Wild Waves Adventure

When we asked the kids at the beginning of the summer what they wanted to do, all three of them said that they wanted to go to Wild Waves. So yesterday we headed up to Wild Waves with our great friends, the Griffies. We also brought along two of Kelsey and McKenzie's friends, Sami and Shannon. We spent hours and hours riding many different rides, swimming in the wave pool, and going down twisty water slids. Despite my near heart attack on the wooden roller coaster, we made it home safely. Everyone had a GREAT time!

Berry Wonderland!

We have gone berry picking twice over the past few days because the berries are delicious - the best I've ever had. The kids loved looking for big, ripe berries. It was so fun listening to them talk about the berries and the best way to pick them. They proudly displayed all that they picked. We came home and made lots and lots of blueberry and raspberry muffins and had lots of berries to share with friends. I love summer!

Out of This World Pizza Fun

Today we went to Out of This World Pizza for more play time together. The kids loved running around, riding bikes, and going down the 20-foot slide. We had birthday cookies to celebrate Ruby's one year birthday. Too bad she couldn't be there to enjoy her party!

Anniversary Picnic

On Sunday we had a great time celebrating Mom and Dad's 40-year anniversary. After a little golf, we had a picnic at Rood Bridge Park. The highlight of the picnic was family races. McKenzie won the award as the fastest child, and I probably won the award as the slowest adult. Many of the younger kids asked to race me because they knew they could beat me! It's great to see how much fun all of the cousins have with each other!

Another Camping Adventure

This weekend we were off to Scout Lake, which is very close to Sisters. We went camping with some of our great friends who we have known for many years. We enjoyed swimming in the lake and playing on a huge log that was in the middle of the lake. The kids had fun seeing how long they could stand on the rolling log. We went on a 5 1/2 mile hike around Suttle Lake where we saw some river otters, a view of Mt. Washington, and other pretty scenery. Of course, we ate some great food (Denise's mom's homemade marionberry pie, Bekki's grilled Walla Walla onions, and Peter's burgers cooked over the campfire). We have a couple of weekends at home before Peter and I leave for our 10-day Major League Baseball parks adventure.

Our Weekend Adventure

We just returned from our super fun camping adventure with the Hearings! We enjoyed playing in the (very cold) river, sitting by the camp fire, eating great food, going on walks, riding our scooters, playing card games, eating smores, doing talent shows, taking naps, running through the sprinkler, swinging on the swings, chopping lots of wood, etc.! The kids loved being able to sleep in the Hearing's camper, and we all were grateful for not having to use the outhouses :) We only had a couple of scraped knees and two burned toes - not too bad for 3 days of camping!

After camping we went to visit Peter's friend who just finished building a house on the river. We spent about 3 hours kayaking and swinging in the hammock swings. On our way home we stopped for soft serve ice cream in Cascade Locks - a perfect way to end the weekend.

4th of July Parade

For the 12th year in a row (maybe we skipped a year), we attended the Hillsboro Happy Days 4th of July Parade. The kids brought their bags to fill with candy that was thrown to them. Conner surprisingly gave Alex all of the candy that he caught. Aunt Amy especially enjoyed having tiny black bugs cover her white sweater. We left just in time before a downpour and returned home for a 4th of July barbecue at our house.