New Fun

We got a blue tandem kayak today, opening a whole new world of adventure for the boys.

Fourth of July - PA Style

We were in Pennsylvania for the Fourth of July this year. It was a whirlwind trip! We got front row seats at the parade in Warren. Nathan and Cole collected huge bags of candy.

Mathew took a little cat nap in Grandma Crossley's lap.

We camped at Chapman State Park. Mathew practiced his monkey skills with Grandpa Crossley on the playground near our campsite.

We also went geo-caching. Here's a pic of Nathan and Grandpa checking their GPS's and making sure we were on the right track.

Nathan and his cousin Cole... the big treasure hunters!

Mathew needed a little help through the woods... he's a treasure hunter in training!

Cousins! I snapped a whole bunch of these shots. This was the only one where everyone was looking in the same direction :)

Another highlight of our trip... tractor rides with Dad and Grandpa Harvey.

We also had fun at the beach. Nathan got into a water fight with Bill, his first cousin once removed.

Crops

We put in a vegetable garden this year. Nathan likes to walk out the garden with me and help me pull weeds. He checks out the progress of all the plants. Today we harvested a cucumber! Nathan found it a several days ago and has been checking it each time we visit the garden. He decided that today it was big enough to eat! It was delicious.

Camping

We camped with the Christensen's at the Lake Elmo Park Reserve. A great place to camp with little kids because there's plenty to do and it's only 10 minutes away. It worked out great because there were terrible storms both nights and we ended up coming home to sleep. But it was still a fun weekend.

We returned to the campsite early Saturday morning for breakfast. Chris cooked up some ham and eggs. Mathew danced through his breakfast and ended up wearing most of it on his shirt

We pitched a small tent for the kids to play in. It kept them from destroying the tent we intended to sleep in.

The kids went on a bug hunt. There was a lot of prep, but no bugs!

We spent the afternoon playing in the water. Mathew stayed up on the beach and played in a big red tub of water that Matt filled for him. After 4 hours, Mathew finally came down to the waters edge and ventured in...

just in time to watch Matt dump the big red tub of water on Chris!

The boys were exhausted from their afternoon in the sun and water. They collapsed about 2 minutes after we left the water.

McKenna and Gary came out to visit us for dinner and a nature talk about owls.

Living Room Camp Outs

Nathan and I have been camping out in the living room most Friday nights this summer. We set up his Lightning McQueen tent and I make him a super cushy bed out of camping mats and blankets. Sometimes we make popcorn, and sometimes we read books or play card games in the tent with flashlights and headlamps. Today Nathan thought it would be nice to make his brother a bed in the tent. I have to admit, he did a great job.