4th of July - 2013

Our family went to the cabin for the 4th of July weekend. We spend 5 nights at the cabin which is the most nights I have ever spent at the cabin at one time.

Lots of family came up to the cabin. Nonni, Poppy, Uncle Ben, Johnny, the kids, my cousins Matt and Geoff, my Grandma, my Aunt Shelly, my Uncle Kerry, my cousin Matt's fiance, Matt's fiance's sister, Matt's fiance's daughter, and my college friends Stacy and Joe Marchesano.

One thing we tried to do every time is roast marshmallows for smores and sing songs by the campfire. Our songs included Puff the Magic Dragon, This Land is Your Land, and Beautiful Trees (a song from Sid the Science Kid on PBS). Uncle Ben would play the guitar and Pennington would pretend to play his ukulele. On our last night at the cabin we did Havdallah (the end of the Jewish sabbath). We didn't have a Havdallah candle so we used sparklers instead.

Below are some photos from the campfires.

 

 

On the 4th of July we went to the parade in Cascade. The parade had lots of floats from local businesses, lots of firefighter trucks, and candy. The firefighter trucks sprayed water on all of the spectators. Below are some pictures of the kids in there 4th of July outfits and at the parade.

 

 

Ponderosa State Park - July 2013

During the long 4th of July weekend at the cabin we went to Ponderosa State Park twice to go hiking, biking and swimming.

Our first time to Ponderosa was on Wednesday before the 4th of July. Uncle Ben, the kids and myself decided to go biking and swimming while Poppy and Daddy went golfing. We decided to take a mountain biking trail up to the top of the peninsula. To be honest I haven't done a lot of mountain biking. If I had I would have known that taking a bike trailer up a mountain biking trail might not work. About half of the trail was pretty easy and really fun and the other half was super hard and required walking my bike which included the bike trailer and two kids which in total weights over 75 pounds. Getting to the summit was a really big accomplishment for myself. I don't think I have sweat like that in a long time. After the bike ride we went swimming in the lake.

Our second time to Ponderosa was on Saturday after the 4th of July. Johnny, the kids and myself were joined by Stacy and Joe Marchesano (college friends). We first went swimming in the lake and then drove up to the summit to see the beautiful view. It is one of the most amazing views ever.

Below are pictures from our trips to Ponderosa State park.

 

 

Playing in the Rain

Our next door neighbor Jessica told me I just had to get the kids Wellies (rain boats) for when we go to the Oregon Coast. So at the REI garage sale a few weekends back I got the kids rain boats. To our surprise it has rained a few times in the last few weeks so the kids have been able to get some use out of them in Boise Idaho where it rains less than 10 inches a year. Below is one of my favorite pictures of the kids. The flowers they kids are holding were from Johnny for our 6th wedding anniversary.

Gymnastics

For the month of June the kids took Gymnastics at Bronco Elite. I signed them up for the class since there was a Groupon for one month of Gymnastics classes. I was able to put them in the same class which was great. I think the kids liked the class but for now I think we are going to pass on signing them up again. Below is a picture of the kids at Gymnastics. Pennington is on the monkey bars and Piper is in the background next to there instructor.