Snowvemberrrrr!

We have been getting so much snow lately. I love seeing the snow fall out our big front and back windows.  With the big pine tree in our front yard, it is also super beautiful.  There are some bad things that come with it too though:

-I forget every year how much I hate getting the kids all dressed up in their snow clothes and into their carseats.  It seems like it always take more time and effort AND PATIENCE than I ever think possible.  I dare the most awesome Mom in the world to keep her cool.
-Gavin won't keep on his mitts or his toque (Canadian way to say "beanie") and he acts like his jacket is choking him.  So I keep letting him stay outside and figure it out.  I keep hoping that once his hands get cold from touching the snow and he realizes that I'm actually helping him by putting mitts on him, he'll stop taking them off.  Nope.  When he hands get frozen, then he just looks at me like I betrayed him.
-The floor is always messy because no matter how hard you try and put down rugs and towels, the snow still ends up everywhere tracked in on their boots.  And of course, once all their clothes are off, all they want to do is complain about how they don't want to hang anything up or put it away.  It is an ongoing battle.  

Still there are some fun things about the snow too.  It is beautiful--especially when it falls all day long.  It covers up everything ugly and makes it look all beautiful and it is so quiet and peaceful.  Fewer people are driving around and it feels like you're in another beautiful world.
 
We tried to be festive and make an igloo but it was way more work than we thought so Greg and I only really lasted 1 night.  We keep meaning to go out and do a few more rows but the temperatures have been brutal lately.  We may be forced to try and recruit some friends to help us if we ever expect things to get finished.

My sister sent me a picture of my niece roller skating like Olivia Newton John in Xanadu.  It literally blew my mind because it just happened to be right on the same day that I took the kids out to the front yard and we did sledding and snow angels.  It is crazy.  I enjoy the snow and it is fun at times but man, what would I give to be roller skating around in my mini skirt and tank top?

It has been fun with Chloe being bigger because she is enthusiastic about pulling the kids on the sled.  I want Greg to make a nice back support on this sled but we're not sure how we'd get it to stay on.

Anyway, here are some videos of us pulling the little kids.  Notice how Gavin is laughing with Chloe pulling.

And then a token one of me so I can document that I am still alive and still a fun Mom despite being occasionally mean doing up carseats.  ;-)  I was having some focus problems but it is still fun.


And in case you're thinking that we're outside late at night, this is at around 4:00 p.m.  Yup.

Crunching the Leaves

The kids had a great time this year raking up the leaves because we set the trampoline close to the pile and they bounced right into it.

Greg was sick so it was left up to the girls to pack all the leaves into the bags before the first snowfall.  There's nothing grosser than soggy/rotten leaves in the Spring so we decided we'd just let the women in the family take care of it all.  It was a total "girl power" bonding time.  When it was all cleaned up, the girls even found some sticks and became "deer".  Then we cleaned up and organized all the backyard toys to get ready for Winter.

Fall Break!

(Warning, world's longest post but it does have lots of pics.)

We had some time off for Canadian Thanksgiving and it just so happened to coincide with Fall Break for our relatives in Idaho so we took it as a sign that we HAD to go there.  It was super fun and in the end we didn't want to leave.  They LOVED spending time with their cousins and of course all their pets.  And even I, a proven non lover of the animals had a soft spot for the pets there too just because my kids loved them so much.

Highlights of Travel Day #1: Eating whipped cream filled donuts, driving through the first snow of the year and hearing Gavin finally say Chloe's name. "Looooeeeeee!"  Any excuse I can find to stop at the Donut Mill in Red Deer, I'll take it.  And the strangest thing has happened to me:  I love maple glazed donuts.  I guess Canada has finally gotten to me.

We also had a very confusing travel optical illusion that totally freaked me out because I was driving at the time and thought we were going to die.:

Highlights Day 2: We stopped to pee at Target and fell into a weird time warp where it was suddenly 2 hrs. later. Gavin found a turkey hat there. Ha, ha 

And we didn't even see everything we wanted to see!  We bought some pain relievers in bulk for the kids and probably more candy corns and Oreos than one family should ever purchase.  We just got too excited.  Carmel apple candy corns?  Yes please.  Pumpkin shaped candy corns?  Yes, I love you.  Skull and witch candy corns?  Fine!  We did find them sweeter than we remembered them being.  I can now only eat 2-3 and then be done.  I guess those handful days are over.

