June fun (and not so fun)

After our NYC trip, Owen left for his mission trip and Hannah came to stay with us for a few nights while she attended an archery camp. She and Owen were both bummed to miss being at the house at the same time. We enjoyed a few things in the afternoons after camp. Hannah volunteers with the animal shelter by Nana and Grandpa, so I know she'd enjoy doing enrichment with the dogs and cats at the SPCA. We also went ice skating!

I got out on the ice too! I rollerbladed a lot in college and thankfully it all came back to me and felt similar to that. The girls went through a variety of stages of learning but left a lot more confident than they came in!

We were so hot and tired!!

We also went to the cat cafe. The cats are always playful there!

Willow made ice cream sandwiches. They didn't last long!!

Willow and Kinsley practicing some tricks:

After Owen got back from his mission trip, he had his last baby tooth and his wisdom teeth removed. He was great about resting, icing, and salt water rinses. On a scale of 1-10, he never was above a 3! 

This was my best effort to hold the ice on his cheeks without him having to hold it...

Now he has a chain attached to his exposed adult tooth in order to pull it into place.

In other June news, Willow and I volunteered at VBS. She loves the 5 year old class and I've been helping with crafts. This year I did Pre-K crafts and it was great to be inside out of the unpredictable weather, but I'm not sure whose idea it was to do paint with 3 year olds or sticker crafts with ZERO extra space. We survived though!

We love blueberry season! While Willow was in Belize, we met the Caldwells, Nana, and Grandpa to pick a gallon. That always means blueberry muffins, blueberry banana bread, and cream cheese blueberry bars. Yummy!

Blueberry Picking and Cascades Hike

We enjoyed blueberry picking with the family! It's one of our favorite summertime traditions. 

It'd been a few years since we'd been to hike the Cascades, so we decided to go while we were already halfway there. We've gone a few times during Labor Day weekend after apple picking, but the VT students definitely dominate the trails and pool at the base of the waterfall. We thought it'd be shaded enough to be cool (it wasn't) and not as crowded (it wasn't too bad). We knew the water would be refreshing once we got there but it was actually too cold to get in to, according to 3 out of 4 of us. 

Owen was the only one who braved getting his whole body in the water. After he did, he had a great time!

Like I said, he will do karate anywhere!

 We hung out by the water for about 45 minutes then it started to sprinkle. It didn't really matter since Owen was already wet and the rest of us had been prepared to get wet. As we started to walk back, it really started raining! We made the mistake of not taking the fire road back, so it was pretty slow-going since the rain made the rocks so slick. It rained for probably the first mile of our trip back! This video doesn't quite do it justice:

Blueberry Picking

We always love blueberry picking season! And time with family!

To find the best berries, sometimes you have to get in the middle of it!! Willow is always a dedicated picker!

End of Summer Fun

We ended up with COVID after returning from our Minnesota trip. Unfortunately that ruined a lot of time that we planned on spending with Aunt Linnie and Aunt Sara, who drove down from PA to spend time with us. We had a "socially distanced" lunch in the front yard though. 

Some backyard chalk fun:

Some front yard chalk fun: 

I'm not sure Owen would qualify this picture as "end of summer fun." My desire to enjoy bike rides together far exceeds theirs :( yet I keep trying ;) While we were in MN, we walked to a BMX bike park that looked super fun. Auggie had his bike but it was far too small for my kids to try on the course. The other cousins were able to try it out, so I looked up to see if our town had any BMX parks. I found a local one listed that's not far off the greenway that we use most frequently, so we gave it a try. It was a dirt track and, unfortunately, had rained a bit before we tried it out. It wasn't necessarily a smooth track, plus the mud didn't help. Owen ended up slipping in the mud on a turn and the pedal gave him a good bruise on his leg. It was over for him at that point. Willow tried sticking it out a bit longer but I had the most fun. Maybe a GoPro video will find its way into this post eventually. Maybe we'll try on a drier day...and drive to get there instead of biking there. 

We enjoyed blueberry picking with the Caldwells and Nana. The picking was good and it always helps when the kids stick with picking longer! 

The raspberries were too hard to walk by. They were opening them for picking that evening but were kind enough to let us get a pint. They didn't make it 24 hours off the bush!

Pool fun with the cousins:

Pool fun with Aubrey at Linda's house:

Willow enjoyed helping out with elementary crafts at VBS this year for the first time. I helped with preschool crafts and we both left exhausted every day :)

Owen tried making chalk monster's with me, inspired by Lettering By Karen on Instagram...one of my favorites!

 The kids can't resist playing in the rain on a warm day! And this mama loves any time they play TOGETHER!