We went to Raspberry Days at Bear Lake the first weekend in August. The kids and I are pretty good at distracting ourselves while Jeff unpacks - and packs for that matter. I tend to use the excuse that someone has to watch the dwarfs. It's a sacrifice, really.
The first thing we do to avoid unpacking, is turn on the sprinklers. Ok, so Jeff was the one who turned the sprinklers on. Then Cole takes his shoes off (I don't know why we even buy that kid shoes), finds the sprinklers and proceeds to get soaking wet. We end up taking off our clothes at this point. Wait, just Cole stripped down. Pearl was in her swimming suit about 3.5 seconds after arriving, and I remained fully clothed the entire time. Finally, we continue to avoid all chores by playing on the slide, dumping all the beach toys on the lawn, and filling up the pool.
Eventually my husband's gentle pleas to start cooking dinner before every starves to death get to me and I start pulling my weight a bit.
As tradition, the women and children packed up Saturday morning (bright and early... ha!) and headed into town for the craft fair. I must say, I was a bit disappointed with this year's vendors. I walked away with nothing. Pearl and Ruby on the other hand, each got an I Spy book (Pearl chose a fairyland themed one and Ruby a monster one) and then whined and pleaded their way into getting me to buy them both a puppet. Pearl picked a little dog, whom she lovingly named Maddox Aggie. I know, huh? Ruby picked a horse. The awesome thing about the puppets, and honestly, the selling point for me, was that you could take the strings off the wooden dowels to untangle them.
And as tradition stands, at some point the kids are DONE with the craft fair. I thought it would be Cole who couldn't take the shopping any longer but it was the girls. I don't blame them. Like usual, we got separated from my mom and sister about five minutes after getting there - they move a lot slower window shopping without kids than Emily and I do - and by the time they had gotten their loot they were done. Both wanted to go back to the parking lot because they had a climbing wall and bouncy houses. So we finally gave in to the screaming and went to the climbing wall. Ruby is all muscles. She didn't know how to use her feet so she simply pulled herself up the wall with shear arm strength. I was impressed. Pearl figured if Ruby could climb it, so could she. Uh... she wimped out, wasting my $3. Oh well.
Emily needed a Diet Coke, bad, after our meltdown at the craft fair. Don't tell Jesse... he gives Emily so much crap about "how many Diet Cokes have you had today?" He has seemed to forget that our own Grandmother had a Diet Coke in every room of the house, always half full, so she had one with her at all times. 
Meanwhile, the boys had plans of their own to stay entertained. Kurtis got left alone to babysit the puppies. Jesse went mountain biking with a friend. 
And my Dad and Jeff went 4 wheeling. My Dad must be stressed out because it was Jeff, not my Dad, who hit what we call "ugly hour" first. After exploring trails, dead ends, and finding a new trail to take me on, Jeff was starving. My Dad would have driven all over the mountain all day had they packed more than a granola bar and Gatorade between the two of them. They came back dusty and dirty, well mainly my Dad. He followed behind Jeff for most of the ride.
Lunch does wonders for too-hungry, too-tired, too-hot, and too-bored kids. Pearl devoured my Mom's sloppy joe's. She requested them for lunch and dinner for the next three days. I love her sloppy joe stained smile! 
A few months ago, Pearl's boyfriend, Benny-boy, started staying home with his Dad. It was a good thing for his family but Pearl was sure sad about it. And so was Cole. Benny-boy's little brother, Alex, was in the infant class with Cole.
Since Cara (Benny-boy's mom) and I thought it important to keep up the courtship despite not seeing each other every single day, we organized a playdate to take the FrontRunner train up to Ogden where we then explored Union Station.
Pearl was thrilled to 1) get out of the house on our Friday off, 2) see her Benny-boy, and 3) ride the train. We had a pretty long ride, one stop short of riding the train the entire length of the tracks. Cole found it interesting for about 10 minutes and then wanted to run around. We met Benny-boy at the Roy stop and then continued on to Ogden. Pearl was beyond excited to see Ben and even Cole and Alex seemed happy to see each other. It's amazing that even at such a young age Cole knows and remembers who his friends are.
I so wish I would have stopped talking with Cara to get a picture of Pearl and Ben walking hand-in-hand the entire walk over to Union Station. We actually had to break them up so they'd keep up with us and quit lolly-gagging behind us. We explored all the decommissioned trains next to the station. Pearl was kind of a chicken climbing on them. I guess I can't fault her too much because trains are huge and have some pretty big steps to get up and down them. Plus, they both kept asking if the trains were going to start going and "turn on."
Love this shot of Cole running away from me, right in between two huge trains.
Then we explored the train museum inside Union Station. The kids had fun climbing on things, running around, and playing with the switchboard. Pearl was in charge of telling the trains were and when to go. Her imagination never ceases to amaze me and make me smile. Cole was determined to keep up - or outpace - the big kids while Alex was his regular, content self just happy to sit and enjoy things.
