A little of this, a little of that...

This past week I started working out in the mornings.  It's lovely scenery before 6 AM.  

The boys and I decided to check out the used furniture store in town to see if there were any furnishing for the lake house.  They like this gigantic sectional couch and made themselves right at home!

Got him!  We got a mouse in our boat Sunday, and we caught him Tuesday night.  The boys were so excited!

The boys built a cardboard fort to sleep in. 

It had a guard (Mr. Cuddles), a welcome mat, and a swinging door.  They had several nerf guns in there too, in case of an ambush. 

Wednesday we met Amber and Josie at their neighborhood pond. The boys did a bit of kayaking and some RC boat racing.  That thing flies!

Wednesday night we went to a Bucks game to watch the AA tournament.  It was a great game!

On Thursday Luke's friend, Rogen, came to visit. They both love STEM so I asked them if they'd like to build boats and float them in our creek.  They used the freezer for a work surface, but decided to stand on the skateboard for a booster. 

All they need for a boat is cardboard, scissors, tin foil, and lots of duct tape!

Thursday night we went to World Market for more window shopping.  They again found a great chair they think would be "just right" and demonstrated for me. 

After dinner we went to "Boy Heaven" at the creek so we could recover Luke's shoe that he lost during the boat floating.  Luke decided he needed goggles and a swim suit to get all the way to the bottom of the creek. He's a riot! 

He decided it was too shallow to float, and just stuck his head under water.  He came up after  two glances underwater and said "it's dark as night in there!" We eventually found his shoe, but just by kicking our feet around. What fun is that? 

Saturday we took the drift boat onto the Yellowstone River for a fishing float.  It was a gorgeous day. 

Luke was fly fishing and did a great job with his casting. 

Josh did great with his fly fishing too, and was the only one of us to catch a fish. 

We were kind of racing a storm...the sky on the left was foreboding and the sky on the right was cheerful. 

This is a strange little panoramic picture of the boat.  I liked it...strange as it is. 

My boys!  I love these boys.  

Luke was set on fishing up to his waist.  Who knows what he was after. 

This is my version of Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It.  Only I was trying to free a snagged line and was very clumsy. I'm dedicated if nothing else. 

This is Josh's fish.  It was our skunk-buster, but we had to get it back in the water fast so there are no good pictures of it. 

This picture makes me laugh.  Mike wanted to stand on his new birthday cooler to see how sturdy it is.  

Luke is still small enough to fish in the bow of the boat.  

We came home for a backyard fire.  These two take a fireside picture every summer, and we realized that we hadn't taken one yet this summer. 

Sunday we got to ride on a friend's boat and it was pretty amazing.  Josh was surfing with his WBP hat to be the coolest kid around. 

Happy Birthday to Mike

The boys went to a YMCA day camp where they played football in the morning and swam in the afternoon.  I picked them up at lunch one day, and caught the end of a scrimmage.  Josh threw a touchdown!

Happy Birthday to Mike!  We went to dinner at Sidewinders and took a lovely Jeep ride to get there.  

Luke loved riding in the front seat, and Mike loved riding in the back! 

Friday night was the fair, and we had a great time.  We ran into Spencer, riding with Josh, and met Kyler for some rides too.  I am glad they like the Spider.  I loved it when I was their age.  

Kyler's pig was too small to auction off, so Barnard agreed to buy it from him privately.  We had to go visit the swine, and Kyler got down and petted it.  How sweet!?

Ashytn's pig did great, and she got a purple ribbon!  Bernard bought her pig too, so we had to capture a picture of  the buyer and the seller. :) 

This is the handshake after a few hours of negotiating the price.  Kyler did a great job negotiating against Mike. 

We had a great time at the fair, the boys rode a zillion rides and had a great time!

Saturday we headed to Holter Lake to meet the grandparents and most of the Fontanas.  We set up our camp quickly and went straight to the bar for lunch. 

The view from the deck at Indian Trails, our favorite little lake bar. 

After lunch we did some tubing waiting for the wind to die down.  This is Luke with Cassie and Sierra. 

This is Bonnie, Luke, and Cassie.  Bonnie said that Luke didn't stop talking the whole time, and Luke said Bonnie didn't stop laughing the whole time. 

 Boating wore Sammy out.  She gets so nervous when her people are out of the boat, it must stress her out 

Josh did some surfing for us.  He's so fun to watch!

Luke surfed for a long time too.  He did great, he's learning so quickly! 

I love windblown hair! 

The boys eagerly read the signs at our campground, and it made me realize how little they've read this summer.  This is their #summerreading in a nutshell. ha ha

Learning and camping, what's better? 

Luke built this fire by himself!  Daddy helped/watched, but it was all Luke and it was a great fire!

Josh loves this hammock! It's very comfortable, we all tried it!

Sunday morning coffee by the fire is Mike's favorite. 

Josh is super handy around the camp, he made us hot water for coffee (and tea) and oatmeal! 

Love this boy

We have so much to talk about! 

Luke's  good little boat driver. I love two watch him grow confidence!

Our little surfer dude. 

Sunday wake boarding. 

 Josh is getting good at wake boarding, jumping and having fun back there.

This is the first time Luke has wakeboarded since he chipped his tooth two weekends ago. We're proud of him for getting back on the board and for having fun! 

Josh even skied, making another trifecta water sports weekend for him.  

Luke surfed and had fun.  He did a transfer from the left side of the wake to the right using a rope this weekend.  It was fun to watch him keep trying until he got it! 

Just as we were leaving we saw people jumping off this cliff.  Josh asked if he could do it, and we said yes but no one was going to go with him.  He swam in from the boat, and just walked up and jumped off.  He was so brave!  We think this is the biggest cliff he's done.