We bought stand up paddle boards for an upcoming trip so we had to test them out in the house first
Mason had a Lego camp and had so much fun
The boys had a few days where they had friends come over and play video games. They enjoyed it until we had to set some new rules on timing of screens in the summer.
Kim, Mason, and Henry made it out to the blueberry farm
Nixon has been working hard at his guitar skills
Kim and the kids made it out to the river to play on the inflatable dock with some friends
There was a combined youth activity with cliff jumping at Tubbs Hill
Nixon loved it
The kids all enjoyed swimming on a warm evening
Kim and I tried out a new Mexican restaurant in Coeur d'Alene
Henry helped make some chocolate zucchini muffins
Did I mention he loved his Lego camp?
When our ward had a service auction in the winter we bid on, and won, an afternoon of boating. We did that last week and had lots of fun. We got all four kids out on tubes at the same time.
Nixon also got to wakeboard (Mason and Henry each also got to try but weren't able to get up)
Nixon also got to try surfing for the first time
Last Saturday we took the kids out hiking to Chilco Mountain, which we haven't been to in a while because it was closed because of wildfires for some time
The first point of interest is always a good spot to rest and get ready for the final climb
We made it
It was super windy at the top
After that Kim and the boys went to Art on the Green, an annual art festival in Coeur d'Alene. This vehicle was interesting.
There is always a guy who makes a giant sand castle
And activities for the kids
Mason has been working on this project daily since his birthday. He finally finished it!
Up next we will go to Kelowna for a family vacation.
Kim enlisted the troops to help with some weeding around the yard
Kim had to work on July 4th but the rest of us attended a ward breakfast together
There was a neighborhood bike parade after that Henry and Mason participated in
That afternoon we went to our friends' annual party and the boys had fun lighting some small explosives
There was a band with kids Nixon's age that was fun to listen to
We had fun visiting with friends
Henry won one of the guessing jars
Nixon and his friend both won shirts from the shirt canon
The fireworks show was amazing
Here is a little taste
After we came home and experienced lots of neighborhood fireworks
Henry helping to make some syrup
The hot tub has been converted to pool temperature for the summer so there is somewhere to escape the heat
Mason finished building the Titanic that he got for his birthday
Lyza taught her first piano lesson
The second Saturday in July was the Post Falls parade, which has been a family tradition for years
Except this year Nixon and I skipped so we could shoot guns with the young men
Look at all those guns!
That is a MASSIVE flag
Mason was happy to be at the parade
Look at all that candy
Back to shooting...Nixon started off with a suppressed .22 pistol
Here is is shooting a .38 revolver
This is an AR-15 (suppressed)
And this is a tactical shotgun
He had so much fun (I also enjoyed myself)
After the parade everyone got Slurpees because it was 7/11
When Nixon and I got home the others boys wanted to see pictures and videos of the guns
The following Monday Kim drove Lyza down to Moscow for FSY. This was her second time going but the first time that she was there without a room mate that she knew
This is her room mate on the right, and a friend that they made on the left. Lyza made fast friends with her room mate
Some of the girls in their district
You can caption this yourself because I have no idea what they are doing
Lyza is center of frame here way back there
This is her district: Go and Do
Here are the girls on the Sunday dress day
And their district. She had lots of fun and learned lots!
It was hot so Kim took the boys to the beach to play
I had to report for jury duty and I was randomly selected as Juror #1. Luckily the case settled so I didn't have to be there for more than an hour
Mason and Henry had a camp that week at Momentum, which is an indoor gym
One evening Nixon's youth activity was cliff jumping and Kim was working so I took the three boys to that and we all had a good time
Henry was fearless
Mason at his camp
The next day Kim took the boys to another spot to go cliff jumping AGAIN
After all the jumping they played at the beach for a while
And of course got some ice cream
Kim had a relief society activity where they learned how to arrange flowers
She did a great job
I know not everyone likes this guy (and I can't really say that I like him as a person) but I often think what he is doing is humorous, including threating to tarriff Canada because of wild fire smoke
On a Saturday morning Kim, Nixon, and I got up early to hike Canfield Mountain. It is a HARD hike (only 2.2 miles up but 1,866 ft of elevation)
It is hard to photograph the steepness of the trail
But we made it
Nixon too
Nixon found this rock that was shaped like Idaho, so he decided to hike it down
Although he eventually broke it when he hit it against a tree (duh) and was sad
Mason and Henry worked together on a science kit that had lots of fun experiments
I took Nixon to the Buck Knives factory and he got his own personalized knife
Kim took the kids to Hobby Lobby and they had fun there
Happy boys
Mason tried a Mark Rober science experiment where you place an egg in vinegar for a day or more to dissolve the shell
Nixon had his first guitar lesson and they were ready for him
Kim took the road bike out with her friend Heather
This last week we lost Lyza again, this time for girls camp. They were not allowed to take phone with them so we don't have any pictures. They camped on an island on Priest Lake that is accessible only by boat. She had so much fun, which was a relief to find out when we finally got her back
Meanwhile Kim and the kids were at all the beaches. At this one all the kids had a blast trying to hang on to this floating log
We finally got the concrete curbing around our hot tub done (we have been trying to get someone out since April)
Nixon had a camp with the Kroc Center this week and had lots of fun (no pictures)
One day Kim took Henry and Mason to the skate park to bike and roller blade
Mason was in heaven and even learned how to fly
Henry got to try out his friend's little go kart
The little boys got to play with a giant water balloon on the trampoline on a hot day
They also jumped on the trampoline with a sprinkler
Kim and I went on a date on Friday night and saw Nate Bargatze (comedian) in Spokane. We laughed really hard and had a great time.
Kim and Heather went paddle boarding together yesterday morning
We watched a 10 month old for a few hours yesterday and Nixon had so much fun with him
