There is always things to catch up on!
We had lots of dishes:
Thankfully, the kiddos were excited to see their toys! And built a village of trains and tracks again!
And it was nice, because we washed Laundry, then repacked it back into suitcases, to prepare for Family Reunion in just 2 days!
Our last full day of family vacation!
The big boys started off the morning with a canoe/fishing trip for a few hours:
Afterwords, we turned in the workbooks, and trash for JUNIOR RANGER BADGES!
Truman finished it off that morning:
Everyone, including Lorelei, worked hard to earn them over the week:
The boys loved ‘building’ and creating a castle for princess Lorelei and Queen Mommy. And us girls appreciated being doted on. 🙂
The front gate:
Walkway:
Out to our very own island!
We spent time on the beach, splashing and swimming, and couldn’t help crop this pic:
Isn’t she a hoot? I love this pic. Silly Girl.
Playing on the Beach:
The littles were tired, so the Bigs and Toph went for a hike around the pond.
Ha, Ha, Truman is always good for a funny pose!
It sure it beautiful here!
The next morning we said Goodbye to Pinon Pine! Until next Year!
Grateful for time to be together as a family, away from the pulls of the world! Love the opportunity to be together.
This was one of my favorite days on the pond-a day with a paddle boat and a canoe! We had a jolly good time! And note to self, Next year, rent the paddle boat for the day. You’ve said this the past two years, and keep forgetting. Maybe putting it in writing will help you remember this! 🙂
Here we go paddling along-figuring out how to paddle and steer again!
Stopping by the dock:
And I’m loving this video of my family jumping in! Love them!
Off and exploring:
In the middle of the pond, we anchored, and jumped in!
Here is mr. Elliot jumping in!
We spent the afternoon relaxing, reading books, and enjoying some minions from Despicable Me:
Then Hot Dogs and Woof-em’s for Dinner
Then the bigs and dad went down to the pond for a late night swim, and splash out to the dock, while the littles and I went for a scenic drive to help them to go to sleep! 🙂
We spent quite a bit of time driving around Manti, Ephraim and another small town trying to find a Laundromat this morning. We were out of clean clothes, and the Laundromat that we knew about, didn’t exists anymore!
After we found it, we celebrated with some doughnuts and ice-cream! Any occasion is a good occasion for sweets while you’re on vacation, right?
Then we headed to the historic pioneer house, this year the boys were fascinated with the stories of the rattle snakes coming in on the pioneers, when spring came. They were in their ceilings, coming down on them. yuck.
Then back to Ephraim we went (with a full car of clean laundry from the Laundromat)
Where we went to the Ephraim bowling alley-what a time we had!
I wish the below picture was higher quality. Something bout my kids lined up in bowling shoes, with their funny faces just makes me want to put it on a Christmas Card.
Then we went to dinner, PIZZA, yum delicious, and such a fun ambiance!
We made a trip to Walmart, for a few things we forgot, and a new toy for each kid, then back to our cabin. I love these pictures of the boys hauling laundry back inside:
Where we played with toys, ate treats,
then watched a movie on toph’s computer.
Beautiful evening!
Brown Bag Breakfasts
It looks cool, but it didn’t quite work out for us–Not our best meal! But sure looked pretty! 🙂
Busy morning of playing outside and scootering around
Let the card stacking begin! One of our favorite camping pastimes-
While that’s going on, someone has to take care of the babies, right?
Then afternoon hike was in order….
Stopping along the way for a few more geocaches:
As the Terrain changed, this is how Belle rode in the backpack. Lorelei was worried about her getting air 🙂
About here, Lorelei and I decided it was a little much for her, and headed back to the beach and playground. The big boys continued their adventure with dad, and from the pictures, it looks like they had a great time!
Nothing like a cha-cha line after lunch-
Then back to the rocky beach we headed:
We met this cute, cute frog, along the way:
Highlight of the night for me, was Banana Boats!
The boys and Toph on the other hand, enjoyed a nice game or two, of Dominion.
Breakfast in bed in the cabins:
Driving Remote Control Cars and Scooter Ride to the Playground, where we played, and played and played!
We headed home for lunch, then hike around for geo-caches
Back to the lake, Jumping off the close Dock:
Found a tadpole:
Playing in the sand:
Toph and Tuck swam out to the dock, and were so proud of themselves! 🙂
The boys found a stick bug, and had oodles of fun! 🙂
We spent lots of time working on their ranger books, Elliot and Lorelei especially loved them this day:
Truman liked playing a game he made up by himself called cup-ball.
Dinner BBQ Chicken and S’mores:
And the rain came again, and started during dinner! Here is Elliot is and Toph on ‘trash duty’ 🙂
Fun, fun day!
I think sometimes it’s easy to forget–So much work and preparation goes into family vacations! But they are so much fun! Day by day breakdowns of our family vacation!
Toph loves camping food, so he did most of the planning shopping for our food…
Here he is with the boys at the store, with one of the three carts of food/supplies
Here is our car PACKED to the gills, with stuff and us! 🙂
After the drive down, we began to set up camp and settle in. Naturally the boys felt like they needed their shirts off, to settle in! 😉
And off we go to scooter, walk and run around camp to rediscover its majesty!
We spent some time reacquainting ourselves with the cabin and getting ready for dinner:
Always fun to draw with rocks:
Love camping when there is no distractions, like electronics, we spend lots of time doing other things, like princess puzzles:
Tucker blowing the coals:
Elliot took a turn helping too!
The master chef himself:
Cooking and eating dinner (Tinfoil dinners) And Dessert (Woof-em Sticks) is always more fun while camping, even when it is in the rain!
Elliot built a ‘cabin’ for his beloved friend Patchy:
And Lorelei spent alot of time taking care of her sweet Baby Belle. She loves to mother:
Bedtime came, and no one hesitated to settle in and read books:
For so many treats, including yummy ice-cream from Sonic!
Grateful for free treats, and good readers!
My brother Ryan, scanned a few pictures in for our family rediscovered at Grandpa Greene’s funeral.
Love these pictures, Love my Grandpa Greene, Grandma Greene, and Grandma Nancy, and grateful for the Heritage they has given me and my family.
So grateful for pictures that contain memories, and happiness just by looking at them. Wish I could know the stories of all of these pictures!
Dad cooks the best breakfasts!
Tucker made an alligator out of sand:
And here is it’s nest:
These Alligators have become part of our crazy summer, and the kids love them!
This day we did lots of digging and creating with the sand!
We splashed and swam in the pond
More of our creations:
And more creating!
Swimming with the Alligators 🙂
And we finished the night with Ice-Cream:
Put the littles to bed, and the big boys climbed on the roof for some fireworks with their daddy!
Happy twenty fourth of July!