This is pathetic to admit, having grown up in Utah my entire life, but I've never been to Promontory Point (Golden Spike National Historic Site). The meeting place of the Union and Pacific Railroads way back in 1869. Nor did I know that the actual "Golden Spike" was housed at Union Station in Ogden, Utah. The safe it was in was a mega safe... I'm betting it would withstand a nuclear winter. Very cool.
What's with boys and rocks? Seriously.
The usual attempt to document the fun. I really should learn how to Photoshop my pictures because then I wouldn't have to post three of them just to show you one of us is looking at the camera with a smile in each one.
The ride home wasn't quite as exciting as the ride there because 1) Pearl didn't want to leave Benny-boy, 2) it was fast approaching lunch and nap time, and 3) everyone wanted the same six M&Ms from the trial mix I had brought. 
It dawned on me that I'm one Bear Lake trip behind on the blog. And since I recently printed four books from my blogs, and have decided this is the perfect way to document our family history every year, I better get some photos up for posterity's sake.
Day 1.
No snow! No cold! No rain! Wahoo! To celebrate, we let the kids run through the sprinklers while we unpacked and claimed the shed-no-turned-luxury-bedroom.
Day 2.
Uncle Jesse breaks out the slip-n-slide. Cole finds the spraying water fun but isn't sure what to think once he accidentally slips down the slip-n-slide. Pearl loved, loved, loved the slip-n-slide. And poor Ruby has her Dad's genes. She doesn't like the cold water so she refused to slide down her own slip-n-slide.
Cole and the puppies are inseparable.
Jesse brought out the big guns. Do you see his new swimming suit? It makes me laugh every time I see it! It's a John Wayne, with guns and bullets across the butt! Love it!
The kids begged us to take them to the beach. So with the water high and our beach almost nada, we decided to go down to Rendezvous Beach. As soon as we got out of the car to a mass of people crammed onto the strip of sand, we quickly realized how grateful we should be for a private beach. The luxury of having the beach to our selves to spread out on, come and go as we please, and do whatever we want without fear of sitting on a strangers' towels, or having people stare at you is definitely worth the less than 5 star hotel accommodations. We tried out our new quick-shade thing and it was thrilling as you can tell from my siblings' expressions. Jeff buried Pearl in the sand. And Cole ate the sand.
We got a typical family picture. My eyes are closed. Pearl is grouchy about the whole idea. Cole is distracted. And Jeff is annoyed at the entire get-up, not to mention the fact that Cole is now covering him in sand and pulling his chest hairs out in the process.
Day 3.
I think it rained last night but now I can't remember! We all enjoyed the 4 wheelers but no one as much as Pearl. Every day she begged Jeff to take her on a ride. She saw deer and wild turkeys. They ride fast and do doughnuts in the parking lots, much to my frowning about. 
Cole gets pretty jealous that everyone else gets to go on rides. Sometimes I think he can't wait to grow up so he can do everything the rest of us are. To prove he's a big boy, he steals your chair the second you walk away. Then refuses to get out. And he eats licorice, gives smooches, and is quite a funny character. 
Every once in awhile Ruby forgets that I'm the mean Aunt who doesn't let her just watch movies all day and will give me a hug. She is such a pretty little girl!
Last but not least, I painted the girls' piggy toes and finger nails. It was too hard to choose just one color so we alternated between orange and pink. Even my gross toes got a fresh coat of paint... even if it sort of looked like smooshed peas after a couple of days. 
And if a weekend of gluttony, beaching, 4 wheeling, and fireworks wasn't enough, we bought a new car (2011 Chevy Cruze)!
Eventually my husband's gentle pleas to start cooking dinner before every starves to death get to me and I start pulling my weight a bit.
And as tradition stands, at some point the kids are DONE with the craft fair. I thought it would be Cole who couldn't take the shopping any longer but it was the girls. I don't blame them. Like usual, we got separated from my mom and sister about five minutes after getting there - they move a lot slower window shopping without kids than Emily and I do - and by the time they had gotten their loot they were done. Both wanted to go back to the parking lot because they had a climbing wall and bouncy houses. So we finally gave in to the screaming and went to the climbing wall. Ruby is all muscles. She didn't know how to use her feet so she simply pulled herself up the wall with shear arm strength. I was impressed. Pearl figured if Ruby could climb it, so could she. Uh... she wimped out, wasting my $3. Oh well.
Meanwhile, the boys had plans of their own to stay entertained. Kurtis got left alone to babysit the puppies. Jesse went mountain biking with a friend. 
And my Dad and Jeff went 4 wheeling. My Dad must be stressed out because it was Jeff, not my Dad, who hit what we call "ugly hour" first. After exploring trails, dead ends, and finding a new trail to take me on, Jeff was starving. My Dad would have driven all over the mountain all day had they packed more than a granola bar and Gatorade between the two of them. They came back dusty and dirty, well mainly my Dad. He followed behind Jeff for most of the ride.
Lunch does wonders for too-hungry, too-tired, too-hot, and too-bored kids. Pearl devoured my Mom's sloppy joe's. She requested them for lunch and dinner for the next three days. I love her sloppy joe stained smile! 
