Relaxing in the Lake

Our last day of vacation we just wanted to keep things simple and relax in the lake.  We found a section to play in that felt like bathwater.  We rented some tubes and headed out for some fun in the sun!

Gavin and Grandma

Dallin and Caleb were like little seals in the water.  They were constantly diving down looking for rocks and swimming all over. (Notice those feet?  Dallin is using a butterfly kick to get under water.  He has learned sooo much at swim lessons this year!)

 

Gavin played with the rocks his own way getting incredibly dirty.

 

If there are tubes, then boys feel the need to figure out how to stand on them. 

 

 

It took a lot of effort and practice.

 

But eventually the hard work paid off!

 

After all that hard work, it was time to relax

This picture looks deceiving.  It looks like we are all relaxing....

But really we are circling up

to start tube wars!

I'm the winner!!!

The second time though I was ganged up on

and wasn't so lucky

Thanks for a great vacation mom and dad!

Lazy Days of Summer

Vacation is the perfect time to have lazy days.  You can only handle so much sun and water before it is time to come in and relax.  Honestly the adults were wishing the kids wanted to relax more since we definitely all wanted a nap every day but that was wishful thinking.  One of my kids woke up between 6 and 6:30 a.m. every day and then woke the other one up.  Zane and I took turns getting up with them and heading outside on the porch to keep the noise down so that others could keep sleeping.  There is only so much you can do to keep the noise down though...

If your up early, you might as well exercise.  I brought Insanity which wasn't so relaxing, but when you eat like we eat on vacation, you have to do Insanity to not gain 15 pounds!  The workout was worth it though to enjoy so much yummy food!

There was plenty to entertain the kids when we were staying in especially since Lindsey brought her dog.  The cabin we stayed at also had a wrap around porch that seem made for little boys to run around and around it.  To have that much energy...

Dog toy or baby toy?

When my family gets together, we have lots and lots of game playing...including the kids!

IPads also help with entertainment.  Even a two year old can figure it out.

When the kids are finally in bed (and believe me they were in bed as soon as we could justify it),  games really got underway.  We play a variety of games, but one of the best ones had a round of charades with it.  This always brings plenty of laughter especially if my dad is involved.

I'm not sure I have any room to talk though!

Game playing and late night talking is probably my favorite part of vacation.  If I could just add sleeping in, it would be perfect!

Hiking Trip

 After spending a day boating, we took a break the next day and went hiking.  Where we live, we don't get a lot of hiking in so the boys really enjoyed themselves being able to run free amongst rocks and dirt.

 Looking ahead at the family

My dad kept wondering why we don't own hiking backpacks for our young kids.  It has never crossed our minds to buy one.  In the end, we all took turns putting Gavin and Carter on our shoulders.

Grabbed some hiking sticks and they were ready to go!

Trying out their own balance beam

Balance beams take some intense concentration

 

 This is the way to hike

Even better...this kid can sleep anywhere/anyway

Zane carried Gavin downhill and I think he was in some pain by the end from the uncomfortable position, but he didn't want to move him so that he would stay asleep.  What a good dad.

Swimming, Boating, Game Nights...Family Vacation 2012

Every summer we try to go on a family vacation with my side of the family. Usually we stay pretty close to home so that everyone can come but this year we ventured out to a lake about 7 hours away.  We stayed in a cabin among hills and forests and although we still had the heat, it was a nice change from home.  Because of the heat, most of our activities revolved around water.  The first day we tried out the lake by the dam and it was really cold!  Some of us braved the cold anyways and had a great time throwing a frisbee around and eventually dunking each other.

Zane gets the award for treading water the longest in the cold water (he is the guy in the back of the picture)

The kids eventually got tired of the cold water and played with the rocks on the beach instead.

On Tuesday we headed out in the boat to water ski.  This water was the perfect temperature!

Water skiing is one of Zane's most favorite activities. 

