Oh June where have you gone??

I am finally having time to type with two hands and wanted to share what has been happening in June before we move on to July. Today is the first beautiful day and I am typing this looking out onto the scenic, crisp mountains behind our house. Zeke is growing fast and Ty is enjoying his role as a new big brother. He also got to spend time with his friend Quinton who also became a new big brother in June. These two are like two peas in a pod and they certainly feed of each others energy when they are together. 

Marc's family (minus Dan and Carlynne) ventured west for Zeke's baptism.  We had a wonderful weekend capped off with a great party.  (More on that to come in the next post!)  Here is a picture extravaganza from the weekend.
Nana and Papa and all their grandkids: (And no Zeke is not jaundiced he is just extremely dark compared to his pale cousins) :)

Hanging out with the aunties

Father's Day breakfast

Zeke is growing fast!  He has super big blue eyes that often have a very surprised look.

Cousins.  Ty and Fraser are starting to get a taste of cousinhood.  Ty was not too happy to share his baby toys with Fraser as he thought most of them belonged to Zeke. He was however quite happy to pile them just out of Fraser's reach when he was in the jolly jumper.

Playing with Nana and Papa.  Nana gave Zeke a bath in the sink as she would often do with Ty. (Which reminds me, it has been a while since Zeke had a bath.  The second child is always much dirtier I hear.)

Happy Birthday Bettio! 

We have been busy getting out a lot even though the weather has been poor.  Marc went hiking with Mike and got this great picture with him and all the witches hair.
We are continuing to enjoy our window seat, Ty in the last couple of weeks has become extremely interested in reading longer books and we spend a lot of time reading to him there.  Today I had laid Zeke down in the window seat and Ty starting reading him a book too.  So cute!

Marc has been using our kayak several times a week and I was able to get out with him when Julie and Lowell were here.  The Fraser had been rising (it peaked last week) and the bridge to our street was unpassable (in my opinion).  I would have had to duck fully down in the kayak in order to go underneath and I was not willing to do so.  When Marc took Julie and Lowell out I checked where they were on mobile me and saw they were about to pass under the bridge of death and sent a warning text saying "Don't go under the bridge.  Danger. Danger."  They did not heed my warning as you can see from the bottom picture.  Apparently the danger was not too great. ;)

Hopefully you are all enjoying beautiful weather as we are.  We will not be as negligent of our blog in July! (Here's hoping!)

Busy Busy Busy

This post has been brewing for a long time and I am finally having time to sit down and write it. . . We have been busy this month doing a lot of visiting. We have been blessed with many meals as well as invitations out for dinner.
Ty enjoying the park by a friends place:

On Mother's Day we headed to Cultus LAke for a sunny afternoon.  Ty had a great time throwing

rocks in the water and eventually was swimming for his rocks.  He ended up going out for pizza in his diaper and sweatshirt.  ;)

Dinner on friends decks: Mmmmm

Lunch and a walk with friends:

Pig BBQ:

Marc has been experimenting with a 50mm prime lens and has gotten some gorgeous pictures:

Ty is (for the most part) enjoying his new role as big brother.  Besides the occasional hitting (okay and kicking too) :) Ty has been very affectionate to Zeke and is happy to take him places. 

My mom came for a visit extra long babysitting session and was a HUGE help.  Ty had a great time reading books with Grandma, playing cars, drawing and playing play dough.  One day we took Big Bessie out to Foley Lake. 

We had this beautiful remote lake all to ourselves for most of the day.  Ty threw lots of rocks in the wtaer, and ran and jumped off logs with Grandma.

All in all an excellent month.  We are not too tired and have survived quite nicely I think!

bear creek

 last week we took the family camping at bear creek on the east side of harrison lake.  big bessie handled the forest service roads with ease and aplomb.  the full size truck tires make a big difference.

zeke was already a camping pro at less than a week old.  eat, sleep and hang out on the beach.  he had it all nailed.

 we hadn't been to the beach at bear creek before, but it is beautiful.  the north edge ends in cliffs while the south is bounded by a rushing creek.  the eponymous bear creek in fact.  just east of the camp it cascades down a lovely waterfall.

 the sky was clear and the beach was a veritable solar oven, with the expanse of harrison lake throwing double sunshine at us on the sand.  we fried up the leftover chicken enchilada that melissa made just for us (extra cheese!) on the stove in our portable kitchen and ate it with salsa and carrots.  nice to bring a premade dinner along that was still homemade and not processed.  and so nice to have a fridge to keep the beer cold.

 i neglected to take any pictures of our campsite, but here is the view from ty's bed.  bear creek is a small rec site less than an hour drive from our house.  its proximity allowed kylie to spend the entire day on the beach with us and then duck home to sleep in her own bed (next time maybe she'll stay the first night).

  in the morning (ty slept til 8, which never happens at home) ty and i made coffee and ate miniwheats, scrambled eggs and fruit, then set out on a hike to a nearby beach.

 here we wiled away the hours throwing rocks in the water, doing interesting stretches and taking pictures.

 its easy to take great pictures of this guy.

 the morning started off cool, but warmed up soon.  a leisurely second day on the beach sped past far too quickly.  look at all those rocks just begging to be thrown in the water.  next time we'll stay longer.