Kate

Babies and her own little spot under her high chair.

Jaydon turns 7

Wow, I wrote Jaydon turns 7 and it was somewhat weird, he is 7. It just keeps going by. I look at pictures even from 6 months ago and I realize how much he has grown.  No longer do any of his clothes have the letter T after them. He is reading books (and even got into one chapter book which he read for an hour and 40 minutes this summer pretty much straight so he could finish it - it was awesome)! He still loves baseball and football, he tackles his sisters and wrestles around. His bed is never made and in fact the more animals and toys piled into it the better - he sleeps with so much on his bed it makes me crazy.  He enjoys conversing with adults and remains very attune to how other people feel.  He is a caring, compassionate and loving kid and I am so thankful I am his Mom - of course he can also drive us all batty but that's what kids do. We love you Jaydon, Happy 7th Birthday!

Opening some of his gifts.

His request for a Red Robin dinner was met and the ice cream sundae was a hit.

Jaydon's 7th Birthday Party

We were excited to get to celebrate Jaydon's 7th birthday with friends and family in yet another cul de sac pizza party and baseball game.

Grandpa is retired so he got to come and play pig pile with the grandkids

Jaydon wasn't so sure at the beginning of his party, his friends had been out of town so it was mostly family and neighbors and of course the Mariners game was on so he wanted to watch it.  We compromised, he listened while he ate.

Starting up the game

The littles got into the action too

Jaydon wanted the chocolate costco baseball cake

Neighbors Bryna, Alexa and Adam

Great-Grandma Aleen made it down

A real professional baseball uniform (or just the pants and socks), he loved it.

Our very own little biker gang

Kate and E rocking it

 

Happy Birthday Jaydon!

The Bubble Run

We had a fabulous time doing the Bubble Run with the Citros.  I forgot my camera so had to use my phone and even then didn't take very many until the end. As you can see from the kiddos we all had fun and got super bubbly clean.

Getting ready to go.

Meadow Lake Fish Camp

We left Kamloops and headed up to the Fishing Camp, up past Little Fort.  The drive was pleasant, the last 4 miles were truly off roading and I am thankful I had my book for the places that seemed a bit freaky trying to avoid huge holes and ruts in the gravel road while going up or down a steep hill.  The minivan handled it like a champ - and Jeremy drives really well in it. 

We arrived in our cabin and it was definitely rustic. We had beds galore, a bucket of water, two camp lanterns and a wood burning stove. Jeremy kept the fire going for us in the evenings and through the night so we were quite pleasant in our cabin though we didn't spend much time in it.

We found the life jacket shed and were ready to head to boats

First a few practice casts in the yard.

A picture of the main lodge, a delicious breakfast and dinner were served here each day and there were functioning bathrooms and showers to make it easy camping.

We are off to Meadow Lake, the lake right behind the lodge.

Brenna and Nona Lainie were ready

Kate liked the row boats

The back of the lodge as seen from the lake

Getting ready to fish

Brenna, Papa and Nona

Wendy, Greg and Caedan

Lucy with the first catch of the trip

Looking in the fish bag

Lots of bunnies hopping around the camp much to the kids delight

A firepit with marshmallows the first night - delicious.

When we weren't in boats or hiking to lakes the kids could be found running around playing in camp

Kate practicing her casting

The next morning we walked to Flapjack lake (5 minute hike) and took the boats out there.

No catching but fun fishing.

Grandma and Gram

Finally when we were pulling the boat in to head back Jeremy found a school of really small fish, he caught a few and it was fun to see them and let them go.

Frogs - as the days warmed into afternoon there were frogs all through the grass, the kids had a fabulous time catching them and building frog homes for them, I am sure the frogs weren't as thrilled about these homes as the kids were.

Brenna and some pretty wild flowers

And we're off for our next hike to another lake. I can't remember the name of this one but it was about a 30 minute hike in (and 20 out, we had to hurry for dinner).

Nona, Greg, Caedan, Brenna, Lucy, Jaydon, Wendy, Jeremy and Kate

Dad and Kate

Taking some family pics in front of the boats at the lake, it was so beautiful!

The Chambers Family

More playtime after dinner.

There was this super cool rainbow in the sky and pictures do not do it justice.  It was a full double rainbow but then the lower of the two is what you see in these pics and it was a rainbow that had multiple layers of each color touching each other, at least 4 layers could be seen in person.  I had never seen anything like it.

 

 

Dad and Jaydon went out to try and snag another fish after dinner.

 

Success!

The next morning found us rowing around on Meadow Lake again.  Dad took the older kids and fished with them while Kate and I enjoyed just rowing around in our boat, holding a fishing rod with a big blue fish at the end.

Greg and Brenna enjoying the water

Such a beautiful place to enjoy a vacation

We then decided to hike to Lost Horse Lake (about 15 minutes) and have a picnic lunch.

The camp sends everyone off with a sandwich and thermos each day so we added some other goodies from our supplies and enjoyed a feast in the sunshine.

That evening we got out the squirt guns and the kids had a blast squirting each other (and the adults)

 

Uli, one of our hosts and the chef extraordinaire made a fun fish birthday cake for Jaydon to help us celebrate his birthday a little early with the whole group.

 

Big family style meals were a hit

Jaydon trying out the loon hat

Enjoying another campfire on our last night.

The last morning we took off after breakfast and some fun group pictures on the deck.

Grandma, Jaydon, Jeremy, Kate, Lucy, Sarah, and Nancy

Nona Lainie, Greg, Brenna, Wendy, Caedan, and Papa John

Our whole group

Uli and Francesco, our hosts, joining the picture on the far right

The kiddos

On our drive out of camp, you can tell we were in a remote area, not a road to be found, even when it hit 100% calculated it was just our car.