Outside fun

I am very behind in blogging as this was the cousin visit in early August. However, all of the kids came to our house one night and we had alot of fun. These are pictures from the outside adventures. The boys had light saber battles and the girls enjoyed the arctic cat. The battery on the car was almost dead, but that didn't stop them. They pushed it up the hill, all climbed on and giggled all the way down. It looks like they didn't mind.

Hanging Rock

When my sister comes to visit every year we try to think of something special that would be fun for all of the cousins to do. I was trying to think of something that they hadn't done and I remembered Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock is a state park with hiking trails, beautiful waterfalls and a lake. As children we went swimming in the lake and really enjoyed it so we decided to give it a try. It was supposed to rain but ended up being a great day! Aunt Jennifer, Rehm, Charlotte, Eliza Claire, Ruby, Esirae, Zander, Brady, Riley, Rosie, Vicki, Alana, Summers and our friend Brian were in attendance.
It was just as I remembered. The lake was roped off and although you couldn't see the bottom, it was nice because you could see where it was shallow. We took buckets and nets and the kids chased fish and salamanders more than they swam. The adults actually got to stand in the water and catch up with each other. Esirae and Brian however took advantage of the shade. For some reason I was too lazy to take pictures at the lake but remembered to snap a few at our picnic lunch. Zander is already talking about wanting to go again.

Summers' Family

I write alot about my family on this blog but I would like to introduce our extended family on Summers' side. We were very fortunate to have his mother and grandmother come for a visit when dropping off Esirae this year. We don't see them often because great Grandma Rachael lives in Virginia and Grandma Sandi lives in WA state as does Esirae. They didn't get to stay for long but we crammed alot of memories and love into a few days.

Lost Tooth

Several weeks ago I had to work at the front desk at work. This is not my job and I am not used to having to deal with the phones and customers etc. I had 2 people waiting for services, the phone was ringing and a lady needed help with the laminating machine. During all of this my cell phone rings. Normally I just get the message later but the number was home and I knew that Esirae and Zander were home alone so I answered. The voice on the other end was Zander which was strange because number 1 he has absolutely no interest in the phone and number 2 he has never successfully looked at a phone number and been able to dial it. He said " Mom, I dialed the number all by myself!" I told him that I was proud of him but I was very busy at work. Then he started yelling, "Mom, my teeth are falling out of my head!" I told him that I found that very interesting since none of his teeth were lose before I left for work that morning and told him to put his sister on the phone. Esirae said that she had gone to take a shower and told him that she was in the bathroom if he needed her. He came in crying telling her that his tooth was falling out of his head and it was bleeding. He was panicking. She looked at it and he had snuck a piece of candy and bit on it and it made the tooth loose. Now when I say loose, I mean barely loose but in his mind they were all coming out.
He had absolutely no interest in messing with it for weeks but apparently some of the kids in his class lost some teeth this past week so he started wiggling his. Two days ago, Summers tried to pull it, but it hurt and started bleeding so we stopped. I wanted him to be able to pull it himself. Today when I got home, this is the cute smile that I found. It came out while eating his snack at school.