Summer Fun with the Watson's

Scott's sister Nikki has three boys just like us!  Jake's the oldest and a great big cousin. Her younger two are cousin buddies with Ryan and Sean both being born pretty close to each other.  Lucky for us, we happen to live next to Grandma and Grandpa and get to enjoy all their family visitors!

Late July brought us tons of fun with the Watsons!

The first Saturday they were in town we got together for a picnic and kayak play on the river!  The river was freezing but the kids had a blast eating, throwing rocks into the lake, taking turns on Grandma and Grandpa's new Kayak and trying to swim in the freezing water!

Cousin buddies Dylan and Ryan

Thanks to Nikki and Bob for the pictures!  I forgot my camera and am sorta glad I did because their camera's took amazing photos! 

Cousin buddies Sean and Carter!  I can see Carter as a teenager in this photo!

Scott and I took Kyle out on the Kayak and it was fun! 

He loved to help.  He also loved to lean over to touch the water!  I had to keep him from jumping in a few times as his love for water was fully developed. 

The boys loved going overboard!

Oatmeal cookie face Kyle.

Like I said, this water was FREEZING!  They thought it was so funny to sit in the river in their chairs...Ryan sat with the water up to his neck at one point. 

He can handle much colder temperatures than can my second child.

Then on Wednesday we entertained the cousins while grandma and grandpa worked in the Temple.  So we met at a fun park for a BBQ and play.  Sean really does have shorts on in this picture...I'm not sure if the shirts were off because of possible squirt park play or soccer playing hotness. 

Boys climbing fences.  This usually happens when there is a practice or game or lots of kids around and I quickly stop my kids from climbing...

but here we were in the middle of summer and there was a super tall fence and it had to be climbed!

And here are Sean and Carter with some grapes we found on a Sunday walk that they were crushing to make into juice.

Then the next weekend we got spoiled again! 

Bob's friend offered him his cabin for the weekend and we got to tag along! 

The kids always love a hot tub...and who knows what Kyle is doing! 

Sadly I usually seem to be prego when there is an available hot tub around so I miss out on the fun!

So we found a great place to hike!

Isn't this gorgeous!  A view from our hike.  Totally random small mountain lake with Reno in the distance.

Grandpa found a cool spot to photo the gang!

I've really do love hiking.  I love being outdoors and enjoying my family.  But I haven't always loved hiking. 

Sadly some of my first experiences with hiking involved girls camp, lots of heat with no cool destination.  I am a huge fan of Girls Camp, but if there isn't a great hike nearby the camp, it might be best to have a hike a different time to a good destination so inspire the girls to enjoy hiking! 

A view just before getting to the waterfall and the waterfall!

Grandpa helping the boys put their head in the waterfall to cool down!  I hear the water was FRIGID!

A gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe with pine trees, a meadow and wild flowers!  Stunning!

I will admit that this was my last hike of this pregnancy.  I was almost at week 31 here and on the way back my left hip flexor was hurtin!  Karen had a hiking pole that I borrowed as I was waddling or walking like I had just gone horse back riding!  I'll stick to sidewalks for the next few months:) 

I did put my feet into the hot tub when we got back and that felt nice!

Later that day we headed down to the lake.  There was this perfect cove that I didn't get a good picture of...my camera was on a weird setting and I wasn't paying attention.  The cool thing was that it was very shallow!  Ryan is out in the water but was heading back from the rope bouy because we were yelling at them to not go past the bouyies that were so far out and he couldn't hear us...but he was way more than twice the distance he is out in the shot.  Sean on the other hand wanted to go so bad but was freezing.  He gets that way in cold water. 

And the evening ended with playing catch.  At this point, Scott was throwing to all the boys, but Grandpa was out there too and the kids traded who they were playing with and sometimes they were in the sand and sometimes on this gorgeous grassy little peninsula.  What a nice evening!

We had so much fun playing with the Watson's and Motley Grandparents!  Yay for Summer!

 

*Another fun memory was how much the cousins loved Kyle saying, "Yight Saber!"  After Jake heard him say it for the first time, he turned to Nikki (his mom) and says, "that's awesome!"