Cousins, Canoeing and Cannon Balls

We had the first of our summer visitors! Dave's sister Liz and her family came all the way up here to see us. (OK they were also enticed by an adventure on an Alaskan cruise, but...) The kids we so excited to see their cousins again. It has almost been a year. We were able to do lots of fun things with them during their three days with us.
Here we are taking out the canoes to Keatron island. My girls still call it chincoteauge island (which they so named after reading "Misty of Chincoteauge" last year). The water was choppier than it has ever been been. I was more than a little nervous. This was Sara's first ride with us. I had her, Kate and my camera on my canoe. I am a very poor swimmer. Next time we need to plan better.

The kids had a great time racing and splashing each other with their oars. That was on the other to boats. On our boat we sang songs to try and take our minds off of how scared we were. Kate hyper ventilated the whole time, I screamed a few times and Sara cried a few times. Good times....

The next day we took a picnic to the park. Enjoyed a fabulous lunch - though the kids were nearly starved by the time we ate. Then we drove onto the ferry and headed over to Anderson Island. It was a very pleasant afternoon. It was warm - though it could have been warmer. The park / swimming hole was practically empty ( I could have done without the plump girls in bikinis ruining my photo ops). The lake is so beautiful. It was fun to dream of having a summer home on the shore as we watched the kids dive and brave the slide into freezing cold water. Kate even borrowed some mojo and went down the slide. Our last day was spent hanging out at the Olympia Children's museum, going to the theater to see Night at the Museum two and hanging out way to late into the night.

Note to self...

Things not to do next time visitors come...

Do not let the children into the forest without a lesson first on "leaves of 3 let them be..."

Post coming soon...