We spent a lot of time enjoying nature in July. We had a couple nights for a family camp out, and when I saw "we" I really mean Katelee, Brenna and Harrison camped out. The other 3 members of our family-me included- went up for some food and fun, but slept at home and enjoyed the amenities a house has to offer. Shannon is the nicest and always provides the fun for my kiddos.
There was no stopping in for a comfy mattress during girls camp, but that's just the way it is supposed to be, right? This was our first official camp in this ward since the boundary alignment, so bonding was our goal-mission accomplished!
It was a fun and spiritual few days-full of crafts, a rain gutter regatta, devotionals, lip syncs, card games,
tenting, eating and serving.
I loved spending time with the young women, these leaders and especially Miss Katelee.
Our theme was 'small and simple things.' It is so cool to remember how these little memories and events in life shape us and help us focus or refocus on what matters and who we want to be.
At the end of July, it was Grant's turn to experience AFY. He signed up for a location an hour or so south of us- Payson Lakes. This location didn't offer some of the high adventure activities that Moab gave to Katelee, but it worked better with Grant's schedule because he took a Lake Powell trip with buddies in June (when Moab was happening). While Payson didn't have the high heat Moab gave Katelee, the Payson camp did give Grant some thunderstorms that helped him get very close to some group members...very close-as in taking shelter from lightning in the bathroom as a group for 3 hours. And that's what these church camps are for again- bonding...mission accomplished here as well, ha! Grant experienced connections with his first EFY and has kept in touch with some of the friends from that group. The craziest thing was when Grant and one of those friends realized they were registered for the same week and location this year! This girl flew in from Egypt and accidentally registered for this week, but it was fun for Grant to see her again. We actually met up with this gal the morning of drop off, had breakfast with her and her mom and Grant headed up the canyon with them. I took zero pictures, but I know Grant has some in a cloud somewhere.
While he was gone, the kids wanted to visit cousins in AZ, so Dave dropped them off there. All the kids gone for the week?? What should we do? We should go to Maine, of course. While it would have felt like a vacation just staying home sans kids, we thought we wanted to beat the heat and get out of town. We've always wanted to go to Maine and so why not then?! We ate lobster rolls galore, found lots and lots of lighthouses
hiked through Acadia National Park...
which was totally breathtaking...highly recommend
and explored various beaches. Yes, Dave is in long sleeves and full-length pants- he is determined to never experience a sunburn the rest of his life, so he takes his skin coverage very seriously. This was actually in Acadia, so we were hiking a lot.
We saw incredible flowers and trees. The coastline was dreamy. It was so magical, in fact, that David now thinks we need to live there later in life. I am not sure this will come to fruition, but he keeps plugging it. Regardless of whether it becomes a residence for us, Maine has a piece of Dave's heart. Ha!
With the summer racing by, and school fast approaching, we decided to skip town one last time. We collected the children from Arizona, had a couple days to pack again and jumped in the van to see Blake and company in Coeur d'Alene.
Blake's coworker took us boating on the lake and it was a blast.
Caleb got a couple wave runners for us and we rode those all afternoon as people tubed. The most exciting part of the day might have been when Caleb had Brenna and Harrison on the wave runner and was being so slow and careful that his turns weren't fast enough and they flipped the wave runner. Harrison was hesitant to ride it in the first place, so we were sure the flipping caused trauma, but he was a good sport and we were all laughing afterwards. He got in the tube still, so he did not develop a fear of water sports in general.
Brenna, hands down, won best expressions award. We were dying at the way her mouth became rubber and her eyes popped out of her head. Speaking of eyes popping out of heads, Harrison was introduced to Pee Wee's Big Adventure-Large Marge is now one of Harry's most feared fictional characters. So, between flipping in water and screaming at Large Marge, Harrison might have lasting nightmares. But we had some good entertainment.
We had big dreams of accomplishing the Hiawatha trail with no melt downs and we did pretty well, but we will need to tackle that again to pull off our goal. Harrison did not like it when he was not in the front of the line and he and I had to have some chats. Grace had an injury when she slid and fell off her bike, Caleb was overrun by rodents (like literally, chipmunks and squirrels were all over him) but it was still so fun. We absolutely love that bike trail.
We ate at a lovely brunch location on the river-Le Peeps.
It really is a beautiful part of the country. Idaho did not get the same endorsement as Maine did from Dave, as far as potential home locations, but we still loved it. This year the smoke has been sooooo bad from wildfires. We were just so grateful to get away and be able to see mountains, sky etc We are so ready for the air to clear and the temp to come down. Bring on fall very soon!
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