Family Night in the Pool

Lewis loves the water and even voluntarily puts his face in.

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The pool seems to have shrunk a little this year, or more likely, my boys have grown a little. But it's still big enough to have fun in.

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Carter and Owen have had three days of swimming lessons, and have five more next week. After a HORRIBLE first day of lessons, they have been doing great the past two days. They've even jumped into the 5 ft. water and swam out to their teacher. Yey! They are figuring it out.

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I took this picture of Owen and didn't realize until I downloaded it that Lewis is "backfloating" in the background.

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The Maker of the Messes

This is why I don't get anything done when Lewis is awake. If I am the cleaner of the house, he is the uncleaner. At least it was lotion. It's probably good for his dry skin.

Backyard Fun in Fremont

The boys had fun in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard pool. Our nephew Shaan was splashing Corey with water, and when Corey would splash some back on him, he would say, "No thank you. I don't like that!" It was very cute!

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Grandma always lays a blanket out in the sun for the swimmers to wrap up in when they are through in the pool.

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Playing with Fire

LEGAL FIREWORKS. Nebraska is the place to be on the Fourth of July. What could be more fun than playing with fire (supervised of course), and not getting in trouble for it? The boys are waiting for an explosive to do its thing.

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Corey and Owen lighting a parachute.

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Carter and a morning glory.

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Some of the fireworks were too loud for Optimus Prime #1 and #2 (aka Owen and Ian).

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From left to right - Ian, Owen, Carter, Garrett and Amina watch the neighbors light some off. Doing your own fireworks is way more entertaining than sitting in a park waiting for it to get dark enough for the town fireworks display to start. (Thanks to my sister-in-law Gretchen for the pictures. I was cameraless.)

LOST

It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times...

A few things I learned or was reminded of on our journey:

1. God is a God of tremendous beauty.

2. God is big enough to make lakes so big you can't see across them, but he still cares about little things like lost cameras (ask Corey about the extra 6 miles he hiked for me).

3. God provides. - Thank you to Kristin and Amos, who allowed two stranded hikers to set up camp on their site.

4. God, not the weatherman, is in control of the weather. Rain was forecasted for our whole trip, and we had sunny upper 60s and 70s all day Saturday and Sunday.

5. I am capable of more than I thought. I hiked 16 miles in one day!!

6. Flush toilets are a beautiful thing. I almost cried when I sat down on an indoor toilet with FOUR rolls of dry toilet paper just waiting there to be used!!

7. The $50 you save by getting a cheap motel at the end of the hiking trip is NOT WORTH IT!

8. My husband is my VERY BEST FRIEND.

Rain was forecasted for the entire weekend. Friday night did not disappoint. The rain started in Duluth, where we had an incredible last meal at Grandma's Grill, and it didn't end until long after we were snug in our little tent. Needless to say, we got a little wet. I'm so glad Corey made me get gortex shoes.

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Our first campsite was about 50 feet from a rushing river and about 50 yards from the above pictured potty.

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We hiked through muddy valleys so thick with trees that you almost couldn't see the sky, up steep rocky inclines that led to beautiful overlooks of Lake Superior, along rocky cliffs with beautiful, untouched lakes and forests below, over fallen trees, across streams and rivers...It was a physically exhausting yet incredible journey.

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Here I am pushing the boulders out of the way so Corey could get through. Oh, what I have to do for that man!!

Lake Superior