Hiking Sander's Mound

We took the children to Clinton Lake to hike Sander's Mound this week. I needed to check it out before I take the Activity Girls there on Wednesday. It was really beautiful. I have enjoyed this Kansas summer more than any other. Probably because I did not have a newborn and felt more comfortable taking the children out into the hotness. That first summer was rough because we were trying to adjust from California weather to muggy Midwest weather. It really is a fun, beautiful place to live when I get out and do things.

Lone Star Lake camping

We went camping at Lone Star Lake last weekend. When we went to Clinton Lake over the fourth of July we drove past Lone Star on the way home to show Joel where we wanted to go camping next time. Unfortunately when we got there several emergency vehicles were present and we found out later a little boy had drowned the day before and they had just found his body. So very sad. We went back this last weekend and as I was walking down to the lake from our campsite with all the children, several young adults in the lake yelled out to call 911 because someone they had been swimming with had gone under and not come back up. They dove down and looked for him over and over again until emergency personnel showed up. We went back to the campsite and waited until it really got too hot to not be in water. We went back down to a part of the lake to swim, away from the emergency boats. While we were down there, about 4 hours after the man went down, they found his body. So sad. We are starting to wonder if we just bring bad luck to the lake. After the first drowning we got life vests for all the children. Best purchase I made this summer.

The campground was really fun. I am glad that Joel has enough head lamps for everyone in the family. It made it easier for Maeve and Adelle to sleep in their own tent so we had room in our tent for Roman's cage.

The play ground at the campground has all of the banned toys from other parks. They had two of these merry go rounds, a huge metal slide, and wooden swings. The kids loved all the "new" equipment.

Amazingly Roman took a nap in this, right outside at the campsite. It was too hot to make him nap in the tent in the middle of the day.

Isn't the lake beautiful?

Winter Quarters Temple

We finally made a trip to our temple. It is 3.5 hours away so it is usually easier to just go on vacation when we are closer to a temple. But we did not go on vacation this summer so we took a day trip up north to Winter Quarters. Joel and I took turns in the temple. The children were very patient playing in the visitor's center and looking in the cemetery for our ancestors. We found a Mower one, Eliza Jane Sanders, age 3, who died while her family was living there. It was a sad and spiritual place. I am glad that we made the trip. We needed to be in the temple again and I was happy to have the children be in such a spiritual place. In the visitors center they had a collection of bronze statues of Christ on display. They were beautiful. The two I liked best were Christ walking on water and raising Lazarus from the dead. His face just looked so powerful, like of course I can walk on water and calm the storm. In the other one you could look at it through the door of the tomb so you could see Mary and Martha's faces. So happy. It was a wonderful day.

Strider Bike

This is my graduation present. A Strider pedal less bike. I had to claim it was mine so that they would share it. My hope is that one of these two will learn to ride a bike soon so that we can get another bike trailer and go biking again as a family. I haven't seen three child trailers so I need one of them to pedal themselves. I don't really care which one it is but I am putting my money on Jude. I got the sweetest deal on this bike, between a graduation gift card, credit card points, and a gift certificate from my health insurance company for doing a free health screening--I paid 21$ for the bike. Super excited about that.

This is his crooked smile. Isn't he the cutest? He belongs on the California beaches with that hair! Because it has been over 100 degrees for a bizillion days straight it was too hot to ride outside. Maeve and Jude enjoys cruising up and down the hallway.

And just because he is so dang cute- a photo of Roman.

Independence Day camping trip

We went camping at Clinton Lake for Independence Day. We have not gone camping since having Jude so we decided to break us back in easy and just go for one night. We put the girls in our two man tent and set up the six man for the boys and us so that we had room for the cage for Roman. Swimming at Clinton lake was a great refresher after setting up the campsite. The kids had hotdogs on a little fire for dinner (it was too HOT for a big fire) and we had some tasty tinfoil dinners (I got the recipe out of the Family Fun magazine). We happened to camp right next to a dad with his two girls ages 5 and 8 so all the girls had fun playing together. We set up our hammock and had a very comfortable campsite. Until we tried to go to sleep. It was like a sauna in our tent. After a few hours I was able to sleep good. But Joel was up at first sunlight breaking camp so he did not have to take down wet tents. We had breakfast while it was sprinkling and just made it into the van right before the down pour after which we took these funny photos. A fun time was had by all.

Maeve's 5th Birthday Party

Cousin Piper at the playground.

Maeve's future husband, Zach.

Adelle with Asa and Caden.

Isabel looking great in those googles.

Birthday girl Maeve enjoying her party.

My college roommate's son, Jackson. I love this photo. It has been so fun to spend time with Jen's family since moving back.

We celebrated Maeve's 5th birthday with her first friend party. We rented the wading pool at South Park and had cake and pizza. Joel made her this great dinosaur and dinosaur eggs cakes. He is so talented!

Maeve had a great time at her first party. She was kind and gracious. And didn't cry once!

Cousin Time

Jude shooting me with a water gun at Lone Star Lake. He is obsessed with guns. Very scary.

Maeve loving Roman's new sand toys from the Tolands.

Adelle and Maizie being silly.

Grammy with her clan.

Cousins M&M. Aren't they adorable!

My children get so much more cousin time than I ever did growing up in Alaska and I love it. We have so much fun whenever we get to visit with our Texas family. And we love having cousins live close by in Topeka. We went and played at Lone Star Lake with the Tolands and Grandma for Memorial Day. It was a great afternoon.