Day 3: We went to the temple with my nephew Jonny who is getting ready to go on a mission to Arizona. It was awesome to be there with him and his family.  I had never been to the Idaho Falls temple.  It was gorgeous inside and out.  Here, we only have a small temple so it was awesome to remember how nice it is to be in a full sized one.  It was also fun to contrast it with the new and modern style of the Calgary Temple that we visited a few weeks ago. 

Any down moments, I found myself jumping in the car with Tracy to do a little shopping.  We went to a couple of thrift stores and ran around doing other misc. errands.  It was fun to be with her.  Side note, I forgot how freaking delish those chocolate/almond ice cream bars are at Costco.  My mouth waters just thinking about them now.  It is funny just how different the food courts are at Costco there and here in Canada.  I was so excited to eat the ice cream bar but also missing my poutine.  Anyway, I just love Tracy.  She became my sis-in-law when I was 13 so I've literally known her FOREVER!

Day 4: Greg taught our family and his parents all about lava. There was a rest area close to my brother's house that was labeled "Geological Site of Interest".  The funny thing is that Greg had actually already visited the rest area as part of a school field trip when he was still in college.  

The kids LOVED hearing about the lava bubbles and Tati was determined to find some fossils.  Gavin learned how to carry a hammer and hit with it.  And although he was a little scary, it was pretty adorable to watch him walking around with it. 

Grandpa took a great picture of our family in our colorful outfits.  And he and the kids may or may not have hammered a bunch of rocks and filled our stroller full of them to take home from a rest area. ;-)  
And here is Tati, the future Scientist.


Chloe also rolled down a hill at a park we played at with Grandpa.  She loves this gif her Dad made of her.


After the rocks, we had some time with Greg's brother and his wife.  They are such great people.  It was fun to get to know Heather a little better since we don't know each other very well.  The kids loved playing with her and with Grandma Melton.  Though it was a quick visit, it was still great to be able to touch base with that side of the family.  My big victory was when they came over for dinner the next day.

Day 5: Relaxing & Watching General Conference.  I made some borscht and Joel made some piroshki a la our Russian roots.  When Kirk and Heather got there for dinner, I learned that Kirk hates veggies.  Well borscht is like an all veggies soup.  He ended up liking it and having two helpings and admitting that he really did like it.  Ha, ha. The kids (esp. Tati) also had a hay day playing with the dogs and cats.  Tati's big thrill was that Phillip fell asleep on her.

Day 6:  Plasma Cars.  I have this crazy love for plasma cars.  I had seen them around a lot but my first chance riding one was when we were at the ranch last Easter.  While all the kids were watching an Easter movie, I rode around the basement on the plasma car.  I told Greg how much fun it was.  He thought I was a bit crazy.  My brother has 2 of them.  They were a find at the thrift store which still blows my mind.  Unfortunately, my brother's house is on a serious inclined street so the only place to really ride around was in the garage which was still fun but too small.  So Joel had the genius idea to go to his school and ride around in the cafeteria.  The unexpected bonus of the room was the handicapped ramp because then we rode down really fast.  We all had a blast!  Even Gavin could ride it with ease.  Greg has agreed that once we have a real house, I can have one (or two).

Day 7: Spa Day.  My niece is going to hair school so she had the great idea that the girls could go to her school and get their nails done.  Chloe also really needed a hair trim so she got washed trimmed up.  They loved feeling like grown ups.  It was also really fun to see Meagan at work.  It made me a little emotional because I used to paint her nails all the time when she was younger than Tati and there she was painting my daughters' nails.  Now she's all grown up.  When I see my nieces and nephews, it feels like time has fast forwarded.  I don't know how they all got bigger and more stylish than me.  It was great and we got the family discount on the already discounted rate so the nails and haircuts for both girls cost me around $10.  Yeah, seriously.

Gavin didn't want to be outdone with the day at the spa so Meagan tried to show me how to cut his hair.  As you can tell, he LOVED it.  But I did learn some good tips.

We also took the kids to a corn maze.  We really got to the maze too late so it was dark and the kids (esp. Gavin) was so tired.  Plus, we weren't really dressed for how cold it got once the sun went down but the girls had a blast and so it was worth it for their memories. 

Day 8: Spent a few hours in the mountains today with my big bro playing with our cameras.  He has the Nikon version of what I have on the Canon.  I think we equally know about as much as the other, all different stuff, but he is studying more so I'm sure he'll pass me up quickly.  It was fun to just hang out and experiment together.  My nephew Jason came too.  He really enjoys photography.  He takes quite nice shots actually just staying in Macro and Portrait settings.  He kept saying, "Daddy, I see a picture."  Then we'd pull over and he'd go out and take a shot.  I thought it was so cute.  Jason is 13.  I was trying to experiment with the exposure compensation if that means anything to you.  I really wanted to try and stack 3 photos and do a homemade HDR shot.  Here is one of my trials. 

