Ammon had most of his close friends on his team with him so it was awesome to hang with other parents and laugh at our kids and cheer for the team. We were sort of the Mormon team, and it was awesome.
Before August could end, we had to take one more hiking trip that also doubled as a trip to the beach with our friends.
I wanted to explore the area around the beach before we played, so I arrived early and took the kids hiking. We found a natural slide where the kids enjoyed dirtying the bottom of their shorts thoroughly.
Kendrick and I watched from the bottom, where we kept our shorts clean.
We found a bridge that looked pretty awesome in the surrounding greenery.
And we may have gotten a wee bit lost, hit a dead end, and made friends with other confused hikers when the trail wasn't clearly marked. Despite a turn around, we enjoyed exploring and all laughed together as the kids and I said "hup" every time we went down a stair. It was pretty funny because we went down A LOT of stairs, so there were a lot of "hups" until the last of us were down. I couldn't stop my giggling because we sounded like we were in a video game.
This hike is also where I learned that somewhere along the way, Kendrick has learned how to count. I was counting to three to the older kids, and suddenly I hear on my back Kendrick finishing counting from three to ten. I was blown away! I hadn't taught him that. My kid is a genius! Of course, it's hard to get on video, but we have one of him counting his Candy Land cards.
We also discovered that he has been learning the alphabet by himself. He now knows almost all his letters. And it's just because he loves letters and he has taught them to himself from his computer and from the letter magnets we have on the fridge. This kid is only one and a half, and he blows me away. He's always kept me on my toes, and I have a feeling it's not going to stop here.
Kendrick also knows the majority of shapes, animals and sounds, and has zero interest in learning colors. But I figure the kid can get a break somewhere right. I mean, he knows 95% of the alphabet, and what the letters might stand for!! "R is for rabbit."
Ok, back to the beach.
After hiking we joined our friends set up on the beach. The beach we went to was called Dash Point and it's on the Puget Sound.
The kids had endless fun digging up clams, building sand castles, playing in the waves, having seaweed fights, and more. We could have stayed for days.
Kendrick had endless fun splashing in the river that runs into the Sound, playing with buckets, sand, and sticks.
Another morning, when exercise class was cancelled, I felt adventurous and took the kids on a six to seven mile bike ride. We rode along the Arcadia trail, which is a short bike ride from our house. Unfortunately, it's all uphill on the way there and there were some tears and bribery involved to keep the kids going.
One more fun family activity we did before school started, was spend a day at Emerald Downs, our local horse racing track.
If I were a betting person, I think I would lose a lot of money here. Something about the thrill of the horses racing just gets me every time. I could stay and watch races all day.
Since we aren't the betting type, we made pretend bets amongst ourselves about which horse we thought would win. It was seriously fun as we read through the stats on each horse and rider and picked which one we thought would win each race. Lydia and I were terrible at choosing. BUT, on the last race we both picked the same horse and it came from behind to win! It was SO exhilarating. (see folks, keep me away from the money)
I loved watching the kids line up at the fence each time a race was about to start to watch the horses cross the finish line. I would say if your kids can read then they would enjoy something like this, because if my kids hadn't been able to read the stats and the horses names and such, I think they would have been bored.
This little dude was, but luckily he fell asleep for a nap.
We decided next time to bring M&M's or something to use to have a little family betting pool set up. I already can't wait. I think in another life I would love to be a horse-jockey or trainer or something. I just love those animals and find them to be so beautiful. I could watch them all day. I would wander over to the stalls to watch as they parade the horses around to the people who actually place real bets, and watch the jockeys mount and admire everything about them. It was an afternoon well spent and we enjoyed the family time together. Can't wait to go back again!
In August, we were thrilled to finally have Uncle Kenny arrive home from his mission to Honduras! His flight kept arriving earlier and earlier that day so we were running around the airport like maniacs praying we wouldn't miss him.
Luckily, we were on time and the handsome, tan Elder Nelson was able to find us with our posters welcoming him home.
It was weird and awesome to talk to him that night. We could all tell he was exhausted and unsure, but we just loved seeing him.
After he was released as a missionary, we went to my parent's house and as he showed us his treasures from Honduras he slowly relaxed into the Kenny we know and love....with a sweet Spanish accent.
A couple days later we celebrated his big twentieth birthday we had missed in the last month of his mission.
Aren't our candles making out 20 genius?
I seriously adore this picture because Kenny and Ammon really love each other, and here they are reunited and smiling and laughing like old times.
The weekend after Kenny returned from his mission, we took a family float trip down the Yakima River.
We secured all of our different floaties, rafts, and devices together with rope and set off to float the river for about four hours together. Luckily, Kendrick was left behind with a babysitter so that we were actually able to enjoy our trip.
The weather started out chilly, but then turned out to be quite perfect. The sun came out so that it wasn't freezing, but we didn't get too hot either. Though, most of us took plenty of precautions against getting sunburned.
This trip had been planned for two years, and we were finally actually getting around to doing it so we were prepared with umbrella hats and more.
The scenery was gorgeous. Kenny and I were the only ones with paddles and it was our job to keep our group from running into branches and rocks.
Kenny and I would be paddling as hard as we possibly could, while the group would be yelling at us to go faster or work harder. We would take a break to eat our sandwiches when we would suddenly be yelled at again to paddle. So there we were working our butts off while the rest of the group ate their lunches and yelled at us. It was awesome.
The water was pretty dang cold, and we did have a couple incidents with people falling in or getting bashed up on rocks. My kids are notorious for losing their flip flops in rivers and no matter how many times it happens and I assure them that it's ok, their flip flops only cost A DOLLAR, it's traumatic to them every single time. This trip was no exception and my aunt practically drowned herself trying to go after one of Lydia's flip flops that was floating away after the kiddie boat capsized when some branches pulled it over. Luckily the kids were saved, my aunt had a harrowing trip through some rough rocks and fell way behind our floating group, but the flip flop and my aunt were eventually recovered and it was all good.
It made for some adventure on our otherwise uneventful float trip.
The best part was being with Kenny after so long, and being with the rest of our family. I swear, there's nothing like spending time with the people I love so much. The two hour drive home was long, but we followed up with a dinner at Cafe Rio. Doesn't get much better than that.
Speaking of food, we had lots of good food during the summer, including fifty cent frosties
And of course, my favorite, spaghetti.
Which apparently, Kendrick is a big fan of as well. I couldn't give this kid enough of the pasta goodness.
The rest of August we spent at the pool for swimming lessons,
or roaming around our backyard, enjoying the perfect Washington summer weather.
Our grass turned brown because we actually had months without rain. And it was awesome. Everything a summer should be. Luckily, we know the rain will return and so will the green.
We also enjoyed the solar eclipse together with some friends as we shared some glasses Brigham found on the ground at a gas station on our Yakima River float trip. We were worried that since the glasses were kind of crushed and were found on the ground that they weren't safe and that we would burn our eyeballs off, but luckily our eyesight remained and we were able to enjoy the delights of our solar system.
Solar eclipses and summer. That's how we do it here.
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