Ski Slope Trail Hike

We started the day with sleepy breakfast at a diner.

Mickey Mouse pancakes for the kids

Avocado and fresh fruit for me

(Papa had French toast, bacon, and eggs)

Then we went on a family hike of some of the ski trails on the resort mountain. Wow. I'm so impressed and proud of the kids for being able to hike the whole way. The best part is that they are proud of themselves. After we got back to the condo we looked at the information on my Garmin watch and found that we climbed an elevation of 1000 ft. The initial part of the hike was incredibly steep and we had to keep making sure that Pudge wouldn't roll backwards when he fell (multiple times). They spent the time looking for plants, animals, and other rocks while listening to the sounds of nature.  We let them help guid the way and make decisions about which way to hike and they all wanted to get to the top of a mountain (there were 3 mountains). So up we went. Along the way we had an adventure.

Once we got to the top, we made our way down through a different set of trails... Which led to finding and holding frogs and being on the lookout for a bear. (We passed someone who told us that one had just been "up ahead")

The best quote of the day came from Little Bear who said "Even if the best view isn't at the top, you won't know until you make it there."

New Jersey Vacation

We got to the condo that we rented for the week of Titi C's wedding in New Jersey late last night. It was definitely not what we were expecting but we've been having a fun time. We played jenga on the patio and president flash cards.

We checked out three of the resorts 7 pools today and the spray pad. Each of the pools had it's own awesome thing. One was an indoor pool with a swim in cave, another was a heated outdoor pool, the other was a larger outdoor pool which had a big waterfall that was to jump off of into the water! Pequeño loved the spray pad and Little Bear and Pudge both loved the pools.

Unfortunately, Pequeño hasn't been able to sleep well here at night yet. Last night/this morning, I tried to get him asleep until he finally caved at 5 am. Then Pudge woke up at 5:45 and Pequeño didn't stay asleep for much longer. Around 9 am, I put him on my back in the onya carrier and he fell asleep on the way to get something from the car. Since he was so tired, I was able to unhook the carrier and lay him down in it for a nap. 

So as I type this at 11pm tonight, he is the only one still fighting sleep.

Park to ourselves

In between errands, we decided to take a break at one of the parks (Wehr Mill). It was completely empty which the kids loved so we ended up spending a little over an hour there.

Smoothies

We've been on a smoothie kick lately.

Carrots, radish, mango, pineapple

Strawberries, blueberries, flaxseed, beets

An update

So far, it has been a busy summer for our family. I haven't been able to update since school ended so there is quite a bit that has happened since then!

The kids will each move on to the next grade/class next school year. Pudge had a very cute preschool graduation program where they sang songs and were given their preschool diploma.

We've been spending a lot of time exercising as a family

The older kids have started running kids races with a local running group. Little Bear runs 0.5 miles (although one time they ran 1 mile because the leader accidentally took them on the wrong path) and Pudge runs 0.2 miles.

They also took swim lessons

Little Bear is now able to swim without using a noodle/ flotation device-

Pudge is now comfortable with the water (just getting him to get in was a struggle on the first few days)-

And we've spent a lot of time at the zoo

We even took Grandma and baby cousin D there for a visit...

Currently, we are preparing for our vacation and Titi C's wedding (we are spending the week before the wedding at the wedding location thanks to our timeshare).