Our Epic Summer part 2 - Rumsey Reunion

This summer our Rumsey Reunion was at Cascade Park near Granite Falls, WA. The campground is managed by the church for scouting and youth programs, and was perfect for our group of almost 50. There were plenty of cabins and canvas tents, the girls even got their own tent! It was a beautiful area with lots to keep us entertained, including the Stillaguamish River that bordered the camp. It was too cold for me, but some of the guys went for a swim.

There was also a ropes course, a giant slip-n-slide, and lots of tree swings.

The open field played host to many family sporting events every day. Lydia became a pro at the washer toss game, and even held her own in volleyball! Scarlett and Claire kept to soccer, and all the kids tried badminton.

We celebrated Claire's 6th birthday that week with cake and presents and a bounce house, and all the kids painted walking sticks as a craft. I thought we would have to collect some sticks to paint, but my grandpa the carver brought a bunch of beautiful sanded sticks that were perfect. He even carved in designs and initials at the top.

 

Our camp was near the national forest, and there were plenty of hikes and scenic trips to take, many thanks to Aunt Sue the travel guide :)

 

First up - Granite Falls (which the town is named for of course!). Can't believe such a beautiful set of falls is just aside the road.

 

Then we went on a 2 mile hike up to Helen Lake. Gorgeous, but it took 3-4 hours round trip. We were so proud of our girls, but they were exhausted! 

We explored an abandoned mine

And we went on a very wet hike to the ice caves. Apparently there have been some recent deaths in the ice caves, so they no longer let people go in (though some do anyway...like my bro Darren)

 

We also took a day trip to Seattle and explored the aquarium, the Gum wall, and the ever-crowded Pike Place Market.

 And a Rumsey Reunion wouldn't be complete without tie-dye shirts (in this case, spray paint shirts).

 

 Our crazy crew.

Our Epic Summer Part 1 - Lake Chelan for Dad's 60th

We were so dang busy this summer, I'm not ready for it to end! And I am definitely way behind on my blogging. So I am going to try catching up with posts of all the trips and activities we've been up to this summer.

First up - our trip to Lake Chelan for my dad's 60th Birthday. He actually turned 60 on May 9th, but with our family spread out in 4 states, we couldn't get together until mid-June.

 

 

 We rented an awesome, relaxing home for all 14 of us. We spent the days at the lake and the evenings at home by the pool or hot tub.

The big kids took turns surfing and wakeboarding.

 The little kids tubed and swam and played at the park on the beach.

  At the end of the day we were all tired, but stayed up anyway to watch movies or the World Cup in one of the two theater rooms! What a blast. Then for dad's birthday we celebrated with cupcakes, and "60 memories for 60 years" that Sarah had collected from his family and friends. It was such a fun weekend - maybe this will be the start of a new tradition in the Taylor family!

 

Our new toy

We did it. We knew that one day we would get a boat, but thought we could wait until our kids were a little older. We couldn't wait. There are some nice reservoirs not far from Billings, and once it warmed up, the lakes beckoned us.

 

 The girls were very excited about getting a boat. So much so, that Claire even included it in her prayers. "Please bless daddy that he'll find the boat he wants"

(Yes, mommy was the one holding dad back from the boat he "wants")

 

The girls love to go tubing and ride their ski trainer, but sometimes their favorite thing is to just drop anchor and swim off the back deck. 

 

Josh attempted wake surfing this year, but still enjoys the thrill of wakeboarding. I'm usually just the driver, or riding along with my girls in the tube. As a mom sometimes you just get more joy out of seeing your family have fun.

And Hadley hates her life jacket, but once the boat starts moving, she's quite content. On most of our outings she falls asleep on the boat about halfway through. Whew!

Hail and ticks

You know it's summer in Montana when the kids play outside allll day long, and come home with something like this...

I mean, seriously!?! I have never seen a tick this big. And poor Scarlett, she had no idea what was going on, she just thought she hurt her head. I was brushing her hair and she said "Mom, that part hurts, that's where I hurt my head"...then I felt the lump, looked for a cut or bruise, and saw this nasty thing. We immediately went looking for someone brave enough to carefully remove this sucker. My friend Jaime pulled it out, and it wasn't easy. It came with a chunk of skin, and though Scarlett tried to be so brave, she eventually crumbled in tears. It hurt. It hurt me too! But since then she hasn't been shy about telling everyone about the bug in her head, and showing this picture from my phone.

 

 

Another not-so-lovely part of summer here is the hail. We just live in an area where hot and cold air mix to bring about violent weather. Usually it's quick, fierce thunderstorms with 70mph winds, and tons of rain and hail. In June we had pretty epic hail.

 

Fortunately my car was garaged, and our neighborhood fared better than other parts of Billings.

 Josh's truck, however, was at the airport. Thank goodness for insurance, and low deductibles ;)

 

 

 

End of the school year

I know I know....this post is a month overdue.

May was pretty busy for us. School activities were coming to a close as we were anxiously getting ready for summer.

Scarlett attends a wonderful preschool. There are only 8 kids in her class, and they are all her best friends.

 

Here's their trip to the zoo.

 

And some pics from their last day of school program

 

Claire's end-of-year program was DinoStars, and they sang some fun songs of every genre from rap to country :) 

 

Both Claire and Lydia got to celebrate their summer birthdays in class. Claire opted for popsicles instead of cupcakes.

But Lydia wanted to celebrate with extra-fancy flower cupcakes :)

 

Birthday season is here!

Scarlett the ballerina

This was Scarlett's first year to do dance, and like my other girls, she absolutely loved it. She loved dressing up, she loved her teacher Miss Rachel, and she loved to dance and dance.

She especially loved wearing makeup for her recital :)

 

Scarlett wasn't shy at all for her recital. It was a packed audience in Billings' Alberta Bair theater, and her class was the youngest. There were some girls in her class that hardly danced, some that were absolutely wacky, and then there was Scarlett, who calmly went through her routine just as she practiced.  

We're so proud of you Miss Scarlett!