Father's Day Camping Trip

Here is Daddy with Azey and Ethan....

And Mommy with Azey and Ethan. Oh, and this is the rock that Ethan face planted on and scraped his nose and bruised the heck out of his cheek.

Ryan is so handy... here is our little bathroom (Grandad gave all us kids a toilett seat a while back and it really comes in handy for camping trips. Thanks, Dad!), and also, our clothes line. Ryan used an old cooler to wash his and Ethan's pants in.

Ryan also bought a solar shower from Wal-Mart for like $5, and hung it up. Then he used a board for the shower floor.

Here is my cute little family, all nice and clean, after taking a shower in our solar shower. Too bad the staying clean only lasted 3 minutes. heehee

On Saturday afternoon we went for a little stroll. It was such nice weather up in the mountain. The highs were in the 80s, the lows were just cold. But, that is why we have fires and blankets. : )

And, by saturday evening, the kids were just done with the whole camping thing. Ethan cried for like 2 hours before we decided to just pack up and go home. We were going to stay til Sunday afternoon. And then he cried the whole time we packed and loaded up.

While driving home, on the freeway going about 70 mph, Ryans tire delaminated and he almost wrecked. Thankfully he was able to control the truck and pull of the freeway long enough to calm down. Then he slowly drove his truck to a parking lot just off the Bluff St. exit and parked it until we can get a hold of insurance and see what to do next.

Dutch Oven Cakes & Cobblers

Important things to remember:

• Line your dutch oven with tin foil shiny side up.
• Make cake mix according to directions. You can use different things in place of the water, like sprite or club soda. Or if you're making a cobbler with pineapple, for example, use the pineapple juice.
• Cook the cake half way before adding your mix in (fruit, candy, whatever).
• Make sure the coals arent touching the bottom of the dutch oven, or it will burn the bottom of the cake.

You really just have to experiment until you find the right temp. and cooking times for where you live. (I think that elevation truly makes a big difference) We have had fun with this experimenting. I think that we have a total cooking time of like 10-15 min til the cake is all of the way done. For cobblers we use a yellow cake mix.

Now, if any of you want the BEST dutch oven cobbler, you need to taste my Dad's! He has it all down to a science and in my opinion, he truly is the best. Everything I have learned about dutch oven cooking has been learned from him. Thanks Dad!!

starfall.com

For those of you who have never heard of starfall.com, it is a wonderful website full of learing games for preschool aged children. Azelin would sit on the computer and play these games all day if I would let her. And it's great cuz as she is playing, Ethan will sit there and mimic the sounds he hears from the game. So, today Azey was playing an alphabet game and evey time the computer would say "a says 'a'", you would hear Ethan say 'a', and so on.... So, check it out. It is a good way to keep what they learned at school during the year, fresh during the summer.

Main Street Water Park

Today we went to the Main St. water park with friends Jaimie, her brother Cameron, & her 2 little ones, Kamber (who is Azey's age) & Kean (who is Ethan's age).

Azelin & Kamber posing for the camera, and hanging out at the water falls.

Cameron, Kamber, and Ethan. Kamber & Thean.

Just playin'.

Ethan was having so much fun running back & forth thru the water. Azey has her dad's genes and gets cold very easy.

Then we went over the the fountain and played some more.

Do you see the little girl standing by Ethan, who is sitting down? Do you notice how the water isnt on? About the time that I snapped that picture, the water came back on and freaked that little girl out, big time! She jumped and then was trying to hold on to Ethan for dear life, who was trying to get the heck out of dodge, but couldnt cuz this little girl was hanging on to him and screaming, which freaked him out even more, so he started crying too. LOL! It was the funniest thing, EVER!! Too bad someone didnt have their video camera.

Kids Are Funny

Today I baby sat my friend Kelsi's 2 girls, Karli & Kloe. Karli is 5 1/2, like Azey. And Kloe is 3. They are always saying and doing the funniest things. It is fair to say, they keep me entertained.

So, while we were in the car, running an errand for Ryan, Azelin and Karli were in the back pretending to talk on the phone. All of a sudden I hear them dramatically pretending to cry. And they were saying things like, "Boyfriends, we dont want to see you anymore!" And, "We are breaking up with you because you are so stupid!". I told them they should play nice and the response was, "Well, our boyfriends are lame!". After they were done 'breaking up with their boyfriends', Azelin told Karli, "put your hand on my hand and we will get our magic." Then there is a pause. Then you hear Azelin say, "magic of our spirit" and Karli says, "magic of our life". And they take turns saying their lines a couple more times, then Azey says, "now we have all of our magic." Then they break out in a tune of "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh". As if it were all scripted. Silly, silly girls!

As for the second picture...how do you like Ethans shoes? He insisted he wear dads sandals to go run the errands. Silly, silly boy!

Here are just a couple more pictures of Karli and Kloe. They are such cuties.