June 2015

Playing in the water!

June is here, which means Summer is too! What better thing to do than play in the water during the summer. So we cleaned out the water table and started playing.

Maddy likes to splash, but she hates to get herself wet!

 Seeing how much the kids enjoyed the water table, we thought we might get a pool! Emmett dove right in. He thought the water was amazing! Maddy was hesitant. A lady doesn't drench herself you know. Instead she slowly crept her way around the pool, testing the water occasionally, trying to convince herself that getting in would be a good idea. But Emmett was in the pool, which meant there were lots of splashing going on, so maybe right now wouldn't be the best time to go in.

Maddy checking out the pool.

After a good splash session, we are
back on the trampoline.
Emmett likes to bounce with the balls.

 When Emmett got out of the pool, Maddy thought that this would be the perfect time to investigate it. However, she must not have knowing that the blow up pool does not have a solid edge to it, so when she sat down and it sunk in, the water got her butt and she started screaming. It was hilarious.

 Apparently it wasn't that traumatizing of an experience, because she decided to give it another go.  But whenever sister starts to like something, then Emmett thinks he should join in the fun too.

 

Emmett in the pool.

 For preschool this month, we decided to learn about farm animals. So we decided to have some pretend fun and make farm animal masks. We sang Old McDonald and named all kinds of farm animals. It was so fun to pretend to be the cow. That might be our favorite farm animal, just next to a pig.

Quack! Emmett's a duck!



Moo! Maddy's a cow!

 Another fun thing to make in the summer is water balloons! Everybody thought the water balloons were great! These balloons were not the easy break ones so it sort of became a water squish ball. It was a lot of fun to play with and when the kids dropped them, they wouldn't pop. Well, unless you are Emmett and you drop them 100 times and then it pops. But I say that's pretty good water balloon usage.

Maddy loves her balloon!

Emmett is so proud of his balloon.

      We looked like we were having so much fun outside, Cat decided he wanted to join in. But I think he immediately regretted his decision. Emmett came in like a hawk and swooped him up and started to drag him around the backyard.

  I think Cat has accepted his fate.

And of course if the cat is around,
EVERYONE needs to check him
out!

 

 One of my favorite parts about summer, is cherry season. Upon going to the store, I noticed the first harvest of cherries were in for the season! I couldn't help but pick up a bag. They were so yummy and delicious. Certainly the best summer treat.

Emmett enjoying a cherry.

If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face.

 This month, we had to do a 6 mile hike to train for Trek and help the kids earn their trail of faith awards. Being newer to Bishop, we asked our bishop, who is an avid hiker if he could recommend an easy trail for us to do our 6 mile hike. He was very enthusiastic and decided to take us to the Chocolate Lakes near Pigeon Pass. Little did we know that an easy trail for him, did not mean an easy trail for us.

Starting up the trail!

      Pretty much the entire trip was like climbing stairs. It was the hardest trail Taylor and I had ever been on. Emmett and Madison basically quit by the first half mile marker so they were back packed in the rest of the way. It was an absolutely gorgeous trail though. It was fun to see all of the waterfalls and get to look at the mountains and rock formations.

 

Taking a break on the stair stepper.
(LtoR: Shelby, Emmett, Taylor)

Dylan and his sister Rachel!

Shelby and Rachel admiring the beautiful scenery.

Walking across a stream.

 After about 2 miles of hiking straight up a cliff, we stopped to have lunch at a lake that I'm pretty sure was a Chocolate Lake. (They call them Chocolate Lakes, because the nearby mountain peaks looked like milk chocolate.) It was a lot of fun to sit and eat and enjoy all of the beautiful scenery. But since we were only about 2 miles in, it would only be a 4 mile round trip hike. So we started back up the hill again.

The Bishop Company made it to the first Chocolate Lake.

 As we started walking up the last half mile, it was practically a straight climb. We almost made it to our 3 mile marker when it started to snow. We decided with the kids, it was far to difficult to climb with them, so we turned around and made our way back down the mountain. I gave us a triple A plus for effort! It was a challenging hike, but it was sure excellent.

Up the mountain we go.

Emmett getting a ride in the backpack.

