Trip to Utah

This summer two of my dear friends decided to take a road trip to visit our other dear friend in Utah--kids and all.  We affectionately call each other Gina and we have oh so much fun when we are together.  The way it worked out, I had to wait for Tristan to get home before I could head out, so I decided to fly down for a long weekend.  Since I was flying I wasn't going to take all three kiddos, so I decided to just take Ethan for some special one-on-one time with me.  We were able to fly out on the same day that Tristan flew in, so we picked him up from the airport and then headed to a nearby splash park to kill some time before Ethan and I had to be dropped off for our flight.

It was so fun to watch Ethan.  He didn't know about the trip until we were at the splash park waiting to go back to the airport.  He was in heaven at the airport.  I wish I would have taken some pictures, but he loved every second of the airport and the flight and acted like it was something he did all the time.

By the time we got there, the other Ginas had been going hard for 5 days and were ready for some R&R at the pool.  We got some yummy breakfast and headed over for a day of swimming and treats.  Ethan didn't have a lot of experience in a big swimming pool, but he did great!  (Ironically he started swimming lessons the day after we arrived back in Washington).  He was happy as a clam spending the day in the pool.

Aunt KK helping him out (Kelly)

There were lots of friends to play with!  Thank goodness Ninnie was well stocked with floatees!

Saturday we decided to divide and conquer.  Little girls went shopping and little boys hit up the dinosaur museum nearby.  It was a really cool museum and the models were impressive.  We got to watch them as they were excavating this fossil--can't remember what it was but it was my first time to experience seeing actual dinosaur bones.

Silly buddies

I wanted to take pictures of every.  single.  thing.  But here are a few of my favorites.

It was so much fun having time to devote just to Ethan and feel like I could just have a conversation with him and really focus on what he was thinking.

Our group of boys:  Jensen (Jenn), Anderson (Kelly), Jack (Jenn), Ethan
Jaci had her three girls: Madie, Kylee and Sydney as well as Jenn's daughter, Jill.  Not pictured is Reagan (Jenn).  That's right.  We had 9 kiddos running around Jenn's house.  She was such an amazing hostess!

This was by far Ethan's favorite part of the museum.  He loved playing in the water and digging up "fossils".

Found one!

The fossils in glass cases were actual fossils and not replicas.

I loved this model of a HUGE sea turtle.  So amazing to think about all of God's creations big and small, past and present!

Of course, I loved the Mammoth fossils and replicas.  This was an actual fossil!

The boys loved the shark!

Ethan wanted to take a picture of me in front of the shark, too.  Not bad!

The boys also really loved this sand pit at the very end where they could use tools to dig up "bones".

Hanging out under the to-scale dino.  They had a blast!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool taking in some rays!

Ethan could have slept in the pool and been happy.  Haha!

It was so great to spend some time with my girls.  We laughed, ate and ate and ate, played outside, played boardgames, shopped and made great memories.  I'm so grateful Tristan was home taking such great care of the other boys so I had a chance to go play for the weekend!

At LEAST weekly Ethan says, "Mom, I want to go back to Utah."  He also keeps trying to plan vacations to Utah with our whole family.  I'm so glad he had a great time and so grateful to Jenn and her sweet family for putting us up for the weekend!  :)

Summer Fun

We had a wonderful summer in Washington.  The weather was HOT and sunny.  We did as much cooking outdoors as possible to help keep the house cool.  I was grateful that we had a better BBQ than last summer so we could use the burner and grill outside.  We also used our electric griddle and crockpot and even our toaster oven outside.  It really helped keep the house cooler!  Tristan mastered the art of outdoor cooking for sure!

These boys are so goofy.  They had lots of fun playing outdoors most days.  A lot of time was spent in the sandbox and the backyard.  Carter especially loves frog-hunting in our backyard and has gotten really good at it.

One afternoon we found this little guy in our backyard.  I will never forget the look on Ethan's face when the salamander shed it's tail and all he was left holding was a wiggling tail.  It was HILARIOUS. We managed to find the rest of the salamander again and spend some time watching him  before releasing him to be free (and grow a new tail).