I on the other hand don't really enjoy skiing probably because it was so hard for me to learn to get up.  It didn't help that while I was trying to learn my brother (who shall go nameless but you know... the older one) thought it was funny to kill the boat and yell out at me," Sorry Shamu. The boat can't pull you up." Every one of my siblings water skiied before me.  It probably took me three or four summers before I finally got up.  That first time I cried the whole time while I skiied because I was so proud of myself.  I surprised Zane this trip by saying immediately that I wanted to go skiing and then going in and out of the wake (hence the picture below showing the shock on my face that I did it without falling.) The biggest surprise is that I enjoyed myself!

My little sister Lindsey and her husband Derrick drove 24 hours to be on the vacation.  They brought their dog who the kids all loved (probably a little too much.)

Dallin and mommy enjoying a tube ride.  I couldn't figure Dallin out. Sometimes he acted like he loved the tube rides and other times he refused to go.  He had a cut on his foot which bothered him while riding on the tube but I also think going too fast scared him.  It is nice to know that something does scare Dallin. 

Gavin can apparently take a nap anytime and anywhere.

Zane, Derrick, and Clayton trying to see who can stay on the tube the longest.  Boys amaze me sometimes because you can tell by this picture that Clayton's arm is in a very uncomfortable position and Zane's shoulder was in pain the next two days from this tube ride.  When he moaned about his arm I just kept saying, Why didn't you let go?"

Caleb, Dallin and Aunt Lindsey riding the tube.  Dallin didn't want to go again but then the competitive side of him won out and he got on.

Zane and I trying to hang on while Matt tried to dump us.

We finally got Gavin to try tubing with Grandpa and Caleb.  He didn't look like he enjoyed it but he didn't cry either.

Maybe he did enjoy himself.

Stay tune for part 2.

Gavin's New Sleeping Habits

Gavin learned to crawl out of his crib.  Sad day for me.  Dallin was super proud of him though.  Going to sleep became a problem because Gavin would climb right out and start a game of opening and shutting the door.  I didn't like that game either so I switched his door handle to lock him in his room until he is asleep then I unlock his door.  When Dallin was 2 1/2 and 3 years old, locking him in his room was the worst punishment ever.  Every once in a while he would calm down immediately and just read a book while in his room, but most of the time he was screaming to get out.  Gavin on the other hand just plays in his room and causes mischief by pulling clothes out of drawers etc.  He is so quiet in there that I will think he is asleep and go check on him to find him playing away.  Now when I put Gavin to sleep I know it will take him 30-40 minutes to go down.  He will play around for awhile and eventually I will come in to find him asleep in random places in the room.  The below picture I thought was amusing because his legs were rocking him back and forth.  Luckily he will stay asleep while I move him to his crib.

If You Decide to Get New Flooring...

 If you decide to get new floors (to get ready for an eight kid preschool class), then you will have to touch up the baseboards before the floor gets put in.

If you start touching up the baseboards, you realize you purchased the wrong paint and it is very noticeable where you touched up (but you like it better.)

If you purchase the wrong paint, then you start painting the whole room.

If you start painting the whole room, you decide the whole house needs it.

If you start painting all 16 doors (taking an hour for each) with the horrible, smelly oil paint, you realized you may never get the project done in time.

If your mom takes pity on you, then she will start coming every afternoon to paint with you while the kids are asleep.

If your mom starts painting, she works like a madman and keeps painting even after kids wake up painting 12 of the 16 doors.  (Thanks mom for saving me!!!)

If you paint all the doors, then you have to paint the baseboards.

If you decide to paint all the baseboards, then you have to move the big furniture that hasn't been moved for seven years and dust/clean behind the furniture.

If you get new flooring then you have to take down all your curtains to keep them from getting dirty when the carpet is removed.

If you take down the curtain, you realize how dusty they are.

If you realize how dusty your curtains are, then you have to wash them and iron them.

If you have clean curtains, you realize how dusty your blinds are.

If you have a dust free, completely clean house with new floors and new paint, then you realize you need/want new flooring in your bathroom.  Tile is being put in this Saturday!

The new floor has provided so much entertainment!  

All of sudden sweeping is a new favorite activity.  I'm not complaining.