Fathers' Day Hike

Heading for the trail for their first hike.
They were pretty amazed by this log on the path. It was a tunnel.

Being silly at our destination spot while eating their mini boxes of raisins.

Daddy pointing Sarah in the right direction.

Happy little hiker.

Holding hands and being extra careful over the slippery rocks.

Smiling with mommy!

Sitting on the log!

What a busy Fathers' Day we had. Saturday was the bbq. Sunday started with making daddy his favorite breakfast, bisquits and gravy. Then we drove to Sweet Creek just East of Florence and went on a perfect hike to some waterfalls. After we headed into Florence for an early dinner and a stop at BJ's for ice cream. Lots of fun!

Fathers' Day BBQ

Helping Papa open his cards.
Enjoying the yummy cake that Andrea brought.

Silly Gary, just a big kid at heart!

Sitting at the kids' table enjoying yummy dinner!

Climbing the rock wall! What big girls!

We had a little bbq the Saturday before Fathers' Day with our friends the Blackham's, the Brunsvold's and of course, Grandma and Papa. The food was yummy and the kids all had a great time. Hopefully the dads did too!

Strawberry Pickin'

We went strawberry picking last Sunday. The kids loved it. They definitely picked more than they ate but they didn't want to stop. The berries were gorgeous! We made strawberry shortcake, jam, and did a lot of snacking!

Visit with Family at the Coast

Playing baseball with daddy!

Playing with G'ma Dot's dog Chipper.
Making beaded bracelets with Aunt Kathie.

Sarah with Andrew's dog Dakota.

Yummy S'mores!

Cousin Molly with Sarah and Caleb. She was so wonderful with them and they really loved playing with her!

Sarah, Caleb, Andrew and Molly hangin' at the beach.

More fun pix at the beach.

David's Aunt Kathie and Uncle Dan were here from Alaska. We headed over to the coast and spent the day with them along with Aunt Vicki from Illinois! It was great to see everyone! The kids loved playing and a "camping" day. Some unfortunate camper trouble also meant that Dan and Kathie spent 2 nights here with us and we got to have a nice visit!

New Sandbox

Daddy and Papa made the kids a sandbox for their birthday. They love it! It's super messy but well worth it!

Birthday

Enjoying very messy cupcakes left over from the birthday party. Super messy but super fun!

I decorate the kids' bedroom doors every year and the first two pix are them on bday coming through the doors. The third pic is them in their playroom full of balloons. They loved it!

Picture from the party with their friends making kaleidoscopes.

First time with bubblegum!

Blowing out the candles!

In their Little Einsteins, we are 3, birthday t's.

The "cake."

Wildlife Safari

The kids and I went to Wildlife Safari back in March. It was a great day that started out with a bang. Sarah got sick about half way there. We had to stop and it took every last wipe that I had to clean her up. What a trooper though. I asked her if she wanted to go home and she said no that she wanted to go to the animal park. She was fine the rest of the day thank goodness. Luckily I had some of Caleb's jeans in the car but we stopped to pick her up a new shirt!

The animals were more active than I have ever seen. The bears were playing in the water, the hippo was rolling around and jumping out of the water, and a giraffe walked really close to the car. The kids loved it. The only thing we missed was the elephants. They were too busy with commercial ventures. The park does a lot of money making gimicks now like the "elephant car wash." For $20 you can have the elephants dump large buckets of water on your car with you in it. Then you still have to drive down the dirt road to the safari exit. HMMM......

Milking the poor fake cow. This cow had been through a lot and wasn't in very good shape!

In the petting zoo they had a few of the typical animals but they were all miniature. Pretty fun!

Caleb climbing in with the miniature donkey.We rode the little train. Kinda quick and silly (don't see anything) but the kids of course loved it. Here are the men, on the look out! Caleb with Zachary and Camden...our friends who met us there.

Petting the giant tortoise. He just walked around while kids mobbed him. The kids were pretty excited.

Gotta love the cheesy photo op!

Me with my super-cute, little munchkins on the train. What a crazy busy day. But very fun!