Then we finally headed home. 

The girls wanted to just go home and get our stuff and go back and live in Idaho.  It was cute and sad.  We would love to live close to them but we're excited at the prospect of where our future will take us.

No Elk Island

(Slowly but surely getting caught up.)

We didn't know how close we lived to a Nat. Park until last Winter when we went out to see the Northern Lights.  We decided we'd go and finally check in out and called a friend to find out some more info about it and maybe some recommendations on trails or places to see when she offered us her park pass.  So that was awesome.  The first time we went, we didn't plan for enough time or bring enough food so we had to go again and then when my parents were visiting, we decided to take them there because we knew they'd love to see some of the buffalo.

I don't really know why it is called Elk Island because we never saw one elk in the three visits that we made.  It should really be called Buffalo Island, then again I'm not quite sure how much water is surrounding it so maybe in general their name is stupid.  But I digress.

We weren't prepared to see all the Buffalo/Bison so close up.  It was both fun and scary and when we took Chloe's friend, Corbin with us, he found it stupid and terrifying!  Ha, ha.  I love that kid.  "Julie, maybe we should go home because there is a bison just right there."  "No, Corbin, we're ok."  "Um, Julie, I think the little kids are afraid of the bison, maybe we should go back to the car."  Over and over, he had some reason to leave but we didn't.  I think once he was home, he really enjoyed the tale of how he cheated death.

We stumbled upon a beautiful overlook of the lake and after planning better, we brought enough stuff to make a campsite.  We layed around eating, chatting and even napping.  We saw a ton of wildlife and Chloe even kept a log of it in a little field book.  Tati had a map from the car that she used to direct us whatever chance she got.  We found and ate some wild raspberries too.  The kids also had so much fun seeing all the buffalo pies.  It was like intriguingly gross to them.  I'll spare too many details but lots of laughter and poking with sticks ensued.

When my parents were here, we had planned on adding kayaking to the adventure but then the ranger told us there was a hideous parasite in the water so that sorta dampened all our desire to get in.  Imagine that. Instead, Grandma taught the girls how to make clover chains and there we also saw a ton of geese migrating in their "v's".  It was fun for them to see since it felt so "Canadian". 

Somehow Greg managed to find some frogs that the girls were mesmorized by and Gavin wasn't quite sure if he should touch it or hide from it. 

There was also some "wildlife fun" that wasn't so wild afterall.  My Dad thought he was hilarious when he told me to watch out for the snake.  To which I screamed and ran away.  Yeah, that snake was a total doozy.

Overall, just such a fun and beautiful place! 

Halloweeny 2012

Strange things happened long before Halloweeny time.  I guess that is sorta festive but I just wasn't feeling it this year.  It's sad and weird because I really do love Halloween.   I couldn't think of anything for us to be and it was such a pain to get all the supplies out of the basement.  I wanted to do a party but then I just got overwhelmed by the prospect of having too many people in our house.  I was even going to have a little kid party but then my friend Rena, beat me to it.  She was sweet enough to invite Tati over one afternoon while Gavin was sleeping.  It was an extra thrill for her too because she didn't have to nap.

A few nights before Halloween, we finally all went to work as a family sorting through our Halloween wigs and costumes and trying to come to a consensus.  With an amazing score of my princess cowgirl hat and Gavin's cow costume (in the exact perfect size)  at the thrift store and of course, the help of Dollarama for Greg's hat, we all came together as the cowboy family.  I really loved how we all turned out.  I had purchased some fake eyelashes for the girls and they looked adorable in them.  They also LOVED the way they looked but hated the way they felt. 

Camping Out (& In)

We've been wanting to go camping like every weekend since the snow melted but it just seemed like it was always one excuse after another.  We FINALLY made a huge effort to go and the kids had a blast.  I emphasize that the kids had a blast because in the end it didn't feel too much like a "vacation" for me and Greg what with all the prep and watching of possible dangers around camp (esp. with Gavin), but we were happy to do it for them.  Besides, we figure it won't be too much longer before they get a little easier to take camping--or maybe that is just wishful thinking.