 Ashely, Rachel's sister, had to be carried part way down the mountain, because her new hiking shoes started to really hurt her feet. So Rachel came to the rescue and gave her a ride! What a good big sister. Aside from the protesting towards the end of the journey it was an amazing hike. I had a completely new perspective of the Fitt family. Not only did they help each other up the cliff  while maintaining a chipper disposition, they did so after having done a tri-athalon earlier that morning.

Rachel carrying Ashley.
Marie was carrying Katrina!

    The weather was so nice in June, so we were outside playing a lot. Emmett and Madison really enjoyed the trike. Emmett got really good at pedaling himself, and Madison loved to be pushed. We also decided to try potty training. It wasn't as successful so we put the idea on the self for the meantime.

My cute little Coppertone baby!

What a little girl, pushing around her stroller and
carrying her bucket.

      Usually the state would stop services for Emmett when he turned 3, but we petitioned his case, and since he had been doing so well at the GSA, we got to keep them over the summer. We will miss the GSA. They have been so awesome to us and the teachers are amazing. They do so many fun activities, such as do a dot painting, jump pop ball, and one of our favorites, shaving cream painting. I don't know what it is, but my kids love anything to do with getting messy.

What's summer without ice cream cone!

         

The pool was a big hit so far. We are so grateful that we get to live in a place large enough to have a pool. It has been so much fun. The kids love it so much that they can't wait to get into their swimsuits (literally). They start swimming right away, even in their clothes. It's an instant magnet.

Dylan is just happy that they are not interested in him at the moment.

Everyday, Madison gets more and more girly. The Lord knows she didn't get it from me. She loves to wear pink and purple frilly clothes. She loves flowers, bubbles, birds, purses and especially cats.

Madison brought me
flowers from the outside.

 

Dress up time!

 

What's a girl without her
mobile device?

     The next newest excitement is tree sap. The trees in our backyard are dying (I think they have a bark beetle infestation), and leaking sap all of the time. My kids are infatuated with the stuff. They will spend at least 15 minutes picking it off the tree and playing with it in their hands. I don't really mind them exploring it, but it really does get everywhere. In fact, Madison has even put it in her hair once. I'm glad that experience wasn't a repeat.

 

 

     When we aren't picking tree sap, we are making mud smoothies. Yum!

 

This one needs a few more rocks.

 

In order to prepare for Trek, I planned a day with the girls to sew their skirts. They did such a good job sewing their skirts, but we ran out of time, so they each still needed an extra skirt, a bonnet and an apron. I promised I would have them done towards the end of the month. I made one for myself too of course. I think it all turned out great! We are just so excited to be going on Trek. It's going to be such a neat experience!

Rockin' the pioneer outfit. Now I just need a
couple of blouses and I'm done. Thrift store,
here I come.

     As summer progressed, it got very hot outside. I was worried that the trampoline would burn their feet, so each morning, before the kids went outside, I'd hose it off to cool it down. They thought jumping on the wet trampoline was awesome! It was like a giant slip and slide!

 

Playing with bubbles...

 

     Emmett is my biggest goofball. He comes up with the strangest ideas sometimes. Today, he decided, he wanted water to drip down his face, so he would turn himself upside down and dip his head into the pool just enough to wet his hair. He thought it was so funny. Of course, Madison thinks she should do whatever brother does, so she tried to do it too. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well for her. She dunked her head and immediately realized she was wet and didn't want to be. It was funny. She eventually got over it, and started to dunk her head more frequently, although occasionally, she would get a little carried away and dunk her head too much and get her face wet. That was never popular. I love that my kids are never boring.

  

     After the strange dunking head incident, Emmett decided he wanted to be a water pokemon. So while we were outside, I'd randomly yell, "Squirtle, water gun attack!". And then he would run over to the pool or water table, get a big mouthful of water and spit it out of his mouth. I thought it was hilarious! He's such a goof. Then of course little Maddy wanted to do it too, but she didn't quite get the spitting it out concept. Instead, she would gulp down the water and stick out her tongue. Every now and then she would get a nose full of water while trying to suck up the water too. The whole scene was so funny to watch.

 

Water gun now!

Maddy's turn!

