Summer Fun!

The kids and I have been trying to make the most of our last few days of summer.  On every sunny day, I have tried to get them outside to do something fun that involves water.  I just love being a mom and playing with my kids--especially in the water!  Since we have been home from our camping trip to the coast, here are some of the things that we have been up to...

 On August 18th, I took the kids up to Lake Samm for one a morning of play in the lake and on the beach.  I absolutely love being up here in the morning because the lake is so quite, calm, and peaceful.  I also love seeing my children enjoy the #1 place of so many of my favorite, child memories.  After a picnic lunch, we packed up and headed back to my parent's house for Ella's afternoon nap and a dinner made my grandma!  Here are the kiddos heading out on to the dock.

All three of them looking for little minnows in the water.

My cuties before jumping in the water and getting wet.

Logan flashing me a smile.

Ella testing out the water before jumping into my arms several times and swimming around in the deep end.  I can't get over how much more brave she is than her older brother and sister were at this age.

On August 25th, we headed off to our favorite, little water park in Tacoma called Kandle Park.  I always promise Lia that I will try to take them to both of Tacoma's water parks each summer, but I had a harder time making it happen this summer due to the cloudy and cooler weather we had a lot when we were home from our vacations.  Luckily, Ron and I were able to take them to Stewart Heights last week on a warm evening after he came home from work and we were able to slip out today with our friends who live up the hill to Kandle Park.  I absolutely love the toddler pool at this park and could spend an entire afternoon rolling around in it.  Here are my kiddos frolicking in the water under the little, dump buckets.

Logan and Lia playing in the water toys.

 My cute boy soaking it all up!

Ella running under the water tunnels.

My little mermaid.

Logan spraying one of the giant, water guns.

Lia with her good friend, Bella, who moved into our neighborhood last fall.

Ella spraying a water gun.

Logan and Liam running through the water tunnel.

The kiddos and me in the toddler pool.

Lia and Bella spent the majority of the afternoon in the giant wave pool while my friend, Alisa, and I took turns going back and forth watching them.

Although Logan and Ella played a lot in the wave pool, we kept on returning back to the toddler pool for more fun.

Quite possibly the cutest, little toddler around!

Logan and Ella also loved playing in the baby pool.  Logan started falling in sideways towards the end of our afternoon there.  It was so funny looking!

Although the entire week of August 29th was forecasted to be cooler and cloudy, we woke up to a very sunny morning on this day!  Since it was totally unexpected, we hadn't planned on doing anything fun, but we all decided to take advantage of this weather and made an impromptu trip to our favorite splash pad in Tacoma on Titlow Beach.  I just love this park!  Here are the kiddos eating lunch.

We played for quite some time in the splash pad before heading over to the awesome park.  Here are Logan and Lia under one of the "water umbrellas" that we love to play in.

Lia under the giant, water umbrella.

I just love this picture of Logan screaming while the water hits him from underneath.

Ella stepping on the water that squirts up from the ground.

I am usually the only parent running around in any splash pad we go to, but I can't handle sitting on the sides on a hot day and not getting wet.  We tried taking a picture with my camera's self timer, and this is as good as we got (I am not sure why Logan decided to hide his face behind Lia).

The kids had a lot of fun playing at the park.  Here are Logan and Lia climbing around on one of the fabulous structures.

Logan climbing up the ropes.

Ella taking a big step!

Ella and Logan swinging away.

Logan spinning around.

All three kiddos spinning around!

Ocean Shores Camping

For the seventh summer, we headed out to our annual camping trip to the coast.  Although we have camped for several years in a row with other families and had a great time, Ron and I decided to return to going just as a family like we did the first few years.  We were blessed with beautiful weather for the first two days and had a really enjoyable time.  We camped in our favorite, huge campground that is tucked away in the corner of the campground and has its own private forest behind it.  The children loved riding their bikes, exploring our campsite, flying their kites on the beach, and sleeping in a tent.  Although Ron and I think that we might like to explore a new part of Washington next summer and take a break from our beloved Ocean Shores campground, it was a quality family weekend get-away and I can't wait for more next summer!

Due to Logan's "night tantrums," this is the first summer since Ella was born that the boys were allowed to come back into the girls' tent.  Logan did a great job and never made a peep and we had a fun time bundling up and sleeping in our cozy tent both nights.  Here are our cute kiddos with their glow sticks before we "turned off the lights" the first night.

We headed out to the beach on Saturday morning after breakfast.  Since it was a beautiful day, I had visions of us spending several hours out there.  Little did I know that the sand was blowing harder than I have ever seen since we started going to the coast.  So, we only lasted a little over an hour.  Here is a picture of my cute Logie trying to ride his bike on the sandy path through the dunes.  He didn't make very far since it was too hard for him to push through the thick sand, so we hid is bike in some bushes and he ran the rest of the way.

Lia riding her bike out onto the beach.

Ron bought Logan a Star Wars kite at the beginning of the summer and he has been begging to fly it ever since.  He was thrilled that the day finally arrive.  Here is Logan after Ron got the kite up in the sky.

Lia watching Logan fly his kite.

Logan eventually sat down on a log and continued flying his kite.  He looked so cute!

Lia flying her kite, too!

The kids running in the water before deciding it was too windy and cold!

Logie boy in his element.

The kids and me and the Pacific Ocean.  Notice how Ella refused to even look up at the camera because the wind was blowing so hard.

This is what Ella thought of being put down on the ground for a minute.  She disliked the wind and the sand in her eyes so much that she was only happy if she was held and could bury her head into my shoulder.  Poor, little lamb.

Ron and Ella riding back to the campsite to escape the sand and the wind.

Logan striking the cutest pose from the trail in the woods (that he loved riding through) as we headed back into the campground.

Logan enjoying riding his bike on the road in front of our campsite.

Ella and Logan cruising back and forth in front of our campsite.  This is something the kids did all weekend long.

Just by chance, there happened to be a Seahawks gathering in Ocean Shores the same weekend that we were there.  As a result, there were 12th man all over our campground and the town.  We decided to head in to the town after naps Saturday afternoon to check out the festivities and it did not disappoint.  We got to see our fare share of Seahawk cars, 

ride some Seahawk motorcycles,

meet Mama Blue,

and Mama Lynch!  It was pretty exciting!

We then came back to our campsite for dinner.  We made soft tacos and an apple crisp dessert in our dutch oven.  Here is Ron putting the coals on top.

Ella and Logan loved the swing that Ron put up for the second summer in a row.  Lia did a good job keeping Ella happy while we made dinner.

Such a little cutie!

Our apple crisp all golden and done and ready to eat.  It was delicious!

After a good night sleep, we woke up to a cloudy and misty morning on Sunday.  We actually decided to pack up and head home after breakfast which is something we have never done in the past.  Here are the kids finishing up breakfast with our Seahawks flag hanging proud.

The kids did more bike riding in the light rain while Ron and I packed up our campground.  

Logan pedaling away.

Lia and Logan.

The car in the neighboring campsite had Ron's name on the license plate.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

And last, but definitely not least, a picture of sweet Ella pedaling/pushing her trike along before heading home!