letting go of the list

We got home from Idaho late Wednesday, we left for Justins Brothers wedding in Kalwona a week later. The amount things that needed to be done before we left again, AND the things we WANTED to get done, was overwhelming. Summer is the best time of year- June hits and the BEST 6 months follows.

Just because I had a ton to do, doesn't mean we stopped playing. Sherilyn/Karla/Krista were heading to the lake for Monday morning, and of course my kids wanted to spend the day with cousins. So the list got put on the back burner, and away we went. Spending the day in the sand and water. Visiting, eating and laughing was a much better plan then laundry, shopping, packing, and organizing.

Snapshots- mostly Selfies

We went school shopping before leaving again- or before Justin and I left again. It is expensive having 4 kids in full time school! Oh my it was amazing having Justins help at the shop tho- it took us just over a hour in one store. Granted we went earlier then we ever had, so everything was in stock. YAY for us! This darling backpack was meant to be Remy's- and so we brought it home with us.

Barker took a spill on his scooter the day after we got home- I am praying his face isn't to full of scars before he is grown!

It needs to be shown and remembered how Annaliesse wears her hats. She covers her eyebrows always. Doesn't matter how many times we ask her to push her hat up off her face, this is how she likes it. Middle school doesn't let children wear hats at school, ever. Unlike her beloved Grade 5 class. She will have a hard time adjusting to the new school, and wore a hat 24/7 almost all summer to prepare for it.

This kid- where to start. It was a hard week this week watching her older sister get a phone, having normal bedtime and responsibilities.

Family Sunday Selfies.These are some of my favourite pictures to look back on.

Justins Black and While smoulder selfie.

This screen room is loved.

Spray Park Model

A huge Thank you to Laura, Mark and Lindsay.

Justin and I helped with the Youth Temple Trip, so Laura had the younger three kids for us. 

The weather was gorgeous so they suited up and headed to the spray park for the evening- they had a blast. 

Remy showed off her new swim suit- LOVE the way she models.

Laura said she pranced around all evening- which is awesome.

Kootenai Falls on the way home

Wednesday it was time to head back to life, aka work for Justin and a YW temple trip for me the next day. We left Grandma and Grandpa in Idaho, were they were camping for the rest of the week and headed home. On the advice of Bennetts and Rick Blum we headed home a different way- threading our way through Montana to see Kootenai Falls and then follow Lake Koocanusa into British Columbia. 

The kids were pretty tired after Silverwood and Hiawatha, camping and all the things that go with that. The drive was pretty quiet from the lake to Montana- except when our VISA stopped working and someone got pulled over in a little town called Troy Montana. 

Pulling to to Kootenai parking lot, plus 34 degrees. It was killer.

We pilled  out of the van, grabbing a couple water bottles to see us through. Here I was thinking it was just going to be around the corner. It was note. It took us about 30 minutes of walking to get there, which really isn't terrible, but it was hot and we had 2 bottles of water for the 6 of us.

We got to the falls and the kids raced to the river. They climbed all over everything and we had a great time playing on the rocks and in the water. Hoping over stones to get closer to the falls, almost falling on those stones. Daddy managed to do it in his shoes, Mommy and Barker were jealous. 

Cooling down by putting our heads in the water (minus Mommy and Remy) and then we walked over to the suspension bridge. The walk over was in the shade luckily. 

Unfortunately the Suspension Bridge didn't hold the kids attention for long- we only were there for about 20 minutes. It was past lunch time, and hot, and tired. Lunch was MacDonalds drive thru, Daddy and Mommy were done with fast food, but the kids have stomachs made of iron. 

One more scenic stop on the drive home, a dam, I don't remember the name. But it was the first dam the kids have see close up- and more importantly it had a bathroom. 

We got stuck behind some major construction just before coming into BC, and to reward ourselves for finally getting though after 45 minutes, AND because the temp is now 38 degrees, we stopped and got ice cream cones, before realizing we were going to have ice cream in our hands going thorough the boarder.... but the boarder guard was great. I was holding Justins ice cream cone for him while he was handing over the passports and the guard goes, "She gets 2?" Justin jokingly says "I didn't think it would be appropriate to be eating ice cream talking to you" The guard laughed- and pretty much waved us through. Best crossing ever.

Such a fun camping week- the kids only camping this year they pointed out again and again. 

Sliverwood

Today we did Silver wood Theme Park.

Our third time 13 years of marriage. 

In truth my 2nd, Remy's 1st, Justin/Kalia/Annaliesse/Barkers 3rd time.

Holy cow was it fun!

We did have to spilt up for a lot of it, as Remy isn't quite tall enough for the all the big kid rides. 

Which was OK considering this Mom isn't a rides person, so I was fine taking her to all the little kid rides and watching. 

We also found out that our kids aren't super into Rollercoasters. 

Sorry guys, you get that from me.

It was a loooong day but the kids had a blast.

Hogg Park

We were packed up and back in Cordelane around 3pm after biking the Hiawatha. 

I had nothing planned for after the bike ride, thinking we might be pretty tired, and just hang for the rest of the day. Surprisingly we were all still gearing up to go! We were in need of some lunch and Cafe Rio hit the spot. Eating in the outside dinning area, we were a bit muddy, we hoovered a late lunch. At lunch Darcy and Lauren and us discussed what to do with the rest of the day, Hogg Park is right on the lake, with awesome cliff jumping areas, Little Rock beaches, a park, walk ways and more. We had no swimming suits, or towels but Lauren had enough swimming gear for the kids so we headed down to the lake. Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the trailer for some down time. 

Piling into the van Remy got her hand slammed in the door! It was so sad, and almost ended our day right then and there. Lucky for us her hand  was in a bit of a divot and with ice, snuggles and kisses and she was good to go. A quick stop at Bennetts AirB&B for swim suits for the kids and off we went!

The walk to the cliffs was gorgeous- ridiculously hot but gorgeous. 

We were hot before the walk, the walk just added more sweat on top of our mud. By the time we got there right into the water we went. The cliff was so fun- Kalia, Annaliesse and Barker jumped off the higher part, and then Remy and Ray jumped off the littler cliff! Barker wanted desperately to flip off the cliff into the water but this Mommy didn't want want to do the whole hit your head, or bend you neck weird and do barf or a sore neck and potentially make us head home early. Instead he had to watch Daddy and Darcy flip. Sorry buddy. 

Mommy and Daddy got in the lake right in our clothes. It was hot enough they were going to dry quickly enough and man did it feel good! Being at the lake made us wish we had a few more days here, we are just going to have to come back. Ending the afternoon of fun at a hole I the wall Ice Cream shop- where we arm wrestled, visited some more and laughed a ton. It was so great to watch Remy and Ray and Barker and Ollie have a chance to play again for the day. Since they moved away, not very far, they have sure missed each other. 

Thanks for the great Monday Bennetts!