Triple Celebration

We wanted to celebrate Riley's 2nd birthday a little early while my family was here, so I surprised everyone with one of Mara's fabulous cakes and we had a triple celebration.  It was Briana's 15th birthday and my parents 33rd wedding anniversary that week, too.  Sounds like a good enough excuse for a cake to me!

Pool days...

I can't even tell you how glad we are that we found our pool last summer.  It's been used so much, especially this summer.  When the family was here visiting we spent a couple days at the pool with them, too. 

 

While Gavin loves to go to the pool, he's still super cautious about his face getting wet, doesn't like jumping in, etc.  Riley, on the other hand, is our fish that just wants to do it all on her own.  She had fun 'going down the slide' with Beepa.  {Her version of going down the slide is we put her at the end of it and she jumps off to us.}

I'm quite certain that by next summer, she'll be ready to swim on her own and will be teaching Gavin how to do things!

Safari Time!

The safari is always a fun place to take visitors!  We hadn't been since Riley was born, so it was time to introduce her to the joys of the Wild Wilderness Drive Thru Safari. ;)

And, of course, Riley loved it!

We heard over and over again about the 'monkeys' and then, after the drive-thru portion, 'yaks.'  She even told me she saw a yak at Kohls one day after this trip.  Haha!

I don't have pictures of them, but there were SIX DAY old piglets there when we were visiting.  SO stinkin' cute.  Like, makes me want to get a pet pig-cute.  Crazy!  

 

The drive-thru part is always fun...there are camels, yaks, ostriches, and more that just stand in the road while you're trying to drive.  I'm surprised we've never had damage to our car while visiting the safari! 

Advice if you have a little one like Riley?  Bring snacks!  She ate her way through the drive-thru portion, of course.  The girl snacks nonstop!

Maybe we are 'Boat People'

Chances are, if you know Jarrod, you know he wants a boat.  And a new truck.  And a new house.  And a new bow.  And, and, and...  Haha!  Now is definitely NOT the best time for us to get a boat, and I honestly wasn't even sure I was a boat person, but I did agree to renting a boat when my family was here visiting.  And I'm so glad I did!  Beaver Lake was nothing like I thought it would be.  It was nothing like the memories I have of lakes from my childhood (not that there were many, but I always think of lake water as being gross.)  Beaver Lake was gorgeous, and the water actually reminded me of Alaska.  Crazy.  

Disclaimer - I know Riley should be in a life jacket.  And she was for some of the trip...but there were other times that we took it off to give her a break because she was crying so much.

Riley's idea of boating involved either being in the water, or eating.  Sounds about right, huh?

Looking at these pictures, I realize it doesn't really do justice for the gorgeous water, but you can at least see how clear it is.  If you look closely, you can see Jarrod's legs under the water.  

Another thing I learned...it's hard work to tread water in the lake while holding a child.  So, I felt the need to definitely have my life jacket on!

The pontoon boat was really nice.  It didn't go too fast, and there was plenty of room to sit and walk around.  We rented the boat for 8 hours, and the kids lasted about 5.5...not too bad!

 Perhaps one memory from the day that I'll look back on and laugh about someday was how long it took to convince Gavin that it was ok for him to pee in the lake.  Poor kid had to pee so bad and refused.  He just wanted to go back and get off the boat to come home.  Eventually he did, but it certainly did take a while!

We're looking forward to more days on Beaver Lake.  I think we'll make it our goal to rent a boat a couple times a summer.  Maybe someday we'll get a boat...but not for a while. :)

Concert in the Park

The first night my family was here {well...technically the second, since they showed up to surprise us like 24 hours early!} there was a free concert by Kenny Loggins in the park that we all decided to go to.  We had some yummy pizza at Damgoode Pies, then headed to the park.  Jarrod was blown away at how many people showed up for some Kenny Loggins! 

The weather was great...warm, but not too hot.  We got some free fans to cool ourselves, shared some snow cones, and danced around the music.  The kids lasted til about 8:30 before we were all ready to head home.  

Riley's hair doesn't do well in the humidity! :)  

 

 Our photographer for the evening was Riley.  She loves to take pictures, usually of nothing because she doesn't really look through the lens, but this one was fantastic!

The kids loved the built-in play structure that is Aunt Briana!

Gavin especially had a great time playing with her.

Silly boy!

It sounds silly, but we're rarely out and about on the roads around 8:30 since the kids are usually in bed by then, so on our drive home, I was thrilled to actually see lightning bugs!  I swear I didn't think they existed here; I guess the fact that we have next to no trees in our neighborhood doesn't help.  So, needless to say, I made it mission to catch lightning bugs with the kids this summer.  {More on that to come!}