We FINALLY went camping again!

Kurt has been dying to go camping again. We were suppose to go on Memorial Day weekend but schedules were super busy and we didn't have a reservation (which hasn't technically stopped us before) so we decided it was just too much to try to go camping too. In consolation to Kurt when the final call was made not to go, I said "let's go Father's Day weekend" just to throw a date out there. Well he thought that that date was set in stone. Unfortunately, we had things going that weekend and couldn't go that weekend either. He was bummed. So that was why I said "we FINALLY went camping again." Kurt waited a long time (ok, really only a few weeks) for this trip!

We have been going to the ocean a lot lately in our camping adventures so we decided to go somewhere different this time ~ off to the woods!

Now I just have to say that Lorraine and I came to some pretty quick conclusions as to why we had been loving the ocean so much. The first ~ the bugs! Mosquitos greeted us right away. Ugh, mosquitos! The second? We'll get to that in a bit.

Right away the kids wanted to get down to business.

Fishing!

They did a great job sitting quietly and waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting.

Unfortunately they didn't catch anything that day. So we found other activities to keep them busy.

ATV rides are so fun!

You get to see some beautiful places.

Trevor trying out the motorcycle.

Trevor loves to put hats on. He found Evan's helmet and wanted to wear it. Cutie Pie!

Ok, so how many people can fit in an ATV?

Our count was 9. And one on a motorcycle.

Marty was awesome enough to teach Kurt how to ride his dirt bike. Kurt has always wanted to learn to ride. Here he is getting all geared up.

While Kurt was wearing the helmet, Trevor discovered his hat and you guessed it, he had to wear it.

Could he be any cuter!!!

And here he is at the end of the trail. He did it! Way to go Kurt!

My boys

Ah yes, now we get to reason #2 of why the beach is better. Sand. Yes, glorious sand. Sand that brushes off. Sand that shakes off. Sand that doesn't smear. But in the woods you have dirt. Dirt that doesn't brush off. Dirt that doesn't shake off. Dirt that the more you wipe at it the more it smears.

See:

More dirt:

Even little man was dirty

I took a wide range of colorful clothes with us but just about everything came back one color ~ dirt brown.

Camping with an almost 1 year old is busy work. He wanted to be down and exploring and walking around. Overall he did a great job! Plus he is just so stinking cute!

Oh Kurt. My dear Kurt. The boy can't seem to sit still. He brought his chain saw and found a log, or two and got to work . . . creating a teeter totter. 

Then when he was done with that, he carved this beauty.

His name was "Tiki Man." We had fun with Tiki Man.

Sunday morning Evan started the fire all by himself. He was so proud of himself.

Sunday morning we went fishing one last time before we headed home. We waited and waited with no luck. Finally it was time to go home so Marty told the kids to real in their lines. And lo and behold Hailey had a fish on her line. Yay Hailey!

So excited but didn't want to touch it!

So Nik held it for her (but notice she is pointing to let everyone know who caught it).

There she is, finally holding it!

Quick funny story, when we came home, we were unloading the trailer and Trevor found the remaining nectarines. He grabbed one took a bite and started running before anyone could take it from him. I was trying to get a picture and he kept running. It was so cute.

So I put him in his chair to eat it. Boy, he loved it!

I decided to peal the skin off and let the boy go to town. He ate quite a bit of it. And man was he sticky when he was done. 

Oh, but it was so good!

So we had a great weekend ~ dirt, mosquitos and all. It was a lot of fun. Can't wait to go again . . . but maybe we will go to the beach! =)

We survived!

Wow. The first year at our new school has officially come to an end. I can't believe how fast it went! The kids absolutely loved their school and their teachers and their new friends. It was a great year. Kayla actually didn't want school to end at all. I guess that is saying a lot, especially coming from a kid who couldn't stand school!

Evan graduated from Kindergarten! He is so excited to be a 1st grader. He kept asking me "Am I a first grader now?" He feels like such a big boy! In order to graduate from kinder, the kids had to "slide" into first grade. Here is Evan sliding:

  Nice form!

Evan and Mrs. Swanson

The last week of school was insanely crazy. Evan had a field trip to an animal place that takes in exotic pets that people either don't want anymore, or they smuggled them into the US or they just got to big for them to care for. It is full of creepy, crawly insects, turtles/tortoises, iguanas, snakes, pythons, lizard things, parrots (very loud parrots) and many other animals.

Before you have a heart attack that Evan is holding a tarantula, it actually is just the eco-skeleton that the tarantula sheds. I didn't know that they do that. A "hatch" like piece opens and the tarantula crawls out of their skin leaving this fuzzy, furry tarantula eco-skeleton. It was pretty cool and gross and neat and freaky.

 He also got to pet this lizard thing. I can't remember what it was called but the kids thought it was pretty cool. They have themed rooms, (like the reptile room, the bird room, etc.) and the kids got to walk through see (and pet some) other animals. I had been there with the girls when they were in school. It was fun to go with Evan too.

Also, the last week of school, Hailey got to go on an overnight field trip. She did great. Kurt and I had more trouble letting her go. We don't allow sleepovers so this was hard to let her go for the night but she did great, had a great time and learned a lot. So all was good.

A few months ago, the City of Roseville sponsored an art contest for all 5th grade classes within the city limits. It was optional for all 5th graders but Kayla's teacher made it an assignment that the kids had to do. There is a sculpture in Roseville and the base had bronze (I think) artwork but people had been stealing the bronze (or whatever metal it was) to sell for money. The city decided to remove the remaining pieces and have an art contest to replace the pieces. I think over 200 kids entered and only 90-something were chosen. Kayla's was one of the pieces chosen!!!! Congrats Kayla!

It had to be a mosaic of a nature scene. Here is Kayla's original artwork submitted to the contest. It is 2 wolves in front of a mountain with the moon in the night sky.

 The kids that were chosen got to go to an actual art studio and create their pieces out of real tiles. Kayla thought that was pretty cool. She had a lot of fun as we had scheduled the day with her other friends that won so they got to work together. 

We were also invited to attend the unveiling ceremony. It was pretty neat. Here is Kayla with a few of her friends that also had art pieces displayed.

Here is our little artist with her work. It's on the bottom right.

A close up.

 Kayla loves art and is very good at it. She is always amazing us with her artistic flare. Here is a flag that she did at school. She is really getting into shading and smearing.

Well, that is just a little bit of what has been going on around here. I have a whole list of things to blog so hopefully, now that school is out, I might be able to get caught up!