A morning in the mountains

We decided to head up to Albion Basin this morning to see if the wildflowers are blooming yet (close, but not quite prime time).  We beat the crowd, which is not hard to do since we are up at the crack of dawn every day.  It was cloudy and cool. We had a great time sliding on the leftover snow, rock hopping the creeks and keeping our eyes peeled for moose!

Gotta figure it out sooner or later

It can be a bit painful watching kids figure out some of the things they need to learn in life, especially how to feed themselves with a spoon.  This scene ended with yogurt in her hair, down her front, on the floor and wiped on the window next to her high chair!

PLEASE, can I go to sleep now?!

Please, can I go to sleep now?  Believe it or not, these words came from Miles' mouth, not mine!  Yesterday was the big day to flip his bed to make it a bunk bed.  He was beyond excited, jumping all over and trying to help.  He really freaked when we put the tent canopy over the top of it and he realized he would get to "camp" every night.  It's moments like those...seeing his excitement over the simple stuff...that are so awesome! 

Busy summer days

We have had a crazy month of July.  We spent 10 days with my family in Indiana, then Jeff went to San Diego and Nevada for 2 weeks of work.  We had 3 great days together this weekend, but tomorrow I am off to Zion for a few days of sampling.  We are still managing to have some good times...playgrounds and pools and the sandbox, etc.
Maybe I'll see just how many sky chair shots I can post this summer!

After Iris went to bed tonight Miles decided we needed to do some serious tower building. Here he is 2 seconds prior to tower destruction!

Butterflies, babies and birdies, O my!

I am finding it pretty fascinating that Iris has "girlie" preferences without any pushing from us at all.  She is surrounded by transformers and dinosaurs and legos and matchbox cars, but she is constantly saying butterfly, flowers, birdie, shoes and baby.  Her baby doll that she got from her cousin Alison for Christmas is definitely her toy of choice these days! 

Daddy Big Legs

Miles was excited to get close and personal with a daddy-long-leg spider this morning.  He kept calling it Daddy Big Legs, which we thought was pretty funny! 

 We hung out at Liberty Park on Friday morning with Hilary and the twins and had a great time.  They have little "creeks" that the kids can play in. Here they are sharing some strawberries and splashing their feet. 

Miles had to get some climbing in, of course!

Goofy face and more sky chair fun!

 

 

Silver Lake

Jeff flew to San Diego yesterday morning for a mapping conference.  We waved goodbye for the week, then headed up to Silver Lake.  It's a great place to go with the kids.  They had a good time climbing on the rocks and looking for fish and poking the leftover snow with sticks!  I included the last shot to show you don't really need a fancy double stroller just because you have two kids :)

Indiana

We spent a week back in Indiana over the 4th of July visiting everyone.  It was a great trip!  They are never long enough since I would like to spend quality time with everyone and still do some relaxing, if relaxing is even an option with two kids in tow!  Here are just a few random shots. 

Iris in vacation mode!

This picture is a little dark, but it cracks me up.  Iris has been doing this funny face on command!

Mom showing Iris and Eleanor some pictures. 

She loved this tractor and I love this picture! 

Miles riding Trish the pony at the Fort Wayne zoo.

This gargoyle (or cargill, as he was called) is a little whimsical and a little creepy, but very effective at keeping the kids from heading into the "down jungle"!

We had a campfire one night at Adam and Sarah's and smores were on the menu!  Iris was very into her marshmallows!

This is as close to a Dickey family photo as we got that week.  The kids loved being in the water.  Of course, on a hot, humid day in Indiana any sane person loves being in the water! 

I love this picture of Iris with Thomas and Will.  I didn't do much hanging out with my cousins when I was young.  In fact, I wouldn't recognize most of them if they were sitting here next to me.  My hope is that the cousins form a bond that lasts. 

Mom and Dad's new place is on a lake.  A 5 minute walk gets you to a dock.  We checked it out and Miles hunted for turtles.  He was obviously pretty excited about it.

So the girl who absolutely refuses to wear a hat really seems to love walking around with random pieces of clothing on her head.  Here she is sporting a pair of my hot Costco undies that she found in the suitcase!