enjoying the great outdoors

It seemed like someone was always sick during the month of June, so now that everyone is better and the holiday has passed, we have been spending a lot of time outdoors.

We finally made it to Donut Falls--this is the place we were going to go hiking with Steve and Natalie when they were staying with us. I have heard about this place for the longest time, but have never been there.

I love this picture of my boys walking along the path of life. Daren has such a great relationship with all of the boys--he is a very loving and caring father to them!

The actual falls were amazing! I'm glad we made it, but I was a little nervous for the boys in a few spots towards the end.

A fun place we have really close to our house over at the park is a skateboard park. Ben and Thomas have been trying to get over there together for the longest time, and they finally made it. They talked me into taking them one afternoon, when it was like 98 degrees outside!! These two have been friends since before they were 2 years old. They used to play Thomas the Train all day long, but now they have gone onto bigger and better things!!

Will came along for the ride as well. Scooters are one thing we have never bought for our boys, but ever since the skate park they have wanted one--resistance may be futile! Thanks to Thomas for letting them borrow his scooters!!

Isn't Thomas just such a dude?!

You can tell that Thomas has been around a scooter a lot longer that any of my boys! He was flying off the jumps there, and he was fun to take pictures of.

Julie and I decided that it would be better to take the boys in the morning when it wasn't so doggone hot, so we went again a couple days later. The boys and I rode our bikes over to the park to meet Julie, Thomas, and Ben, Thomas' next door neighbor.

Who woulda thunk that Will's bike would be the favorite bike there?! Everyone wanted to ride it.

When we arrived, at 9am, there was only one other kid there. He was good about the kids messing around. Julie and I found the only sliver of shade available and camped out there for the next hour and a half. When Will and Jake were tired of riding either bikes or scooters, they found this bowl, that reminded me of a swimming pool, to run through. Jake was able to get himself out, but it was a bit more trouble for Will.

This skater kid was kind enough to help pull Will out time after time. After he pulled Will out, Will went on to tell him, "Hey, I like to play bideo (video) games all day long! I like to play Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, and Lego Indiana Jones!" That's how he's been introducing himself to strangers lately...nice! And he would play video games all day, if I would let him.

the gang--Will, Thomas, Ben M., Jake, and Ben

Just as we were leaving the skate park, the boys discovered the "dirt park" right next door. It's this huge field where mounds of dirt have been packed over to make jumps and such. We only stayed a few minutes, but that was enough time for Jake to crash and burn. Luckily I had a bandaid pack with me, and as I was putting Neosporin on Jake's knee, he said, "Mom, that's Neosporin, right? And when you get hurt on your elbow, it's called elbow-sporin." I guess I never thought if it like that!! Hmm.

The inmates were running the asylum here, aka Daren let Jake run the four-wheeler in helping him pull out yet, another dead pine tree. And the ensuing blister. I asked Ben to go out and take some pictures of Daren and Jake working together--I think there are at least 10 pictures of the tree stump in the garbage can, though, but I'll spare you those! Thanks Ben! You did a great job!!

Our garden

I planted quite the variety of veggies and stuff in our garden, but holy cow, the pumpkins are taking over!! That's ok, it's one of my favorite things we grow.

There is one gargantuan zucchini plant in the middle of it all, and this is what happens if you don't check on it for a few days!!

My favorite new thing I planted this year, that I will plant every year from now on...lettuce. It is so good, and so handy!! Now if the tomatoes would just catch up...

It has finally warmed up enough at night to try sleeping outside, so last weekend the boys and I (Daren was at the fire station) slept out. We had to make s'mores cuz it's my most favorite thing ever...however, it just isn't the same made in the microwave. :(

We slept out in the fort above the sandbox. The queen-size air mattress only fit three of us, so Jake, by default cuz he's the best sleeper, slept on the fluffy blanket next to us. Sure, there were the neighborhood dogs barking off and on and the neighbors behind us swimming at 3am and it was soooo hot most of the night cuz of the cloud cover, but other than that, it wasn't too bad!

At one point I woke up during the night and was checking everyone out, and noticed Jake's head at the bottom of his sleeping bag. It was very tempting to just give him a push and send him down the slide, but I didn't. Amazingly, we slept in until about 7:30am. Then each of the boys found their own way to get down.

It was a beautiful morning and couldn't pass up the chance to eat breakfast outside. I love the great outdoors!!