We bought a boat!

Last weekend when we were packing to go to the lake for our ward campout, we called our friend up to see if we could borrow his canoe again. He had offered it last year and we were glad that we had borrowed it because we were able to fill it with camping supplies (sleeping bags, tent, etc), tie down the supplies so they wouldn't fall out, then flip the canoe upside down and strap it to the top of our minivan. It was like a car topper, only bigger. As it was we had the van filled with food and clothes (and us), so it was nice to have the canoe to fill all the other camping gear. When we picked up the canoe our friend told us that his neighbor was selling a 17ft aluminum canoe for $200. We took the hint (was he tired of us always borrowing his canoe?) and bought ourselves a canoe. We priced it first and comparable canoes on craigslist were going for over $800. Car toppers would be over $500, and it wouldn't be very fun to paddle those in a lake.

Everyone had to take turns with the different poses.

We ordered real paddles from Walmart.com, but Marianne is modeling a plastic paddle we found washed up on shore at the lake last weekend. The lake was low and we founds several things. Makalya found a nice red cap. 

Everyone had the opportunity this summer to use their spending money to buy a container of ice-cream of their choosing. For the older kids it coincided with a friend sleeping over, so their ice-cream didn't last too long. This week it was Ben and Marianne's turn to buy their ice-cream. Here they are diving in! 

For the past two years, a field of sunflowers was planted on the side of the highway halfway from Chewelah to Spokane. I wanted to take pictues of the kids in front of the flowers, but missed my chance last year. This year I never made it down with the kids on other business, so I set aside a morning for the purpose of picture taking. Imagine my disapointment after driving 30 minutes and finding that I was too late again!

We found a few sunflowers still in bloom.

OK, these were all of the pictures I took this week. We have one more week before school starts, hope it is a fun one!  

Miniature Frogs

This picture was taken at the Chewelah Creek, next to the Lutheran Church. The kids participated in "Lutherhaven" a bible day camp there at the beginning of the week. It was from 9am to 3pm, with a preschool from 9am to noon. My kids went to the Catholic "VBS" bible daycamp a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I thought it was a good way for them to see their friends from school over the summer and make new friends. I thought we'd give it a try this year. I was surprised that Marianne went without too much of a fuss. She actually enjoyed it more than the older kids. I think it was just a long day for them. I really enjoyed my "week off" and got around to a lot of projects that are put off due to homeschooling and taking care of six children all the time.

Our ward campout was this weekend. We went on Thursday and returned on Saturday. The campground was on a lake and the kids enjoyed swimming. They went swimming three times on Friday.

We saw dozens of these little frogs. The kids had fun catching them. At night there were bullfrogs the size of a small fist. We weren't sure if these little frogs were just the bullfrogs babies, or another species all together. The bullfrogs only came out at night, so I didn't get a picture of them. They wimpered like little puppies when caught. We did hear normal croaking in the mornings, however.

Marianne holds a "miniature frog". 

Mindy poses in the hole that they dug.

We camped 2 miles south of the ferry, so we went across for a fun outing. There is no bridge across, so you drive your cars on the ferry which runs on the half hour. 

This is the ferry we went on. The other side has cellphone reception, but where we were camping we were "unplugged".

The ferry ride was about 5 minutes long.

Maddy read alot this weekend.

Digging the hole.

Marianne wrapped up to keep warm. It was a cool, overcast weekend. All in all, a successful campout.

Summer Activities

Barry and Avery at Salt Lake Temple for Gerald and Sharon Thomason's sealing.

Avery was trying out Barry's brother Jon's camera and took this picture.

Jon took this picture of the temple with his camera.

Gunny sack races at ward activity. See the camel in the background?

Benjamin lost his tooth this week. 

Beautiful flowers and a beautiful girl.

Go Mindy!

Marshmallow shooting game.

Barry's baby pig has a saddle and a jockey, ready to race. 

Hand games.

Barry helped at the archery station.

Ready, Set, Go!

Having a fun summer!