Thundery days and water play

Before heading to Colville my mom said the weather she saw said mid to upper 80's with not a cloud in the sky. We arrived Sunday evening and you could tell it had been a hot day. Just what I was looking for. Good thing I packed only tank tops and shorts. But wait, the next morning when I woke all I saw was clouds and heard the all to familiar sound of rain. That day it rained!! We were however amazed by the thunder and lighting that came with the rain. It wasn't far off in the distance, but directly above us. That night my mom bought Samantha a series of books. 5 books in all. I thought it was crazy. Samantha couldn't read that many books in the little bit of time we had left. I was wrong, Samantha read 4 of the 5. That may give you an idea about the weather we had. We did get brakes of nice though. During those moments we headed to fun. One of the fun spots was a water park. You pushed various buttons and water would come out of a variety of fun things. The funnest being buckets that filled than spilled. Melia tried her best to trick kiddos into being the first to have a bucket spill on them. This included putting shoes under where water fell.. In the end though everyone thought it was fun and no tricks were needed.

Colville

Yes, that is where me and the kiddos have been this last week. Where is Colville you may wonder. Well, pull out your map and find Highway 20. Now follow it all the way east. To the very opposite corner of Washington. There it is, good old Colville. I had planned for some warm sunny weather. It turned out that Samantha went swimming in the rain(we did get sun and those photos will be for a different day). I planned for the girls to have fun with their cousin. They did! As a matter of fact Melia had so much fun in the pool with her cousin she didn't want to get out!! When I noticed the blue lips I pulled them out. The girls were really that blue. It wasn't just bad lighting! Really I was just looking to relax and have fun. I have to say mission accomplished. When we got home Isaiah got to celebrate with daddy and have some ice cream.

Farm living

No, I am sad to say we haven't bought a farm and moved. We did however spend the fourth with friends who have farm animals. The funnest thing was the kids getting to feed and pet the goats. My kids love goats. Well, most the time that is!! I think maybe it is a good thing we don't have a farm though. Our animals would always be some part of a joke. I guess it is a good thing we have friends to visit that do all the hard farm work for us.

Summer Fun!!

We recently got to enjoy some sun and some friends. Our friends planned a day at the park and we enjoyed it very much. There was a fun playground, a big umbrella to sit under, and friends to play with. There was also volleyball, but I have no pictures of that. I was a cheerleader for the game because we all need a cheering squad and I am no athlete. Since this summer has been one of the wettest and coldest I can remember days like this one are precious to me.

Traded

This weekend we traded. Swing set mover for family photos. I will say now that I am no photographer. I love taking photos and trying to improve my skills though so I agreed to the trade. The hardest part was the adults. No, not really. Although they did get silly and start to giggle towards the end. It was trying to get brothers to hold still for a picture. We ended up settling for an action shot. When we tried to get them to pose big brother became very shy and clingy. He may forever fear a camera. The girls did a great job of posing. And with a baby this cute no pose is necessary. As for my family. Here is Isaiah sleeping, I mean enjoying, the new swing set!! I can't resist one more cute baby photo to end this post.

Just one thing

After reading a friends blog about going to the zoo I knew I had to go and see just one thing. She had pictures of a river otter.I have been to the zoo several times and have never seen the otter!!! I couldn't believe it. So after Samantha's last orthodontist appointment we headed to the zoo. I had one goal...... to see the otter. I am so glad we did. The boys loved it!! We did of course visit some of our favorite other animals. In this family the hippos, birds, and now bears and otters our a must on our list!!

Fourth

So, I promised photos from the fourth of the kiddos. We celebrated our fourth on the second at my mom's. It was much better then last year when Caleb fell in a fire and we were in the ER. As always Isaiah was sweet and happy. The boys learned what a firework is and loved it!! The girls got to hang out with their cousin. All in all it was a very fun day!!! Here are a few more photos that reflect the day.