Our river of life: Summer happenings

More summer recap.

Leiella made a whole school book for the little boy I nanny for. So cute!

Banden turned 11! He wanted ice cream cookie sandwiches so I made him some chocolate ones, grain free and dairy free and delicious!

Sweet little frog resting on a pear.

Ryder and I also celebrated out birthdays. Here's a sweet throwback picture to long ago. :)

Celebrating with family at some restaurant, can't remember now, ha ha!

I made Ryder a pineapple upside down cake for his birthday. One more year before he's 40! Oh my goodness! :)

Ira got him Care Bear PJ's for his birthday present, ha ha! I laughed so hard I cried! Grumpy Bear. So fitting. ;) Being the good dad he is he put them on but other than that I don't think we will be seeing him wearing them very often. ;)

The kids are getting back into the puzzle mood as we swing into fall.

Beauty

So happy when I get to break out the boots and scarves.

Yummy cider! I mostly just bought it for the flip top bottle, they work best for the second fermentation on drinks like kombucha, water kefir, and drinks made with a ginger bug. The ginger drinks are my favorite right now, think ginger ale! But with beneficial bacteria. So good.

Zucchini noodles are our favorite right now! Love our spiralizer!

What do you do when you have a house overflowing with kids? Take them on an outdoor adventure!!! :)

Once again the kids totally decorated the house for me on my birthday. I woke up to my chair, that I sit in with my tea first thing in the morning, all decorated! Balloons galore and when I was standing under the fan they turned it on and origami confetti flew all over the place!

Leiella worked on this, unknown to me, and then set it up in the garden for my birthday. It's a bird bath. She is such a thoughtful sweet heart!

We went on a bike ride for my birthday. About 5 miles there and back, longest family ride yet. No training wheels makes a huge difference!

We had to stop for a caterpillar. :)

We found a really cool spot by a creek to take a break and eat our lunch.

Best way to spend a birthday.

Ira made me chocolate covered strawberries as my birthday treat!!! I felt really special, so nice to have someone else make me a treat on my birthday.

We also when out to dinner with the family, including my mom. Always nice to not have to prep food on my birthday. :) It's a big deal to go out to eat in our family, and presently only two places we trust. With all of Atty and Banden's food issues we are really limited on eating out options.

Ira got me too! Silly cat pj's!

There's a tail and everything, ha ha! The mitts on the hands can flip back. I actually love them and wear them constantly right now because I hate being cold. :) I don't mind being silly.

Ira is knitting! He was able to take a knitting class at the learning center that we go to once a week. He's even been teaching me!

Ready for Tae Kwon Do

My mom gifted us childcare for the weekend, as part of our birthday presents. So Ryder and I were able to get way.

It didn't start out well but it worked out in the end. We have a hard time getting our trailer out through the gate and along the side of our house. Unfortunately that's the only place we can store it. Once again getting it out required cutting down part of our fence. I had a melt down for various reasons. Then when we were finally ready to go we found out that there was a shooting at our fairly close local mall and the shooter was on the loose. Five people lost their lives. Very overwhelming and heartbreaking. So all of that combined really made for a rough night and we didn't end up at the campground until after 9:30 that night. We had a hard time letting all of that go and focus on us so the trip wasn't all that I had dreamed it would be. I always build things up in my head too much and then ineventible feel let down. Or I imagine the worse case scenario so I can feel relieved when it's not. One extreme or the other. Ha ha! This trip wasn't all bad though things picked up a bit eventually.

This was our view. So peaceful. Since it was the tail end of the season the campground was fairly empty. It rained off and on the whole weekend but we squeezed in some fun. Thankful for the trailer even if it was a pain to bring.

Breakfast fit for a King! And Queen... :)

We were able to go Kayaking in a dry break and it was so fun! We went all the way around the lake, which is about a five mile walk if you go around on the trail. Ryder has never gone kayaking with me before and I've been wanting him to for a long time! As I suspected he really like it. It was fun to share something I like so much with him! He borrowed a kayak from a friend but I'm hoping he will want his own now. :)

We of course can't wait to bring the kids back here, they will love it!

Bonus of camping trip, Ryder found my summer hat that I lost soon after buying it. Sadly it was gone for most of the summer. It was crammed in a closet that I swear I checked! Anyways there is always next summer. :)