End of Summer Fun!

We had a fun an eventful August and are now ready to head back to school TOMORROW!!  The kids are excited!

One weekend in August, we headed over to the cabin for a short but fun stay.  Here is Grace enjoying a cuddle on the couch with Grandma Great.

Northwest Trek is really close, so we headed there one morning to see the animals

 Cross section of a VERY old tree

 Bobcat balancing act. It was amazing how well he could balance and not get a paw wet!

 Big horn sheep

 Riding the tram with Grandma in his favorite spot!

 Must have been comfortable too!

 Uncle Ryan and Auntie Colleen are great sports and always entertain the kids!!

 Mowing the lawn?!

 The next weekend, we headed to Glacier for some camping with our friends Jen and Grant, Grandma and Grandpa and Colleen and Ryan.  Hayden also learned how to master riding his bike and rode around the campground at least 100 times!

 Grace's favorite buddy

 Grace definitely did not stay clean this weekend

 Hike through an old forest

 Wading and throwing rocks

 Hike to Avalanche Lake

 Amazing views!

 The next day, we headed up to the top of the pass and hiked up these 147 steps, plus another mile to an overlook of the "Hidden Lake".  The kids did great and were quite the troopers hiking.  Caleb went at least 3 miles and Hayden and Lilly hiked around 4!!

 Amazing trickling creeks and wild flowers

 We even saw some mountain goats and their babies!!

 Taking a break on a rock.  As we were leaving, Hayden got in this position and said, "mommy, why when you see pictures of cougars, they always look like this"?  I guess he has Cougs on the mind!!

 Finding hiking sticks is serious business!!

 A fantastic campfire dessert - banana boats (this will be a new tradition!)

 Earning Junior Ranger Badges

 Taking a break for some ice cream!

 Last day - some swimming in Lake McDonald.

 After Glacier, we had to fit in Silverwood before the end of the summer, so headed there last Tuesday with Hayden and Lilly, while Auntie Amy took care of Caleb and Grace for the day.  Hayden had earned a free ticket by reading last spring and it was a great day!

 Soaked from the water ride!  I didn't get any pictures, but Hayden and Lilly even braved the 2 biggest roller coasters and loved them!!  We can't wait to go back next summer!

 This weekend, we headed down to Walla Walla for some wine tasting and our 11th Anniversary and Grandma and Grandpa took care of the kids in Richland.  Grandma taught Hayden how to cross stitch, and he thought it was great!  He was only about 1/2 way done with the project when he got home, but finished it in a couple of hours and was quite the proud guy!  We'll have to get him some more kits to practice on!

 New tradition...camping in the back yard for the last night of summer.  We inherited a HUGE tent from momo and papa (not sure if it had ever been used)!!  The kids thought it was great!

 Playing games in the tent before bed

 Now, today is the last day of summer vacation.  We bought a boat awhile back, but it has been in the shop getting "re-vamped" and today was the 1st day taking it out.  We don't have any "lake toys" yet, but the kids had a great time swimming and jumping off the boat, having a boat picnic and going fast!!  A great end to a fun summer!!

 Lilly, looking too old!!