We hit up several parks throughout the summer with friends and on our own.  The boys love Yauger Park.  They had a blast chasing each other up the tower and down the slide and back up the tower again.  I was glad we went early because it was a hot, hot day--even by the time we left around 11:30.

Ashton had fun exploring the playground, too!

He loves the swings!

The two big boys at the top of the tower

Ashton taking charge

Finding some shade

I have no idea what is all over his face.  I'm pretty sure Tristan took this picture.  But I love this crazy kid.  He is getting goofier by the day.  It's fun that he is talking more and more so I can really get to know him.

I love how much my boys love getting out and playing outside in the summer.  I hope they always love to get out and run around as much as they do now!

Hanging with Our Marlatt Buddies

So after camping all weekend, we decided to keep the fun going with the Marlatt's for the rest of the week!  The weather was hot so we made a trip up to the splash park in Tacoma.  Ashton had a great time playing in the water.

We also made a trip up to the zoo.  I love this picture of my three boys at the Meerkat exhibit.

Carter is really into the frogs right now.  I love how he's showing Ethan all about them.

The boys had fun going down the otter slides, too.

Dylan and Carter were good buddies on the playground that day.

It's so nice to have great weather to enjoy all the fun things there are to here.  And we really had fun spending so much time with our buddies that week!

Camping at Dash Point State Park

This was THE summer.  The summer we decided it was time to dive in and do real camping with our kids.  We decided to start small and just do one night--in case we were miserable.  I figured it was better to go one night and wish we had done more than to go several nights and wish we hadn't.  We also decided to go to a campground we were familiar with for our fist time.  Tristan and I had done one night of camping at the end of our honeymoon at Dash Point State Park and really enjoyed it.  There is beach access and light hiking, plus it is only about an hour away.  Our friends, the Marlatts were also looking to do some "practice camping" so we paired up and headed out!

I was mostly worried that we wouldn't have good weather, but it was beautiful and HOT that weekend.  Perfect camping weather.  We arrived a little early and we were able to start setting up camp to make the most of our 24 hours.  

Here's the before:

And the after:

Once we both had our camps set up, we spent a little bit of time enjoying the shade and making a plan. Cody was enjoying the shade, too!

Ashton ended up falling asleep on Tristan for a little afternoon nap.

We decided to walk out to the beach and enjoy the water.  Dylan was having a great time playing in the sand while the rest of the boys got their feet wet.

Ethan was in heaven.  He always loves getting in the water no matter what.

Ashton had fun in the sand, too.  I'm pretty sure a lot of it was in his mouth and diaper by the end of the afternoon.

Carter got a little wet, but was a little shy about getting into the water.  He had fun wading and playing in the sand with his friends, though.

Ashton loved getting his toes wet!

Buddies!  Ethan and Skyler had fun in the water together.

We hiked back through the woods and found this fun log that was perfect for sliding down.  The boys couldn't resist.

I love this bridge that's about half-way to the campsite.  I vividly remember it from when we were there on our honeymoon and it was just as pretty as I remembered!

That night we roasted hot dogs and did chili dogs at our camp.  The boys had fun cooking their own food over the fire.

They also loved playing in the wooded area surrounding our camp.  The were climbing trees all evening!

Ashton was happy as a clam!

Later we roasted marshmallows and had S'mores.

The kids went down relatively easily (that's what I love about camping--it wears you OUT!)  And the adults stayed up WAY too late visiting.  I'm pretty sure we were the last ones up in our loop.

The morning came early and we had a light breakfast and packed up a little so we could get some playing in before we had to check out.

Tristan decided to try a roasted banana with his breakfast.  In a tiny chair.  I can't remember how it turned out.  LOL.

Ashton got so dirty that morning.  He was crawling and rolling in the dirt and putting it in his mouth, too.  A boy, through and through!

He did have a partner in crime, though!

We decided to take a short hike again and the boys had a great time playing in the creek under the bridge.  It was a beautiful morning!

We headed back to camp and finished packing up.  It was a quick 24 hours but we had a great time!  I was glad we headed home wishing we had stayed longer and we ended up booking our next trip as soon as we got home!