Camping

We went on a 2-night camping trip in July in a nearby canyon and had such a great time.

Our tent



Megan and Emily



Tyler



Having burgers



This deer wasn't afraid of us at all and came and ate right by our campsite.



Megan, Darrell, Emily, Tyler



Enjoying the campfire

 

Breakfast.  We had those little boxes of cereal and the kids thought that was pretty cool.

 

 

 

We drove down to Grantsville Reservoir--one of the ugliest reservoirs I've ever seen, but the kids had fun throwing rocks into it.



Megan and Emily



Tyler

 

The kids also had fun throwing rocks in the little stream that went through the canyon where we camped.



Emily



Megan



Tyler

 

 

 

Emily



Tyler



Megan

 

 

The first day and night, and part of the next day, we were the ONLY ones in the whole campground.  It was SO nice!  We hiked around and the kids found "treasures."  They lined up these lovelies and left them on a picnic table at another campsite.

 

Crossing a fallen log

 

 

There were SO many pinecones around our campsite.  One of the kids called it "Pinecone World."



A little pinecone person.

 

 

Emily and Tyler collecting pinecones in a bucket



We went on a little hike near the campground

 

Tyler, Emily, Megan resting on our hike

 

 

The kids helped to stir the pancake mix for breakfast on our last morning

 

 

Emily, Megan and Tyler--dirty, but happy kids

 

 

Megan with her "Kindle Fire" made out of rocks (And my kids hardly even play on our devices, so I'm not sure why she thought she needed to create one out of rocks.)



Emily and her "motorcycle" rock.



Tyler with his "cell phones".



A view of our campsite.  We had such a great time.  We can't wait to go camping again next summer.

 

 

 

Cecret Lake

One Saturday in July we decided to try out a family-friendly hike in the nearby mountains.

A picnic lunch in the back of the van before we caught the shuttle van to take us to the trailhead.



The hike was BEAUTIFUL!  The big blue skies, the clouds, the flowers, the mountains, the smell of pine trees...DELICIOUS!

 

Megan



Emily



Tyler

 

There was even a little patch of snow that the kids thought was pretty cool.



The last little bit of the trail before the lake is quite steep.  Tyler being a mountain goat.



Heading upward

 

Cecret Lake





Emily by the lake.  The water was so clear.  We could even see little polliwogs swimming in it.

 

Emily, Tyler, Megan climbing the big rocks



Me, Megan, Emily and Tyler



Darrell, Megan, Emily and Tyler



More beautiful pics





Emily waiting for the shuttle bus once we got back to the trailhead



Megan decided to play the drums while we waited for the shuttle bus



We LOVED our little adventure up in the mountains.

We love you Grandpa!

Today we're thinking about Darrell's dad on his birthday.

 

We love him and miss him.

4th of July

We had a nice, relaxing 4th of July

I did the girls' hair in stars in honor of the holiday.



We went to a local parade.  We had never been before.  We luckily found some sidewalk near the King family and enjoyed a little bit of shade.  It was hot, but fun.

Waiting



Megan, Tyler, Emily



Us



The kids loved getting the candy.



At the end of the parade a fire truck sprayed water on the crowd.

 

Later that day Megan and Emily helped me add ice to the homemade ice cream machine.

 

 

 We barbecued and ate dinner outside.



We watched a movie to kill time before going outside to do our fireworks.  Everyone, including (maybe especially) Darrell, loved those white popping things that you throw at the ground.





Here's a view from the flag with fireworks in the background.  The night sky was filled with tons and tons of aerial fireworks all around us.  Why blow up your own "money" when you can watch everyone else do that for free?

 

 

 

 

 

 Doing our small $10 package of fireworks when it got dark.



I bought 6 boxes of sparklers and each box had 5 sparklers in it.  I thought we'd each do 6 sparklers and that would be that.  We even drilled a tiny hole in those big plastic Dixie cups so they could hold on to the sprinkler handle inside the cup, while the rest of the cup protected their hands.  Well, Emily must have pulled her sparkler down into the cup because it melted the cup and burned her hand.  She was done after that.  Tyler only did 2 sparklers and he was done. So, that left Megan, Tyler and me to do the rest of the 27 sparklers.

 

 

I love watching the kids' excitement at holidays.  It's fun to have traditions and celebrate the wonderful country we live in.