Summertime Flu....Meh!

We managed to escape this weird Summertime flu bug that seems to be EVERYWHERE.....until last week. Jace was the first victim and boy was that rough. I like to think that with a two year old as independent as Jace, I pretty much spend every day in the "Mommy Trenches." Oh no my friends, THIS was a duty far worse than tantrum aversion. THIS was the stuff that mommy war stories are made of. You see, 2 1/2 year olds don't have the ability to wake up and carefully get sick in a bucket. So warrior mommies like myself bring the child to bed with them. And warrior mommies stay awake all night, only to be thrown up on.....hourly....by a poor sick child who somehow possesses the precision and timing of a sniper. As I laid there in bed with my little sickie boy I thought, "Surely God offers some sort of Flu Amnesty to warrior mommies like me, right?" Wrong! It took several days, but I was the next victim. Ugh. Daddy was joining the rest of us sickies by the following day. Thankfully, this mean little flu bug is only 1 day of really bad. Unfortunately, it seems to be followed by a week of utter exhaustion. Which brings me to today's blog pic.....

I wasn't sneaky enough to get the full body shot before waking him with my flash, but I think you can tell that he is sleeping standing up. This was at 5pm last night! This morning he is filled with energy, so I am praying that we are seeing the end of this nasty little illness. I would like to believe that since we have paid our flu dues this summer, we should be expecting to be passed by all future bugs until next year. Here's to hoping!

Fun on the 4th

We got home from camping early enough to head over to my brother's house for some family fun. I've informed him that now that he has hosted 4th of July at his house 2 years in a row it is officially tradition, and his responsibility. =0)

Gunka manned the grill...


while everyone swam...


And played with ginormous water cannons.


After a delicious dinner we all headed outside to watch the fireworks and eat "pop pops." You'll notice that Lala has moved on to double pop pops. She's got a little bit of a pop pop addiction.


Fun times had by all!! Happy Independence Day!!

Jace's 1st REAL Camping Trip

This weekend we finally got to take Jace on his first REAL camping trip. We are talking 4-wheeling to the middle of the forest, sleeping in tents, hanging out with the bears kind of camping. Yeah, totally not kidding about the bears. As we drove out of our campsite the first day a big brown bear ran right in front of our Jeep, followed seconds later by a big beautiful deer. We ruined that bear's lunch and made that deer's day for sure!

This is our favorite place to camp. It is VERY off the beaten path and pretty secluded, but totally worth it to camp in such a beautiful spot. (That is our friend and super awesome camping buddy Mike in the pic below.)


Right beside the rocks where Jace is standing in the picture above is this creek...

It's a big part of what makes this camping spot so awesome!!

We were in the Jeep on one of the fun trails near camp and Jeremy hit a big rut that he couldn't see because of the shadows. His toolbox literally launched into the air and all 104 of his tools rained down on the trail. It was actually pretty hilarious. Jeremy dubbed this trail "Toolbox."


Saturday night we went up to Bald Mountain. The mountain looks out over Shaver Lake (and quite a bit of Fresno/Clovis/Sanger.) Every year on the Saturday of 4th of July weekend there is a boat parade and fireworks show on the lake. The view of the show from Bald Mountain is AMAZING! We got up the mountain early to make sure we got a good spot. We got to hang out, bbq, and enjoy the view while we waited...




Once the sun was out of sight the fireworks began...


From the top of the mountain we were able to count 5 different fireworks shows, in at least 3 cities throughout the valley, that we could see. Completely awesome!

A fun first camping trip for Jace for sure!

Slip Slidin Away....

Jeremy and I started talking about getting Jace a Slip N Slide before the weather was even hot enough to use one. lol. It was a "Summer must," we decided, and we were right. All three of us had a blast slipping and sliding! Yes, all 3 of us were in the backyard playing in the sprinklers and Slip N Slide (which some of us hadn't done in over 20 years!!) Seriously, best $3.50 I have ever spent (Gotta love Target!)

At first Jace slipped more than he slid....


But once Daddy gave him a little push he was in business!





HAD to get a shot of Daddy...


Best part of all is a kiddo tuckered out from all the fun!