We sold our old tent at our yard sale to some friends and with the money, we were able to buy a new one.  Me and Greg have vastly different tent philosophies.  I want one with lots of windows so we feel like we're outside while we're inside the tent.  Lots of windows also means lots of ventilation.  Greg wants more of an igloo style that would survive the most torrential of rains.  We have an igloo tent that we got years ago but now we finally have one with windows.  It is a Coleman instant tent and it literally goes up in just minutes.  The kids and Greg took a trial run with the tent in our backyard to make sure we could put it all together and figure out sleeping arrangements (Chloe's favorite part because she is such an organizer).  Since it was a screaming success, we set off the following weekend to do it all again but in real life.  (Do you like how the tent takes up our entire backyard?)

The kids did a lot of rock collecting (I wonder who they got that from), digging, stick finding, wandering and of course lots of squirrel watching. The bathrooms were an event in and of themselves too because they were DISGUSTING! In fact when we got home, Chloe commented about how nice it was to pee without any flies on her. It is always an adventure roughing it but even better to get home.

The weather was a bit tricky because it was quite cold at night already but crazy hot in the day so the kids went without their naps then couldn't fall asleep because it was still light outside until like 11:00pm. and all our neighboring campers were crazy loud.  Still, they survived and what they lacked in sleep, they caught up on later as we drove home.

We borrowed a kayak to take along since we knew we'd be right on a lake.  The shore was a bit scummy, but it was still beautiful.  I think someday, a kayak will be a future purchase, or a canoe, or both.

We were virtually alone on the lake shore. It was so peaceful and nice:  no agenda, no schedule, nobody waiting for us.  We went to the shore two days.  We stayed there for hours and hours and the kids just dug holes and made castles, played in the water, and snacked. It was just what our family needed. The kids were a bit sad that none of our friends came camping with us, but in the end we were glad to have our family all to ourselves. It was also nice for Gavin because he had some crazy diaper rash so he loved just running around nakey and he only peed once outside and that was a big thrill for him.

Chloe begged me to include this "how to" video of her eating seaweed. She's a goofball.

Hopefully next year we can get out camping earlier so we can go more than once.

A "Dino"mite Adventure

We had heard of this dinosaur forest not too far away but we have never gone until now.  It was so cool.

Basically you walk around in a wooded, semi shaded forest (with wood deck trails) and amongst the labeled signs of plants and nature, you watch a bunch of animatronic dinosaurs.  They would go on a timer and also had a motion sensor so when you'd get close, you'd trip the sensor and they'd start growling, moving, eating, or fighting.  The kids LOVED it!  Gavin was a little scared at first but then he'd laugh and just stare and stare. 

At the end of the trail they had a really fun playground with bones to dig up and brush off.  The girls were in heaven.  When we were going to leave, you have to exit through the gift shop.  They had all these "minerals" and rock sample kits.  The girls kept getting so pumped about these kits and they wanted one SO BADLY!  Greg kept scoffing at how idiot they were and how overpriced at like $20 for a small kit with rocks.  He told the girls that he'd make them an even better kit.  So on the way home, we stopped by dollarama and bought some of those divided sewing tupperware thingies.  Then when we got home, Greg busted out his rock hammer and took the girls to the basement and to his boxes and boxes of rocks.  Then they each were able to pick out their own samples and put them in their own boxes.  Then I decorated the lids and we ended up with these beauties:

Makes me feel sorry for all those kids who bought those kits at the gift shop.

Summer Relish

**I wrote this in Aug.  Just finishing it now.

Gavin is finally 18 months old!  Oh my!  I can't believe this fool is growing so fast.  Look at that profile and that smile.  Don't you just want to kiss him?  He's so fun and so cute and so difficult and so full of attitude and so full of affection so that sounds just about right.  Here are some things Gavin excels at:

• Pooping
• Smiling
• Being naked
• Drinking milk (cow's milk thank you)
• Wearing shoes (his or other peoples')
• Running away from you fast
• Laughing

Things he can say in sign language:

• more
• please
• milk
• all done
• cracker
• cereal
• water

Things he can say in normal English:

• Dada
• Mommmmmmmmy!!!!
• keys
• cheese
• car
• paci (pacifier)

Body parts he can point to:

• nose
• eye
• teeth
• tongue
• hair
• tummy
• privates by name
• leg
• hand
• finger
• ear
• toes
• feet

Animal sounds he can make:

• Dog
• Bear, lion, dragon, dino (all a roar)
• Cow 

WE LOVE HIM!

Summer Teriyaki Sauce

I'm just going to keep going on my condiment post list for my birthday post. 

