The Path of Totality

Back in August, Meg and I took the bigs to Idaho to experience the solar eclipse with friends.  The littles had an awesome sleep-over at G's with trips to the UW campus, multiple local parks, and a hotspot for kite-flying.  I'm thinking they would have been fine if we'd been gone longer than a couple of nights...

Viewing Party flags.

Local store closures during totality.

Trying out their eclipse glasses.

Our awesome Sun Valley hosts.

Waiting for totality.

Hanging out before totality.

Crescent shadows.

Post-eclipse, we enjoyed the Sun Valley area with opportunities to swim...

hike...

blend time with family and friends during work trips...

and visit the incredible Tibetan prayer wheel in the Garden of Infinite Compassion at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden.

The Coast

We made our annual summer trek to the beach town of Seabrook with two other families.  With 13 people between our three families, there certainly was plenty of energy and excitement to go around (along with great food).

Rolling into the town center.

Putting on a dramatic performance at the play stage in town.  It clearly didn't matter that the audience consisted solely of their parents --  they went all out.

Adding scenes to the Gnome Forest.

A moment of pause.

The big kid bike pack.

Strolling the beach...

in underwear.

Ankle-wading in the ocean.

Ocean hugs.

Puddle jumper time in the pool.

The newly minted three year old!

Our windswept, salty six pack.

Letting loose at the beach.

Wave jumpers.

Bike trailer babes.

Scoping out the ocean from above.

Zipping around town.

This guy learned how to ride a bike!  Whoohoo!

Double Digits

The bigs hit the double digits!  They celebrated with friends, family, cake, and a series of competitive laser tag games at a local park. The kids -- and some of the adults -- had a blast running around shooting one another, scooping out places to hide, and claiming a win or two.

Listening to the laser tag how-to's and rules.

J's off and running.

A moving in the opposite direction.

Armed and smiling.

Capture the Flag victory!

Cake time!

A birthday burger, fries, and shake lunch.

Enjoying round two of birthday sweets!

Canada via Camper

To kick start our summer vacation, we rented a 26' Winnie Minnie RV, loaded up the four kiddos, turned off our electronic devices and headed north for a week-long loop of camping in British Columbia.  We drove to a different provincial park campsite each day and found ourselves exploring rivers, creeks, lakes, deserts, forests, and various historic sites along the Caribou Wagon Road.  Other than the challenges of trying to meet everyone's sleep needs, we had an awesome adventure complete with a multitude of mosquito bites, twenty train sightings in one day, and daily cold water plunges.

Loaded up and heading out in the Minnie Winnie.

Our first night at Sasquatch Provincial Park.  We were steps from the lake -- which we headed to within a few minutes of our arrival after a long day of driving.

In the woods.

First of many bites of s'mores.

Taking a shot at finding gold in historic Yale.

Running the General Store at Yale's Tent City living museum.

Checking out the period clothing. 

Stella was very excited (and insistent) on registering at the historic church.

Exploring the Tent City's local jail.

Riding the Hell's Gate Air Tram over the mighty Fraser River.

Windswept on the bridge spanning the canyon.

Visiting the Historic Hat Creek Ranch on the old Caribou Wagon Road.

An original stagecoach from the days of the BC Gold Rush, circa 1860's.

One of the many roadhouses that once stretched along the Caribou Wagon Road.  Touring this roadhouse definitely took me back in time.

An old miner's camp.

 Moments before we boarded for our own stagecoach wagon ride around the ranch.

Learning the game of "double ball" at the First Nations people Secwepemc village.

Enjoying the pelts in the village.

Post-dunk at Juniper Beach Provincial Park in the high desert of BC.  The river was chilly, but the air temperature more than made up for it in the 90's.

Building cities with the river rocks only a handful of steps from our campsite and trusty Minnie Winnie RV.

Counting the trains on the tracks on the other side of the river.

A mini-train ride (and a respite from the blazing sun) at the BC Wildlife Park.

The swimming lake at Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park.

Happy Canada Day!

One of the many Happy Canada Day activities in the small town of Princeton, BC.

Making sand balls along the Similkameen River.

River-side discoveries.

A sitting spot near our campsite in E.C. Manning Provincial Park.

Exploring the shallow, river-rock loaded Similkameen River.

Tucked in the Cascade Mountains.

Searching for evidence of beavers.