Third Annual Entiat Escape

Another year another great weekend away from it all with some of our favorite people.  Every year our trip to Entiat with Gina and Carrie and their families gets better and better.  It could be that this was the first year we were 100% diaper free or it could be the fact that the kids were able to be out of site for a few minutes at a time without too much worry.  Really I think it was just how much of the true feeling of summer the weekend captured.  Looking back at my own childhood summer meant long days in the sun, playing in the water until my fingers and toes looked like prunes and just enjoying every minute of the day.  We enjoyed our time together in Entiat to the fullest and loved having the kids all together.  

There is no end to the number of ways we could fill our days with fun and in our typical fashion we tried to do it all.  Here the kids and I are out for a morning kayak ride around the lake.  I wonder how long we'll all three be able to fit in a kayak designed to hold one?  I also wonder if I'll be brave enough to take two kids out at the same time again.  Luckily no one got any big ideas about rocking the boat.

The pool was a favorite spot for all as most of the crew has become swimmers since last summer. We had kids, floats, and water guns going in constant motion. 

The entire crew as we tried to get a group shot of them jumping into the pool. How many of them couldn't wait for us to count 1...2...3?  After the first time when we had some random jumpers they all thought it was too funny to be the one who jumped early.  We never got a perfect shot but we did have fun trying.

We decided to let Ben just run until he couldn't go anymore rather than fight putting him down for a nap when all his friends were still playing.  Surprisingly he fell asleep before lunch and long before his usual nap time all on his own.

Our usual group picture of the kids - this years line up:  McKenzie (5), Halle (4), Atticus (4), Ben (3), Kaden (8) and Mikelle (6).  Fun fact about all these little blonde kids: all of them except Ben have blue eyes.  

{ 2012 }

{ 2011 }

{ 2010 }

 And the grand finale and a major item off my own personal bucket list - drum roll... I finally learned how to get my camera to take a picture of sparklers so we could write something.  A big thank you to those who indulged in making this dream become a reality.  I still smile when I see the pictures!  This will probably become a yearly tradition as well to see what we can spell over the years.