It was a day full of things that I love.  We spent the whole morning yard saling.  We loaded the kids up into the car and just drove around going from sale to sale to sale.  We scored a bunch of awesome canning jars and also some misc. kids toys.  The thing with the toys is they are sometimes old and crappy but they provide weeks to months of entertainment for our kids and then we just donate them to the thrift store so they can be recycled to another home and some other kids.

Greg was able to get us a reservation at a Japanese restaurant for lunch.  It was so fun because the tables look like they are built into the floor.  The food was delicious and the girls were having so much fun but then Gavin turned into a terror.  He was climbing on the table, trying to push down the paper screen divider to the next booth and was determined to spill the soy sauce everywhere so he eventually had to be removed from the establishment (by his Daddy).  Us girls lingered a bit just talking and eating more.  Chloe told me that she LOVES Japanese food.  We had to convince Tati to try bits of the food and she would only eat the chicken with her eyes closed b/c she said it looked gross.  Hopefully she'll move past pb&j sandwiches at some point--or so I'm hoping.

We had strawberry shortcake for my cake with real whipped cream (of course) and I accidentally made too much pound cake so I had to continue eating my cake for 2 days.  Woops.

It was great.  Chloe made me a rock with my name on it and Greg and the kids made me a beautiful birthday sign.

Chloe decorated the "L" with rainbows.  She said that was special for me.  Rainbows are still rainbows for her.  Sad that they won't always just be rainbows.  Greg bought me a camera bag.  He gave me the disclaimer that he was pretty sure I wanted a different bag but he bought that one because he wanted to have an actual present as proof that he had thought ahead.  We ended up taking it back and not finding the one we like yet but I have a camera bag coming as soon as I find one I like.

I'm such an old lady but my kids and husband made me feel super important and young.

Summer Ranch Dressing (Pt. 2)

I decided to split these into two since there were so many pics.  These are our water day pictures.  We spent everyday we could outside and near the water.  It was so fun and so beachy even though we were on a lake.  We went to the most beautiful beach on one of the most beautiful and enormous lakes I've ever seen.  It was clear, cold, and clean!  No leeches!  Well maybe there were leeches but we didn't see any.  The weather was warm and sunny and beautiful most of the days and even when it was a bit cold and windy, that was fun too.  I just love this town!

See?  Even their welcome sign is awesome. 

Brenda busted out some bubble mixture and the kids had a blast popping and yelling over the bubbles. This picture pretty much sums up the whole trip.  But I'm going to post more photos anyway.  ;-)

We took a walk on the marina and played at the nearby park where Gavin had his first turn on the monkey bars.  He had a lot of fun until his grip weakened and then he freaked out.  That might be the first time he has actually felt true fear and panic.  It was sad.  He was so relieved when Greg caught him and didn't really want to do it again.  I also saw one of my favorite graffitis ever (click on the pic to see it bigger).  Isn't it crazy how much that looks like the ocean in the background?

We went kayaking, made sand castles, Tati caught some weird little fish (some dead, some alive in a bucket), floated around on noodles, ate lots of food and watermelon, chilled, smiled a lot and I even managed to fit in reading a People Magazine (which was so fun b/c I never have time for such frivolity).

P.S.  Do you like how Tati's buns can't fill out a bathing suit?  It makes us laugh.

I loved this vacation.  I love this place and I loved the people we were with!

Summer Ranch (Dressing)

At the end of July we were lucky enough to head out to the farm again.  It was originally just going to be me and the kids but thankfully Greg was able to take some time off too and join in the fun.

I really can't get over how much I love the farm life.  I never would have guessed but all the fun we had there at Easter couldn't even compare to how fun it was in summer.  AND it was so green and lush and beautiful both on the farm and in town.  We went crazy taking pictures so I'll try and limit.

I also need to say how amazing Brenda's parents are.  I have never felt so included into a family that wasn't my actual blood family.  They are the nicest most chill people ever and they treated my kids like they really were their grand kids.  We also spent some time with her sisters and their kids.  It was so cute how quickly my kids were calling them their cousins and planning things to do together in the future.  The sad part is all their real cousins live too far away to see.  It was one of those bittersweet parenting things.  Happy for them and sad for them all at the same time.