     One of my favorite treats is granny smith apples and caramel, so I decided to share this delicacy with my children. I thought that by doing so, I would encourage them to eat more fruit. Instead of eating it like a normal person, they decided to use the apples as a spoon for the caramel. Haha. Smarties.

 

Bishop is National Parks central. There are so many national parks within driving distance of the house it is truly amazing. Since I didn't make a point to visit the national parks while we lived in Clovis, I put special effort to make sure we visited at least one national park this year. So for Father's Day (The day before), we took dad on a day trip to the Devil's Postpile. We started out at the base of Mammoth Mountain. There we ate lunch at a German Pub. Afterwards, we took a bus to our drop off point. Devil's Postpile was not even a mile hike inward, but we decided to explore further and take the 2 mile hike down to Rainbow Falls.

Maddy loving her daddy on the bus.

Emmett and Mommy are anxious
to get off and explore.

     At the base of the trailhead, there was a ranger post. They showcased furs from all sorts of critters that lived in the forest. Emmett was particularly interested in the bear skins. It was really neat to touch all of the animals that you wouldn't have normally been able to touch if they were living. They also had skulls and other kinds of scientific information available for our educational needs.

 

Starting the hike!

Emmett enjoys hiking and exploring the forest with us. Along the way we saw a cute little garden snake of some sort. It scurried off pretty fast. We also saw lots of chipmunks.

Emmett reading about how the
Devil's Postpile formed.

The magnificent Devil's Postpile.

 

What does it say Maddy?

What? No climbing on the rocks?!
What sort of child's place is this?

A beautiful stream!

Trying to get Maddy to smile,
but she was refusing.

     The journey was hot and a little arduous. We didn't expect it to be so warm. Good thing we brought sunblock. Emmett decided it was a little too warm to walk, so Daddy carried him on his shoulders the rest of the way. On our way down to the falls we passed by an equestrian hiking group. With Emmett on Dad's shoulders and Maddy on mine, we were feeling a bit empathetic towards the horses.
     It was a beautiful sight at the falls. The air was so cool and refreshing. There were people swimming just below the falls too, and it made us wish we thought to bring our bathing suits. That will be our next adventure though. It was getting a bit late, so we decided to hike up to a closer pick up point, than the one we were originally dropped off at. This time it was only about a mile from Rainbow Falls, but it was pretty steep. At the pick up point there was a store and some cabins for those who were hiking the John Muir Trail. It was pretty neat to see all of the people and eavesdrop on their journeys. I kept thinking of Rachel, (one of the girls in my young women's group), who left only a couple days prior on her 20 day hike along the John Muir Trail.
     While waiting for the bus, we decided to enjoy a nice cold popsicle. It was so yummy after being in the hot sun all day. All in all it was a really nice day. We certainly enjoyed spending so much time together as a family.

Looking at the Falls

Yay we made it!

Rainbow Falls

Hiking back to the pick up point.

Yummy cold popsicles.

     Summer fun includes finding as many different ways into the pool as possible. After receiving some unwanted backyard toys from a very generous friend who was moving out of town, we decided to use the new slide as another fun way to enter the pool. We also used it as a ramp to roll our cars into the pool and a slippery ramp to climb up. I'm thinking we have one of the best kid backyards ever!

Traffic Jam.

Face first!

     The best part of meals, is the dessert. We had an overabundance of Nutella, and so we were trying to find ways to use it. This time we decided to put it on graham crackers. In the end, it ended up on everyone's faces like mustaches.

My cutie pie.

   One day as I was driving in town, I spotted this sign that I had never noticed before. It was absolutely amazing. So I had to stop and take a picture of it. It reads "Handicap ramp to nowhere, funded by the stimulus package". It totally painted the perfect picture of how ineffective our government can be sometimes. I'm glad I saw this sign, it cracked me up and made my day.

Madison loves to copy Emmett. She thinks everything he does is amazing. Emmett doesn't always like to copy Maddy, but when he does, he is such a goof. Today he saw me trying to put Maddy's hair up into pig tails, so he decided he wanted the same attention.

     This was another month filled with lots of fun and excitement, and we have a lot more fun to look forward too. I know that this summer is just going to be great!

She loves bananas!

Peeling our own bananas! Big boy!

Say "cheese"!