Rain Doesn't Stop Us

This weekend was chilly and wet. Very, very wet. Sunday, after grocery shopping and then unloading the groceries in a downpour the sun decided to grace us. And those brief moments of sunshine were all it took for Dakota and Kaylen to decide that going to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery would be a good idea.

It took a few minutes of convincing on my part because well....things were still dripping outside and I knew the reports called for more rain. But convince me they did and the four of us climbed into the car to drive the 40 minutes to the hatchery.

If you have been with me for a year or two then you probably remember that the hatchery is our yearly end of summer road trip. The kids love to feed the fish but more than that, I'm thinking their favorite part is the gift shop. :)

About 20 minutes into the drive we drove smack into a rain storm. It was pouring so hard that I could barely hear Dakota talking from the passenger seat and the kids had ramped up their volume to be assured they *would* be heard. I could barely see the lanes and we tossed around the idea of turning around. But you know what? We were in that far and I didn't see the point in turning around and dealing with crying from disappointed children. So on we pushed.

By the time we got the hatchery gate the rain was just a drizzle so we put on our (non-waterproof) jackets and started to make our way to the gift shop. We hung out there long enough for the rain to stop. Good planning on our part! :)

After taking the treasures the kid talked us into back to the car so they wouldn't get lost or dropped, we headed over to see the fish. Big fish, little fish....we saw them all.






Please note the Children's Place tag on Kaylen's coat. This is a jacket I bought for her years ago on sale. It's still huge on her but she loves it. The only thing is, she won't let me remove the tag. There are worse things, I guess. :)

Best photo of the day! :)

We enjoyed blackberries that grown wild along one of our favorite paths. And by "we" I mean Kelton, Dakota and me. Kaylen picked tons but lets not forget: she will not eat fruits and veggies. :)










We all had to admit that Dakota and Kaylen had a great idea - we had a really fun time.

Some Photos from Last Week

I realized I forgot to post these last week......as you can tell, we had a couple really hot days and the kids cooled off by playing in their pools.

And by the way - they have both put in their requests for a bigger pool for next summer. I have to admit - it's time.

Brrrrrrr!!

One of my first thoughts this morning was "Wow! It's COLD!" Going from an 80-something degree day yesterday and into a 90-something day today I guess I was caught off guard by the 49 degree temperature I woke up to in the tent this morning. I mean, I know it's been cool in the mornings but 49? Really? 17 more degrees and we could have had snow. I'm just sayin'.

The Tent Adventure, Night 1 went well enough. No major meltdowns by either child, both slept through the night fine and both woke early. Considering they went to sleep later than usual, I was hoping for a later than 6am wake up call but who am I kidding? I was awake anyway.

Last night after dinner I made a campfire and the kids and Dakota roasted marshmallows and enjoyed s'mores. Then we were treated to the new nightly routine of "Circus". The other day one of the tie down stakes for the play structure broke so the kids and I went to Lowes to see about getting a replacement piece. While there we passed the play structure section and they went crazy for the trapeze/ring part. It was more than I wanted to spend that day but I went ahead and got it for them. Oh my gosh. I can't tell you the amount of time they have both spent playing on it and I have to say, it's turning out to be a great core developer for Kelton (he has weak core muscle tone) which is going to really help him in lots of ways. Kaylen? Well she flips and flips and flips. It was a good investment.

As the light was disappearing from our evening I tossed the kids in the tub to clean them up and then it was time for stories in their sleeping bags and finally....they drifted off to dreamland.

Kaylen woke up and nearly the first thing she said was "Thank you for letting us sleep in the tent!"

You're welcome, baby girl. You are very welcome.









(The cushion is from the swing. They like to have a soft landing and well...who can blame them?)