Adventures at the lake:

View from the kitchen table :o)

Our typical day at the lake started with Reggie and Ainsley visiting grandpa and grandma in their room at 7 o'clock. They'd hang out there for awhile and then make their way to the kitchen for some breakfast. I usually put their cereal out, like at home, but they never seemed to eat much....Reggie always had poppy seeds stuck in his teeth....hmmm??? They aren't going to know what to do without their Costco muffins. It will give them something to look forward to next time they see grandma and grandpa :o). Many mornings after breakfast, we'd head out to pick raspberries and huckleberries for our morning fruit. They are delicious and the kids enjoy picking!

The weather was beautiful almost everyday, so sometimes we would head down to the lake to make some sand sculptures or waterways or play and swim. Reggie really enjoyed playing with the neighbor's this year, especially their oldest son, Caden. I think he is around 13 and he is just great with both the kids. They laugh and laugh whenever they are with him and it was pretty fun to hear their conversations...they have quite the imaginations! It was also neat to see Reggie getting a little more confident. At the beginning of the summer, he would ask me to see if they wanted to play and then one day, I saw him go over and ask Caden to play. He would watch for him to come down to the beach and then he would go right over :o). They spent hours building waterway and sand structures and playing hide and go seek in the water. Our other beach friends have been the twins, Stella and Ruby (who run around naked!), Maggie, Emma and Sarah and the Boyd boys. Reggie has had so much fun playing and swimming with the older kids. They've challenged him a bit and he'll swim out to the trampoline with his life jacket on and paddle around in his little boat. Emma and Sarah were there shortly before we left and Ainsley even went out with them. They tied all the floaties together to create a "party float" and headed out to the trampoline where they jump and have a great time. A few weeks ago when Megan and the boys came, Reggie was out in the canoe with them and swimming all over the place. They had a great time playing and I had a nice visit with Megan. Poor Ainsley...no girls to play with. Thankfully, Maggie has been up here every weekend, so Ainsley has someone to hang out with. She is pretty good about entertaining herself and sometimes she'll play with the older kids, but she isn't into swimming yet. The water is a little to cold for her princess blood! Ainsley did try tubing this year with the Rachel, Lynette's daughter (they were up here for a week renting the neighbor's house). Lynette assured me they would go slow and straight. Ainsley wanted me to go with her, so all three of us went. Funny how people have different definitions of slow! It was very good I went because we were going at least 15 miles per hour and her eyes got pretty big. I asked her if she liked it and she said no, but after a few minutes, I asked her again and she said she liked it. Since then, she has asked to go again, so now we just have to get a tube that doesn't have a hole in it.

Other mornings, we'd head to the woods for a short hike. There are some trails across Bamboo Lane that we explored a bit. Dad also took them to the property and had some fun on the backhoe. We noticed some interesting prints/droppings and think there might have been a cougar or mountain lion very close by, so I was always on alert. Back in the trails, the neighbors built a tree house and we had to check that out. I'm glad Reggie is afraid of heights!!! We also went on a longer hike in a new place with grandma and grandpa and the kids really enjoyed walking up the dried up creek, balancing on logs and eating salmon berries and blue huckleberries (which I had never seen or tried before). The kids were excited to see a snake, some frogs and fish. Grandpa was busy trying to save the fish that were stuck in small water ponds.

We'd usually head in for lunch around 12:30 and then have some quiet time until 2:30 and then we head back out for some more play time in the water. Ainsley just could't get enough of jumping on the water trampoline and Reggie couldn't get enough of swimming. She liked to canoe or paddleboard out to the trampoline where she'd just sing, jump and then lounge around when she got tired. We had a little excitement with her falling in with Sarah and Emma, but they quickly took care of her. We didn't get quite so lucky with the neighbors. They had a bunch of floaties tied together, along with a Kayak and for some reason, they were moving from one to another. You can guess what happened...Ainsley fell in. She had her life jacket on, but was still panicking and everyone out there just watched. We were watching from shore, hoping they'd figure it out and sure enough, they pulled her up on the Kayak and everyone was fine. Ryan took the canoe out and picked her up, but I was a little nervous that she wouldn't ever go in the water again. It was 2 days before we left, so I guess we'll find out next year. It is a good sign that she came running up to the house, with a big smile on her face, excited to tell me that she swam :o).

We tried to have some school time this summer. Reggie worked on his reading, Ainsley worked on her letters. I've realized I'm not cut out to be a teacher, so I let that go a few weeks ago and we're just going to enjoy the summer. Shouldn't reading be fun??? He'll get there some day. Ainsley did great and Reggie enjoyed working on letters with her, so all was not lost.

Tuckered out from all the activities: Our sand angel :o) We have a new interest in frogs (he asks me almost daily if we can get a pet frog!) Hats Mommy being goofy: How can we save those fish???? Running with Sarah and Emma Quiet time activity: Putting the "party float" together: Learning to paddleboard: Reggie building with Caden (the rest of the gang behind): Ryan and Reggie swimming:Reading to Spencer (doesn't he look excited!):