Fun at the Lake

For the last ten days we have been vacationing at Alturas Lake. I think everyone had a good time, except for the mosquitos. Kiya said, "That they liked her bum!". Buttcrack is a terrible thing to show when you don't have repellant on it. We all had a good time. The next couple of posts show some of the fun we had.

For the last two years one of my sister Jenni's friends from work has come up to Alturas for a couple of days and he takes whoever he can get, to go on a hike with him. Last year Brady and Rye went, but it was a long hike and Rye ended up carrying Brady most of the way home because he was so tired. This year we told Chris that he had to do a shorter distance for the kids. (Okay the adults too!) So this year we went to 4th of July lake. It was about 2 1/2 miles there and back. Rye and I were debating on who we were going to take with us. Then we decided that it was a family vacation so everyone goes no matter who we have to carry. We were worried about our little Rafe going so far, but to our amazement he made it there and most of the way back all by himself.

Start, Middle, and End!


One of my proudest moments is when Brady decided to be brave and tried to ski. By the end of the trip he was getting up with the big boys and braving the one hand so he could wave. Good Job Brady! (Our bribe of a full-body wetsuit helped too!)

One of the best parts of the trip was watching all the parents offer the kids bribes to go sking. It started out with new nintendo DS games. Then it escalated to a XBOX 360. Our girl Kiya was so funny. Her bribe was she wanted to cut paper with sissors. Then she increased the price to cutting magazines with sissors. All the other parents were laughing, because our girl had the cheapest price. Then they asked if we were really that mean and didn't let her have sissors. The truth is we don't because you just haven't seen her with a good pair of sissors. She's cut up a good bed sheet before.

Naughty Boy

Apparently Rafe knows that today is the first day that I have posted on my blog. He really must want to be the star of the show, because shortly after the parade my baby almost lost his life by his mother's hand. First a little background info. My dad for the last several years has grown all the flowers for my yard from seed. He watches over them like a hawk making sure that I don't kill them. Today he came over and said that he couldn't believe how great they were taking off. Well in comes Rafe. The pictures explain it all. He pulled out close to fifteen of my marigolds and then for good measure threw them in the bushes. I couldn't find two of them so who knows where they are. I must not of scared him too bad though, because that sure is a cute smile holding all my chopped marigolds!

All of us at the parade

Here we are! (Upper picture)Rafe, Brady, Braelyn, Kiya, Maddy, and Kendyl

Rafe and his Candy

Rafe was so funny at the parade. We only had two buckets for candy and he refused to put his candy in Kiya's or Brady's Bucket. So the entire parade he held on to all his candy with a deathgrip. He also cried at the begining of the parade when the other kids got to all the candy before him.

Fourth of July Fun

Today we went to the 4th of July Parade. As you can see it is not much, just firetrucks and a few flags, but the kids had a great time catching candy.