Mega Mega Post

So I'm having a hard time keeping up with the blog so far this summer. June and the first of July kind of went by in a blur of business as usual around here plus swimming lessons, t ball, family and neighborhood get togethers, frenzied work on my masters, running, and a few short vacations. Not to mention I'm trying to keep up with So You Think You Can Dance and the Tour de France (don't even talk to me about what happened yesterday). I record the shows on the DVR and watch them late at night with lots of fast forwarding...but still...there's only so much time. I have been a loyal fan of the tour since 2004 so I guess I'll keep watching despite my disappointment, and I find the dance show so entertaining if you can just get past how feminine some of the guys are! Anyway...I digress...I hate it when my blog becomes nothing more than a travel log of we went here and did this but with that said that's what I'm about to do.

So here goes:
In June we headed to the mountains for the annual Burbank camping trip. Cindy puts lots of work into this trip, and it was lots of fun. Since this is total car camping this year we borrowed a pop up tent trailer my parents have and used it. The kids thought it was great, and it was definitely more comfy than all of us in the tent. Ian had a terrible first night...as in Jer and I both took shifts with him out in the truck to keep him from waking up the entire campground. I'm not sure what was going on there other than he wasn't a huge fan of the port-a-crib, and he had a huge canker in his mouth. After that his sleeping improved, and he motored around the campground taking lots of spills on the uneven ground, getting into everything he shouldn't, becoming totally filthy, and being his usual happy self.




The boys had fun four wheeling with their dad, grandpa, TJ, and Jer's uncle. (We only see Jer's uncle Rod and his wife Sherry once a year and that is always fun. They are so cute with the kids and let them maul their poor dog Oz to death.) Jer and I even went out on a ride...quite a ride actually...it always is with Grandpa Boyd in the lead.


We took a little side excursion to Minnetonka Cave. It was fun although I'm pretty sure our tour guide pointed out every single pebble in the place. The kids were great despite the fact that we lacked the jackets mentioned in the sign and the tour was about 90 minutes long. Since we didn't have the baby backpack with us, Ian stayed back at camp with grandma.

Tucker and Ian...aren't they cute? We made quite a few trips around the campground with these guys while the bigger kids lapped us with their bikes. We only had one major crash heading downhill where the road turned and K'Lee didn't, but she got back on.

We hardly saw the big kids in camp because they were in their "secret hideout" which consisted of some big, downed trees. They spent hours over there doing something including quite a lengthy bug catching session with Jer.

There's the whole gang.

We always head to Bear Lake for the Fourth of July. This year we stuck around for the weekend and did the Freedom Run on Saturday and then headed up Monday. Actually after a trip to the Instacare on Sunday with Seth for what turned out to be strep I took Luke and Ian up on Monday. Jer spent the day hanging out with Seth, and I came back down and got him after he was feeling better and no longer contagious. The poor kid has been struggling...strep, some sort of allergic reaction going on with his face, and now eczema. Yikes! He now must be rubbed down with this steroid cream and Vaseline twice a day. Really? I hate even applying sunscreeen. Oh well, I'm hoping it brings some relief. He has been a bit miserable. Jer came up for the day on Wednesday, and we had a fun time with my family. Thanks to my Aunt Tamra and Uncle Elden who are always so generous with the condo.

We spent most of our first day at the beach. I went out in the boat with Kim's husband Shea, my cousins Brian and Troy, and then Luke, Samantha, and Reagan. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked because I learned to waterski behind this same boat at Luke's age but after we had all had a chance to tube the boat broke down. As in it would not start again. We were stranded. You would think other boats would come by...but no. Instead, we had two oars and all the guys took turns rowing a motor boat to shore for over an hour an a half. I in turn tried to entertain three small children (they were actually really good). We ended up on the shores of a Boy Scout Camp where we called for help. Note to self: Bring cell phone next time. It was quite the adventure and with the exception of the sunburn most of the adults received there was no harm done. We were really lucky to have Brian and Troy and their muscles along!

The kids had lots of fun playing in the pools which have little waterslides now. Seth liked going off the diving board in his life jacket as long as I was there to catch him too.

Luke, Samantha, and Reagan enjoying the tube.

It has been a fun couple of weeks, and I can't believe how fast the summer is going. I should be finished up the actual work on my master's project plus my other summer semester stuff by the end of July so that's a huge relief. I was about to throw in the towel a month ago because this part has been so hectic but now I'm almost done. Come Spring 2012 I'll have my degree...yes it's taking me that long. That's all I can handle. My house has been really suffering from my busyness. It's okay to let your house go in the summer, right? I'll just keep telling myself that.