Summer happenings

So I promised that I would keep up with my blogging and just have not been able to lately. Somewhat due to laziness, somewhat due to not enough time, and somewhat due to waiting for pics from Jim's camera to get to my computer. We were finally able to culminate the picture transfer so I am buckling down to get some blogging done.

With a non-existent vacation budget, we are spending a lot of the summer doing "free" things. Splash pads, hiking, and playing at parks. The kids are having a great time seeing all the different parks Spokane has to offer. Here are some pictures of us enjoying our summer so far.

Another thing we have tried to do is go hiking every weekend. We have gone to The Bowl and Pitcher at the Spokane River, Camp Caro at Dishman Mica Hills, and while camping we hiked the Liberty Lake trail. These times out in the woods with the kids have been a lot of fun. We have enjoyed the beauty of this world as well as some peace and quiet (in between squeals of delight from the kids). There is just something about being in the woods to keep you grounded and focused on life.

We had the opportunity to go camping last weekend as well. We just went to the Liberty Lake campground and it was only overnight, but it was tons of fun. The kids had a blast getting the fire going, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, and sleeping in the tent. We went on a hike and saw a turtle, a beaver working on his dam, and a toad. After breaking down camp the second day, we tried to go swimming, unfortunately the wind was so strong that day. While sleeping during the night Jim and I feared that the tent was going to blown down. The side fell in on us quite a few times. We swam for a bit, enough to get pictures, but had to cut it all short due to the wind blowing the sand all over and freezing us out after being wet. It was still fun and the kids had a great time getting dirty, cant really beat that...

So there are some of the things we have been doing so far this summer. We will have more fun stuff with baseball, maybe some trips to the beach, and some more park fun around Spokane.