An ideal weekend

We spent the weekend visiting with family in Coeur d'Alene. Our kids love getting together with their cousins and this visit was full of fun which finished our summer off with a bang! My brother lives in an unfinished neighborhood which provided our kids with dirt hills to ride bikes on and trails to explore... pure heaven for Hunter and surprisingly Linsey wasn't very shy about getting her nails dirty.

Hunter and his cousin Zach found a hill to ride their bikes on. They took turns watching each other make "smoke" as they zoomed down the trail.


As you can imagine, the kids get pretty dirty playing in a backyard like this so my sister in law has trained her kids to wash their feet off with the hose on the side of the house before coming inside. The boys were washing themselves obediently when they discovered that if they let the water run long enough, they could make a REALLY big puddle...


They dragged all those rocks into the puddle to make a dam and then they floated their flip flops through the water stacking sticks and leaves on them until they would sink. As if that wasn't fun enough, Hunter tried to ride his bike through their puddle only his wheels became stuck........

The faster he spun the wheels, the higher the mud flew.

This created all sorts of fun.

Somehow they convinced little brother that it would be fun to stand behind the bike.

Amazingly, he was all smiles and did seem to enjoy himself. Poor little guy just trying to impress his big brother and older cousin.

The girls had their own fun. It started with seeing how dirty they could get their feet.

From there it escalated to how dirty they could get their entire bodies. Yes, Linsey is rolling around in the dirt.

Ta Da!

Bath Time!

Thank goodness they sure clean up nice. Here they are all ready for church on Sunday.

Emma was sleeping and missed out on the fun in the dirt, but she sure enjoyed playing with her cousin Gavin. They are only 5 days apart and have an amazing resemblance. We are constantly asked if they are twins.

Thinking I could get a really cute picture, I asked Gavin to give Emma a kiss on the cheek. He did only she turned her face.

It's always fun to spend time with family and make great memories. As our weekend came to a close, Jared commented that this was his ideal way to spend a weekend. He worked Thursday and Friday and had "really good work days". He and my brother snuck off for a great fishing trip. He got to sleep in 2 different mornings. We spent a whole afternoon at a lake soaking in the sun and taking turns on a jet ski. Then, since we came home Sunday evening and Monday was Labor Day, he still had a day to get stuff done, mow the lawn wash the car, clean up the yard.

Ahhhh... what a weekend.