We were lucky enough to be in town for Pioneer Day.  The church there went all out with a dance (where the girls danced with their daddy to oldies sung by an old person band), an ice cream social, a parade (where they got to ride on a float with all our fake relatives and throw candy--which almost hit me and several others b/c it was thrown with such vigor),

games and food and even a dunk booth.  It reminded me of how fun pioneer day was when I was little growing up in CA and our stake did a big carnival/party each year.  I was very nostalgic.  We jumped right into all the events and had a blast.  I loved watching Greg hop his little heart out in the potato sack race and man I can't remember laughing as hard as I did when I was trying to carry his legs in the 3-legged race!  It was great that the events were split by age too because Tati wanted to do all the events also.  And she was fast (but she didn't win).  Greg did and gave her his prize.  She also fell right back into the swing of things with her fake cousins.  She even teamed up with Kaleb to win the 3 legged race in their age group.  All the winners got popsicle coupons so that was a big thrill too.

Chloe jumped right in the line to be in the dunk booth.  It was fantastic to watch her.  She held her nose the whole time awaiting the fall.

The kids made more sugar cookies with Grandma Beth (which I guess is a new tradition they'll have with her), hit up a pinata (for no other reason than it was fun and Grandma thought the kids would enjoy it)

 sewed some marble bags with Grandma (since we brought a bag of marbles for all the kids),

got to feed, Scribbles, the baby cow his daily milk (even though the mosquitos were coo-koo in the barn);

went out quadding and looking at cows (and a giant bull that was very anatomically obvious which was hilarious to hear all the children react to him),

threw some rocks in dug-outs, and we even made some tie dyed shirts--although some of them were hideous (Gavin's shirt started out orange and ended up a gross brown color with the mix of dyes. Luckily we bought a few extra white onesies.).

Greg went on a date to the local thrift store (surprise, surprise) and we scored some amazing lamps for $4.00 total!  They joined the rest of the items in our basement for our future, someday house.  It was fun to go out and be together and also probably one of my favorite things in the world is going to out of the way and small thrift stores.  You never know what treasures you'll find.

If I could pick somewhere to live in Canada, I think I'd choose Cold Lake.  I just love it there.  Then again rumor has it that I wouldn't be singing the same tune come Winter. At the very least, if we can't live in Cold Lake or on a farm, then I would love to have a home like the Beth and Bryce's where everybody is welcome and life is just plain, more fun.

Long Nail Girls

The tooth fairy gifted Chloe some fake nails a while ago. Supposedly they change color in the sun and are especially made for little kid fingers. The girls were all excited to wear them until they needed to scratch or pick something up and then they were super over them.

I tried them on afterward too. They did look pretty cool (and yes it is a bit embarrassing that kid nails fit me) but I just don't think we're made to be long nail girls.

Summer Mustard

This summer we finally made it out to explore several lakes in this great province.  It is funny that we haven't gone out to do this sooner.  Had we known how beautiful these places are, we probably would've done it sooner.  Anyway, this is a lake pretty close to home.  Our friend's parents have a house here so it was nice to have a real bathroom to use after sitting on the sand and playing in the water.

Gavin had a great time just walking in the sludgey sand.  The bottom of the lake was a bit skummy and gross but the kids didn't even seem to notice.

At one point, our friend, Scott came out of the water with a giant leech on his leg.  I'm not going to lie when I say it put a damper on my desire to swim in that lake.  He calmly walked up to the house and poured some salt on it and it fell right off.  For the rest of the day I was in a panic examining legs and limbs when people exited the water looking for any more leeches.  Ahhhhhh!

Tati found a bunch of shells and made a collection in her bucket.  This girl makes more collections than anyone I know.  Love her.

Chloe took a while to work up the courage to jump off the dock but finally did it.  She was so proud of herself.  She is really growing up. 

I even got into the action with Brenda.  It was quite funny, it was super hot and we decided it was finally time to get wet.  So we got up to the dock and then the clouds and wind rolled in.  We had to wait several minutes for it all to clear up b/f we finally went it.  It was refreshing and fun but then that ole image of the leech on Scott's leg came into my mind and I couldn't get out fast enough.  ;-)  I'm not one to think I would put a "movie" of myself running in a bathing suit but this was so memorable and it ended up so fun that I couldn't resist.  Sometimes you just need to have a sense of humor about yourself people.

Super fun day.

As we sat on the beach and dried off, we noticed a beaver off in the distance.  I approached him quite close.  There was a wind blowing the reeds as I walked so he didn't hear me.  That or beavers don't have good hearing.  I was impressed at how fast he ran and then swam away.

It was beautiful there.  The thing I loved the most was how it felt like I was almost at a real beach in California.  It made me feel more at home.