July 16—Willy Wonka comes to the Lee Family Reunion

On the 16th we headed north to Idaho for our annual Lee family reunion.  My Aunt Connie & Uncle Mike hosted this year and boy do they know how to throw a party.  There were two water slides, a bouncy house and buckets and buckets of treats and candy for the kids to enjoy.  We had a great time catching up with family and stuffing ourselves with peanut butter M&M’s.  My kids are still talking about the party in Idaho (which they think is a different country.)

July 6—Where Time Stands Still

We wrapped up our trip with breakfast at the Pioneer Grill.  Even after 12 years I feel like I could hop behind the counter and know exactly where everything is.  The pancakes are still monstrous, ceramic moose plates are still the same, and Marge is still their to pour your coffee every morning.

We spent the rest of the day listening to satellite radio while driving the long 5 hours back home. (Yes we are the only family that does not have a DVD player in our car)  The kids know how to play the alphabet game, they read books, they beg for snacks, and they fight over the handheld Batman game.

Until next year…Goodbye beautiful mountains.

July 5—A Waterfall, a Few Rocks & Lots of Mellows

After a trip on the “speedboat” across Jenny Lake we hiked up to Hidden Falls.  The water was so high that two of the bridges had been blocked of and the trail up to Inspiration Point was rerouted.

After a quick dip in the warm waters of the Jackson Lake Lodge pool we headed over to Pebble Beach.  This is always my favorite part of our family stays in the Tetons and this year was no exception.  The boys threw rocks into the lake for hours while I sat and stared at the mountains dreaming of the day when all three boys can hoof it up Cascade Canyon.

After Pebble Beach we wrapped up the day with tacos and Smores cooked over the non smelly easy to light camp chef.

July 4—A Day in the Mountains

So, I have found a new obsession which I will talk about later, but because of my new found interest my little blog has suffered.  So for those thousands out there anticipating my next post here are a few one photo posts to sum up our busy, exciting and all most over summer.

We spent the 4th in our favorite place complete with a hike to Swan Lake, swimming at String Lake and listening to a thunderstorm from the warm safety of our ginormous 8 man tent.

Saturday, July 2— It’s Great to Be Eight, the Big Boys Hit the Waterslide, and We Love Uncle Shawn’s Job

On Saturday we went to see this cute girl get baptized.  Can you believe she is eight!  I remember when she was a wee baby with curly dark hair. 

After the baptism it was back to the Andersons house for yummy food and some water fun for the kiddos.  Mindy had borrowed a big blow up water slide from her neighbor.

The kids started timing themselves to see how many times they could go down the slide in 1 minute.  Well, my dad looks at my husband (Mr. Competitive) and says how many times do you think you could go down—well it was on after that.  Dave donned his swim suit, my dad just jumped in in his jean shorts and we started timing. 

Dave matched Syd’s record and my dad scored big with a backwards somersault that would have been a perfect 10 in the Olympics.

Did I mention this waterslide was not made for those over about 12 years old.  The “older” kids about deflated it every time they climbed up and the awkwardness of getting their non-12 year old bodies off the slide was absolutely hilarious.

The little kids had a great time too. 

Syd was in the water for about 4-5 straight hours thus earning her the nickname “water rat.”

The rest of us sat in the shade and thanks to an uncle who works at an ice cream factory ate and ate Fat Boy cookies until we were sick.

Baby Cohen made an appearance and we all ooooed and awwed over his cute bald head.

Thanks for turning eight Brynn so we could all have so much fun!  Hope to top it when you turn nine.

June 25—A Few Bikes, Lots of Balloons & some Horses

Time for the annual 6th ward Primary Bike Parade.

As always the balloons and otter pops were a hit, but the horses were clearly the stars of the activity.

Thanks to a couple in our ward who have horses and the endless patience to give every kid in the ward as many rides as they wanted the activity was a total hit with the kids.  (I think Ian had 7 rides)

Wesley found the Morris’ wagon and made himself at home—he wanted nothing to do with the horses.

**Followed the bike parade with a 32 mile bike ride of my own.  My team didn’t get a ticket for LOTOJA so now I am training for the Cache Valley Century at the end of August.  Yeah, I think the 42 miles for LOTOJA would have been easier.**

June 23—Grand Summer Plans

So, every summer when the rain ends and the temperature shoots up I make a list—a long list of all the grand things me and my kids are going to do during the summer.  The list usually looks like this…

Cook out, go to lots of parks (names included), go on a hike, go to the pool, make homemade ice cream, go camping, read (lots), go on family bike ride, have the kids do some kind of daily study time (workbooks, flashcards, etc.), ride the train to see Grandma & Grandpa Noel, spend a week with Grandma & Grandpa Lee, swim at Aunt Carole’s, swimming lessons, drink lemonade, play football with daddy, …the list goes on and usually gets added to continually as the summer goes on. 

So having ignored the list for a few days we decided to have a picnic in the front yard.

The little root beers where Ian’s idea and he was so excited to have his own can.

Miles was a fan of eating outside and wanted to move all of his books out under the tree to read on the picnic blanket after lunch…we will have to add that to the list.

Wesley loved that he could take a bite, ride his bike, take a bite, play ball, take a bit run around the yard…you get the idea.

So what is your summer list?  I think I might add watch lots of TV and eat Otter Pop’s with the fan blowing on you everyday at 4:00 to our list.