up and start the fun.  I think I managed to get a shot of everyone.  Even little Natalie got in on the action.

Audrey and Kendall had an excellent time diving for rings.  Bill even took them for a ride around the big pool.  Another year and we will have to put tracking devices on these girls to keep tabs on them.  They are ready to go!  

Sidilicious had a good time, but did most of her playing from the sidelines.  Beware though, do not even think about snatching her ring from her because she is "using it." 

Emily was kind enough to stop her play long enough for a smile.

It was a good time.  The first of many we hope.  We got there early and had the place almost to ourselves.  It always amazes me to think that we three girlfriends now have 6 little girls among us.  Wasn't it just a few short years ago that we were heading to Vegas for Becky's bachelorette party?

Party Girls

This has been a very fun summer, it is hard to believe that we are a full week into July already.  The girls are half way through the summer reading program at the library.  They took their tickets in for some prizes.  Of all the things that they could choose from, the girls each picked a blow-up guitar.  Sidney seemed to know exactly what to do with hers.  Tonight I took them to Toys R Us to check out all of the fun things.  They each have a list of about 100 items that they want for their next birthday.  The instruments and music Cd's seemed to attract most of their attention.  They were literally dancing down the aisles.

Here is one of Kendall's dancing pictures from Tracey and Whitney's wedding.  Everyone is still talking about how she danced the night away.  Apparently she even got Uncle Roy out on the dance floor!

I mentioned in my earlier post that we came back from our camping trip last weekend a day early.  It turned out to be a great thing as our neighbor's always throw the most fantastic BBQ and fireworks show.  I have dubbed the 4th of July "Matt's" holiday as he seems like a kid in a candy store when it comes to fireworks.  The girls ate like they had tapeworms.   

Amanda's sister was at the party with her camera.  She snapped a family picture of everyone at the party.  Unfortunately we left our camera at home and it was a long walk to go get it (across the street) so no candids this year. 

Snow in July?

Yes, this is what we were greeted with when we went camping this weekend.  CRAZY!  Though it may look cold, it was truly gorgeous.  The temperature was 70 degrees and the lake was like glass in the mornings with a breeze coming through in the afternoons.  It just so happened that our camp site had more snow than anywhere else in the campground.  It was not a problem, because what you do not see in the picture is the huge flat piece of sunny land that was between the lake and our camper.  Kevin and I hauled some big rocks and made a makeshift fire pit and that was where we set up camp. 

Sid checking out our lake front property.  The camp site was huge.  We only had one neighbor within visual range. 

Kevin took each of the girls out in the raft to fish.  Next on our wish list is a second raft, so that I can paddle out with one of the girls at the same time!

Sidney was not too sure about the boat ride.  She remained pretty still the entire time.

Bill and Audrey were camping at the same time.  The girls got to play together a couple of play times.  The play time was not nearly long enough.  Kendall kept wanting to go in the trailer and "call" Audrey.  We kept explaining that the phone did not work at the lake.  Below is a picture of Kendall and Audreymaking their "machine".  The pink bucket had a hole in the bottom and they were draining the water into the purple bucket.  They dubbed it their "bucket machine".  They are not the offspring of engineers are they?

Sidney ate so much watermelon this weekend that I thought she would explode.  I suppose there are worse things in life to eat too much of. 

Our wonderful camping trip came to an early ending as we were having battery troubles and the alarm kept going off.  It woke us at 6 am on Sunday.  What a bummer since I rarely see the other side of 6 am with my eyes closed.  The day before I had slept in until almost 8am.  That is a miracle for me!

On the way home, we hit a couple of fishing spots along the way.  The girls are getting really into fishing.  I am amazed at their attention span.  It was a good time, but only left me craving for more...!