Cousin Camp!

Since Natalee was gone for four days this week helping out with her stake's YW camp (which amazingly was never cancelled) and Chris was at work, I offered to take Trenton and Riley for two of these days.  Since we all ended up in Issaquah on Wednesday, I drove the boys home with us that evening.  We then hosted them for all of Thursday and most of Friday before Brynn picked them up on her way home from work.  Although I was still really exhausted from our Priest Lake trip (thanks to Emmett sleeping pretty badly in the pack 'n play almost every night) and a long day in Issaquah, I managed to put on my "fun boots" and take the kids on a daily outing both days.  The kids also enjoyed many hours playing together in our pool in the backyard as well as having a pizza and movie night on Thursday evening.  Although I was glad to help Chris and Natalee out and provide some fun cousin time for our kids, I was pretty pooped out by the time they went home.  Here are some pictures of our "cousin camp" from the last two days...

Since so many places are still closed (like splash pads and water parks), I had to think of some other places in nature that we could still go to that involved water as both of the days were predicted to be very warm!  On Thursday, I took all of the kids minus Emmett down to Orting to play in the Carbon River.  When the kids and I last went here back in March, the water was crystal clear, so we were all surprised to see that it looked like chocolate milk as it had become full of silt and dirt in recent weeks or months.  Nevertheless, the kids still had a great time playing in the water and I had a great time relaxing on my beach chair.  I actually fell asleep at one point which is something I never do when I am outside playing with my kids!

The children walking in the water while staying away from the strong currents.  Lia was too worried about being swept away and refused to get in the water.

Two best friends walking along.

Riley was great and involved the boys in building an elaborate pool on the edge of the water with rocks, sand, and clay.  This project kept them busy for almost an hour!

Lia was a nice, big sister and agreed to help Ella build and decorate a sand castle on the other end of the beach.

After about two hours, we packed up and headed back to the car before swinging by Dominoes to pick up some pizza on our way home.  Here is a picture of Logan and Trenton that I took as we walked down the trail to the parking lot.

Since Brynn decided to pick up the boys earlier than we had planned on Friday, we spent the morning at Dash Point which is my favorite Tacoma Beach.  It actually turned out to be perfect as it was already so warm by the time we got there!  The kids had a great time exploring the beach at low tide and playing on the playground which was surprisingly open as all of the public playgrounds in our town are still closed!  Here are Lia and Riley with Emmett down by the water.

Emmett with his older sister and cousin.

Ella posing for a picture while playing on a public playground for the first time in 4.5 months!

The kids got brave and walked out quite a ways into the water.

A great, group photo with Emmett even looking at the camera and smiling!

Emmett holding a large clam shell that Riley found.

One of the reasons why I love this beach so much is because the playground is right on the beach.  Here are the boys swinging on the old school swing set with a stunning view of the water!

Sweet, baby Emmett loved being pushed on the swing by Lia.

Riley teasing Ella and grabbing her swing while swinging next to her.

One of the many things that I love about getting this group of cousins together is how much Ella adores Riley.  She absolutely LOVES him and he is always such a good sport about playing with her which I know is not a normal thing for a 13-year old boy.  He will swim with her, play games with her, wrestle with her, etc. The list goes on and on and I just am so grateful for him and for the fact that he is willing to give my 6-year old daughter attention any time that they are together.  I just had to include this picture because it shows Ella looking back at Riley with the hugest grin on her face.  It perfectly captures how she feels about her big cousin!

A cute shot that Lia took of Emmett surrounded by his blonde cousins on our drive home from the beach.