Butte Meadows

It was so great to be able to get to Butte Meadows for the week! And a bonus that there was so much family to hang out with while we were there! 

We had a great week of tennis, creek, and play time! I loved that a few days into the vacation we had a great routine with the kids! They had the tennis clinic, followed by an activity with Aunt Erin or someone else, then rest time, then creek time! Such a fun week! 

Some of the highlights were pizza night at Luke and Erin's, and when Karen, Erin, Pat and I hiked the PCT!

The daily tennis clinic with Eric was amazing! It provided a little bit of structure to our week, and the kids got to learn/practice their skills!

Grace/the kids organized a nightly talent show.  It consisted of juggling, some songs, and mostly crazy dances!

Getting ready for the talent show!

Creektime. . . 

Uncle Eric and Grace's annual splashing war!

Anna and Will had a contest to see who could stay in the water the longest! 

One of the highlights were that there were a lot of kittens for the kids to cuddle with!

Liv and Leo:)!

This was Leo's favorite spot of the week! Just add water. . .

More cats. . .

500 was also a hit!

Leo was very possessive of the magnet blocks! We have to work on his sharing skills:). 

I love this lighting in the mornings!

I loved going to Luke and Erin's new cabin! It's such a pretty setting!

One of my favorite afternoons was when they read to each other for quiet time!

It was so fun to hike the Pacific Crest Trail! I never knew it was so close to Butte Meadows! It was so beautiful!! 

Though it had many kids in tears at one point or another, the Treasure Hunt Eric created was really challenging and fun!

Fun to have movie night after a week of no technology!

Luke and Erin's pizza night was so fun!! 

And more cats. . .

Birthday party! 

Big goodbyes!

Summer, Week 1-Kate's First Communion

School is out! Kind of anticlimactic, but still feels good that it is over.  No more Zoom calls, feelings of guilt that my kids aren't getting their work done, etc..  Yet, it's a little ironic, because the things I am happy to be done with were also the things that gave a structure to our day that I liked.  

Kate got to have her First Communion on Sunday.  She was supposed to have it in April, but wasn't able to since the churches were still closed at that point.  It was just Kate, the five other catechists and their families. It was still very special and she was so excited to get dressed up and have a special day! 

It was fun that Adam was also making his First Communion!

Socially distanced picture with Lorelei!

Week 12-Pat's birthday

I'm glad we had the photo shoot when we did, because our backyard had a rough week:).  The flowers died, and I was excited to get the yard ready for a BBQ for Pat's birthday, so I used Scott's on the lawn, but didn't realize it was on a different setting than I normally use, so it dumped the fertilizer on the lawn  leaving yellow burnt spots on it! And I went crazy trimming the rhododendrons, so it took a turn for the bad!


The sand pit and the trampoline have been great staples the last couple months!!

Grace wanted to get a picture with "Little Chub".

Pat's birthday!

I was super proud of myself to make this triple layer German chocolate cake! I was surprised when Pat made the request for his birthday, because I had never heard him say he liked this type of cake! The girls were a great help! 

We had an outdoor only party for him with his family.  It was a little rainy, but not bad!

Then we celebrated with him on his actual birthday with bagels and Bamford Bakery! 

Week 11-Quarantine photoshoot:)

The kids only had three days of school because of Memorial Day and no school on Fridays, so our week went quick! And it was the hottest week of the quarantine. It got up to 95 degrees on Thursday!
We had our first play-dates.  The Morris' came over on Tuesday and brought water balloons, which was fun because of the heat! And Friday Will got to go to Jack's and then we went to Mindy's house for slip n slide and pond time! It was so refreshing to hang out with friends, but it also made me realize I want to ease back into all of this!
Another thing that was on my list since Mother's Day was to get a family picture.  Our backyard peaks the week of Leo's birthday, so I wanted to try to get some pictures before the rhododendron flowers died.  It was super nice of our neighbor to come over and take some pictures! And fun that he has a really nice camera and enjoys taking pictures:).

The second part of his photo shoot was a focus on Leo:).  He was so hyper that Tim took a bunch of pictures of him! 

And this was my own picture, trying to capture all the colors (and the kids:), from earlier in the week. 

Game time:).  The days get so busy with school that it's rare to feel like there is time to play a game.  That is something I'm looking forward to this summer, slower days!

Creek day with Aunt Kelly! We had to forge our way through the grasses to get there, but since it was 95 degrees out, it was worth it!