Nate turns 4!!

I know, I can hardly believe it myself. 

And when the birthday boy picks his favorite meal for dinner, we get sandwiches for dinner!  Nate loves his peanut butter and jelly and Allie always goes for ham and cheese.  Day.after.day.  Whatever makes 'em happy!



 

(And yes, I reused the cool bag that Kelsie and Lauren made for him for his birthday)

Cousin fun

It is so fun to watch the cousins play . . .



The joys of summer

It's no secret that I love blueberry picking in the summer.  Okay, maybe it is.  Anyway, this was the first time that Nate got to go (Allie is a seasoned pro).  As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm pretty sure he ate more than he picked - he had to get "cut off".

After picking, we went to grandma and grandpa's house!

And for those that enjoyed the canoe full of Cogan's . . . check out this carton full of chaos:

Seriously, you really just have to stop and appreciate the simple joys that a box can bring!  And check out these two cuties!!

Modeling their gifts from Aunt Brenda and Uncle Jim:



Camping: The cabin - anybody?

We checked out the cabins on our last day and got a few shots of them just in case anybody (hint, hint) decided they'd want to go camping with us one of these times.

They even came with their own adirondack chairs to collapse in!

Camping: Day 7

Well, it's time to pack it all back up and celebrate the fact that we survived another week in the "wilderness" ;o)

And of course that means mommy and the kids find something to do away from the campsite so daddy can pack up without us!  The kids are too young to learn that kind of language.

They rode bikes (while mommy ran along in flip flops), played on the hill, checked out the cabins, tossed rocks in the water, and rode bikes again . . .

 

 

And my favorite part . . . every year there seems to be a song or two that gets repeated (and repeated, and repeated) throughout the trip.  Two years ago (sadly before I became tech savvy and motivated enough to document!) the song was Move It!  They spent hours on top of a giant rock singing and dancing.

This year it was The Lion Sleeps Tonight (thanks to Allie's school recital).

Camping: Day 6

Another day of relaxing at the campground . . . along with a healthy round of sword fighting:

Camping: Day 5

Day 5 promised to be a dreary, rainy day so we decided to traumatize the kids by taking them to their first movie-theatre movie!  Brave!  Lesson learned . . . research the movie before you take the little ones.  It was a decent movie but had too much fighting and "darkness" for either of them. 

Are you looking for a second lesson learned?  Don't listen to weather forecasters.  We left the theatre and it was a nice, clear day!

Camping: Day 4

Our 4th day was a chill-out, tickle dad while he tries to read (for probably the first time since last year's camping trip), and hang at the beach kind of day. 

And yes there is a time-out spot even when you're camping :(

Camping: Day 3

Day 3 started with a great walk around the resevoir.  The kids last for longer than I thought they would - luckily I think they were distracted by finding salmanders, snails, and frogs all along the way.

And they got in a little fishing in the afternoon.  Okay, not so much "fishing" as playing with the reel and trying to cast.  Allie got in a really good cast - she might be a fisherman (fishergirl?) someday!

Camping: Day 2

This was Sunday... our first full day:

 

And what fun is camping unless you make cool hats?

And when it rains at dinner time . . . you eat hot dogs in the camper!  Everything is an adventure when you're camping :)