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Sunday, July 31, 2016

Fun in July

July was a fun month for our family. We have been enjoying our new home (which still has almost nothing in it because we are waiting on our very delayed moving van to arrive from Virginia) as well as spending lots of time with family in Baker. 
Kelson's sister, Jehana, and her girls stopped to visit us on their way to Utah and again on the way back. We had a great visit, and no one seemed to mind that we were camping out in an empty house.
 Sarah had her first ice cream cone. (She has had plenty of ice cream, but never had her own cone before). She was very happy with it and made surprisingly little mess.
 A few days later, I had to bribe her with a stop at Arctic Circle to get her to leave the library.
She also had her first tootsie pop at Grandma's house. I think it took her about 3 hours to eat the whole thing. She is out to discover exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center.
 It has been super hot here in Fruitland, so we have made plenty of use of the neighborhood pool, which is right next door to our house. Sarah would live there if we let her, so we usually have to bribe her with something to get her home without a fit. 
Getting to eat supper in the bath was a good incentive. 
 We celebrated Kelson's birthday, and Sarah was very excited to give Kelson his present. We bought him a copy of Robin Hood, and Sarah was telling him all week about "the fox movie" and that it needed to be Daddy's birthday so we could watch it. He was very surprised.
Traditional birthday dessert-strawberry pie!
 Miner's Jubilee parade. I was in the parade for my high school class reunion, and the family all had fun watching from the shade. Sarah got a balloon, so it was a good day.
 Grandma's most exciting new acquisition this summer was a bouncy horse. Sarah loves it. Apparently she remembered the rodeo queens we saw in the parades this summer, because she went inside to find a bandana and wrapped it around her neck to ride the horse.
 The next day, she added a flag to the ensemble. She is our little rodeo queen in training. 
Riding with cousin Will, who does not appreciate hugs.
 Daddy dozed off on the couch, so Sarah was nice enough to bring him a pillow, a blanket, and some friends to keep him company.
 One day, Sarah disappeared, and I found her in my parents' back yard tucked in on the swing singing to herself. 
My mom was going to stop by one afternoon, and Sarah was being stubborn about taking her nap, so I told her she had to go to sleep so that Grandma could come. That was sufficient motivation. She ran to put on footie pajamas (even though it was 100 degrees) and get a blanket so that she could have a proper nap. My mom should come to visit every day.
 We went out for a fun camping weekend with the whole family at Phillip's reservoir. Sarah would love it if we went camping every weekend.
 One more first for July- Sarah's first s'more. So much sticky fun!
 Sarah and Kelson both fell right to sleep at bedtime (Kelson in his work clothes), and we finally had to wake Sarah up the next morning. I wish she slept that well at home.
Enjoying some early morning stories.

Just a few of our wonderful summer memories!

Monday, July 4, 2016

4th of July Camping and Celebrations

We had the chance to take an extra-long weekend for the 4th of July this year and go on a little camping trip. We spent Friday night at Catherine Creek State Park and had a great time.
 It was really hot when we got to the campground, and Sarah couldn't wait to get in her swimsuit and go the creek. 
 The creek was pretty cold, but we are convinced that Sarah has no nerve endings in her feet. She doesn't care in the least what temperature her water is.
 Throwing rocks and mud in the water.
 Sarah was very excited that we got to walk over a bridge.
 During dinner, we started hearing a strange, metallic noise. We looked up to see a woodpecker banging on this stop sign. He kept at it for a long time. I'm not sure what kind of bugs he was expecting to find in the metal sign.
We made some yummy dutch oven food for dinner, and my parents came up to join us. Sarah went right to sleep in the tent at bed time. She has always loved camping. After she went to bed, Kelson and I had a relaxing evening playing cards and watching a meteor shower. We couldn't have asked for a more pleasant night of camping.
 We all slept in the next morning and then started another fun day. 
 Sarah spent most of her down time on this trip convincing people to read this stack of books to her, which was mostly composed of Little Critter books. It makes me happy that reading is one of her favorite things.
 After breakfast, we set off on a little hike. Sarah was pretty happy with the hiking backpack we picked up at a yard sale.

Such a beautiful view! I love my Eastern Oregon home! 
 Happy hiking family
Sarah thought the tent was a great playhouse and was not happy when it was time to take it down.
My parents and Katy came up to Catherine Creek that afternoon, and we all had a picnic lunch and some more creek time. After lunch, we grabbed ice cream in Union on our way back to spend the rest of our holiday weekend in Baker.
 We did our fireworks a night early because most of us had to go home before dark on Monday. Sarah thought the fireworks were terrifying at first, but then she decided they were "pretty lights" and wanted more. It looks like Kelson is holding a lit firework, but I think it was actually the candle we were using to light them.
 Helping Grandma open the fireworks
 We started off our Fourth of July with the Haines parade. It was a perfect day for a parade, and Sarah was thrilled with the horses and fire trucks.
That afternoon, we had a bunch of family over for a barbecue and (of course) homemade ice cream. Sarah has learned that Grandma's house + Summer = ice cream. It is a wonderful thing.
Sarah and I were even sporting matching patriotic outfits this year. Cute, huh?