Still fishing

 We interrupt this blog to announce that Xander is still highly addicted to fishing. 

 Sometimes he even gets Michael to come along...

And he's getting so good that he always catches something.  Lately he's been posting on a fishing website about his interest in fly fishing.  As a result fishermen from all over the state have been sending him flies and one guy brought over a fly fishing pool.  It's been awesome!

Fishing

 In August and September, my Saturday mornings usually consisted of me taking Xander fishing somewhere...

 One Saturday we met our friends there.  Xander had a blast fishing with Ashton. 

 I think it's hilarious that whenever Xander goes fishing he attracts a crowd. 

 He loves showing others how to fish :)

 Ashton caught a whopper!

I love that Xander is so passionate about fishing.

Cabin week!

 I was so happy to travel up to the cabin the Tuesday after the fourth.  And I was so glad to be greeted by Ruby and Xander - 2 faces I hadn't seen in a while!

 Ben's friend Ian was able to come up with us - it was a little confusing having 2 Ians so I told Ben's Ian that we'd call him Junior.  Not sure he liked that ;).  First up - Ranger ride!

 Trina, my mom and I spent the afternoon on the porch.  It was such a nice day and Trina showed my mom how to use her phone.

 That night my dad built a bonfire.  The kids loved it.  Notice my kids bare feet.  Awesome.

 Ruby and I cuddled.  I love that little girl so much.  We are great friends.

 The next morning Xander woke me up at the crack of dawn with a bird in his hand.  I kid you not.  That kid can catch any thing!  Since he woke me up, I decided to go fishing with him. 

 Of course he caught quite a few.  He is such a great fisherman. 

 Later that day, all the kids played a game Kim brought.  I forgot what it was called but the kids loved it.

 Evan played with some bows and arrows that Trina had brought for her kids at a swap meet.  We tried to go back and get more because all of the kids had a blast playing with them.  Alas, there were no more :(

 More cabin fun to come...

Ben gets a job

 Nana (Ian's mom) offered Ben a job mowing her lawn.  He quickly accepted.  It's been so good for him and we are so grateful to Ian's parents for the opportunity. 

 While we were there, they fed us :)

 And gave the boys marshmellow guns.  I'm thinking we got the long end of that stick :)  It's 2 months later and Ben is still going over and mowing their lawn every few weeks.  He loves it and I am so happy that he's taking it seriously and doing a great job.

In other news...while we were sweating in the valley, Xander was up north, catching bass at chocolate lake.  He was in heaven.

Xan

 While we were suffering in the heat, Xander spent the first week of July at the cabin with my parents and his cousins. 

 He was able to con my dad into taking him to the Black River where he caught too many fish to count. 

 My dad told me he is so impressed with Xander's fishing abilities and skillz. 

Xan was able to con Joe into going too.  He wants me to go next year - it involves a lot of hiking so I think I will.  I love seeing Xander doing something that makes him so happy.

Day 2

I know you all were on the edge of your seats wondering what the heck we did on our second day of vacation. We slept in. This is the view from our room. See those 2 people by the lake? That's Max and Xander. Xander was catching fish with his bare hands. I kid you not. That boy is obsessed.

We decided to go to Newport on day 2. We went to the part closer to the Balboa Peninsula - which means the waves were breaking right on shore. When we got there Evan and I went for a long walk down to the shops while Ian and the boys boogie boarded. When I got back Ian had buried Ben and Xander in the sand.
Evan got some sweet shades.

Max loved running into and from the waves.

This was the day I got brave and swam in the ocean with Ben and Xander. We had a lot of fun screaming out stupid things like, "Rock and Roll!" or "Freedom!" and then we'd dive under waves or let the waves carry us to the shore. I'm pretty sure we were making spectacles of ourselves but hey, that's what I do best!

After we went back to the hotel, Xander, Max, Evan and I went to the biggest mall EVER. Seriously. And the boys didn't even appreciate it. Ben was sunburnt bad from literally spending 2 days in the ocean so Ian stayed back at the hotel with him. I swear I think I saw that kid for a total of 30 minutes when we were at the beach on both days combined. He's a fish!

Day 3

Ian woke up early and took Xander and Michael fishing at Sheepscrossing. The rest of us lazed around. Played cards:

Played in cars:

Worked (ok, only one of us worked):
Explored:
Found more sticks:
Evan worked up an appetite and ended up eating all of the left over steak from the night before. I've never seen him eat so much red meat. It was entertaining to say the least.


Darrel, Trina and I and the kids made the trek to Greens Peak. It was a cold, windy day. We hiked half way up and then hiked half way down. It makes me sad when I think about what I will see the next time we hike up there. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures! I think I was too busy chasing Evan around.

Finally around 4 the boys returned from fishing. They caught quite a few fish and brought some home to fry up. Michael's were giving each other a goodbye kiss:

I took more pictures while the boys cleaned and cooked the fish.

I love these two :)And these three.
We left a little after 5. We expected to hit a lot of traffic but hit none. I think we made it home in record time. We hope to go up again soon.

Trip to the Lodge

Late Friday night we traveled up to the Lodge. Saturday morning Ian took Xander fishing (they caught 17 fish) while Trina and I went to Blossom and then on to Walmart. I love Trina like a sister.

Addy giving her mom some flowers.

Darrel took the kids on a Ranger ride to the park while we were gone. Evan climbed to the top of the monkey bars and then asked, "How do I get down from here?"

When we got back the kids became obsessed with catching things. First, they caught lizards. Max kept his for a long time - he's desperate for a pet. We finally talked him into letting it go.

Ben & his lizard.

After dinner we celebrated Darrel's birthday with firecrackers and a cake. I didn't get any pictures of the firecrackers because I fell asleep on the couch during that part - but I did get some cake pictures.

Ruby loves cake. I love Ruby. Ian kept making fun of me because I took so many pictures of her. He said I should publish a book and call it my "Ruby period." Ha, ha.


Ro and Evan hung out the whole time. They fought bad guys, tried to catch bunnies and lizards, played wiffle ball. They are becoming the best of friends. I overheard Ro say, "Evan, we are having so much fun." Evan replied, "I always have fun."

Ian and Darrel are also pretty good friends. Ian made a point to agree with everything Darrel said this weekend since it was Darrel's birthday. Those two together crack me up.


Max and Ben chasing a bunny.

The next day we played a whole lot of wiffle ball. The big people even played. Except for me. I just ate and read the whole day. I'm not kidding.

How can anyone resist her adorable face? I'm proud to say that she loves me almost as much as I love her.

Xander had some awesome hits.

I want to live at the Lodge.

I'm not kidding.