June

Yes, I am aware that it is August. But I thought I would do a quick recap of June.  We started with a family summer reading program.  The kids were pretty excited to pick the prizes and read in all the crazy places on their bingo cards.  It was pretty warm so we went to the park a lot.

 Brandon had a lot of fun playing with the new camera at the park.

We went on another hike, which immediately drew groans and mutiny from the kids.  Because we had recently done the Incline they think that all hikes are like that.  Instead we went to Helen Hunt Jackson Falls.

 The water at the bottom of the hike.  It was only 3/4 of a mile.

 This accurately shows the enthusiasm.

 Sunset Shimmer came with us.  Why take a picture?  Because it was the only way to get Caitlyn to smile.

 Back at the bottom.  Someone touched Grant and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  At least all the other kids were smiling.

We also had free fishing day.  We joined some friends at a park in town that had a lake.  There wasn't a lot of catching fish going on, but the kids had fun.

 They mainly just played in the water.

 Gotta love those big brown eyes.

 They did do some fishing.

 I can only imagine the conversation these two had at the tackle box.

 Caitlyn was a good little caster.

Brandon tried to get a week off of work so we could go visit family, but everyone was trying to get time off of work before another sweeps and the last time he took that much time off in the summer there was a big fire, so we ended up with a few days.  Brandon decided he wanted a race entry for Father's Day, so we signed him up for the Dam Marathon 10k.  Then he got a call about an interview and we were able to kill a handful of birds with one stone.  We got to meet Andrea and Zoey for the first time and the kids just loved them.

 The love goes both ways, can't you tell?

So we drove all night to get in town for Brandon's interview and then his race was the next day.  We were all a little tired and I wasn't the most enthusiastic person when Brandon woke me up to take him to his race.  We didn't even attempt to wake the kids up.

 Brandon at the start of his race.

 Headed to the finish line.

 He finished 2nd and managed to finish his race before the kids woke up for the day. 

 They all got to ride the carousel, it was the highlight of the trip since it was too cold to play at the spray park.

 Using the long lens on the new camera meant I didn't have to move from my comfortable spot to get pictures of everyone playing.

Okay, the carousel wasn't the actual highlight.  It was seeing family and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Bradley was so excited that he got Grandpa to wear this wig with him.

There was talk of a hot dog roast for lunch one day and of course it was cold and rainy, that always happens when you start thinking about cooking outside.  I jokingly said that we could do one inside, using the wood burning stove.  Grandpa immediately jumped on that idea.  I have to say, I have always wanted to roast hot dogs and marshmallows inside and my parents wouldn't let me.  They admitted to me that they love their grandchildren more.

 Proof positive.  We didn't actually roast marshmallows but each of the kids got to do at least one hot dog.

Grant didn't want to get very close to the fire.

There you have it, June in a nutshell.