The Cummings Family

JULY

At the end of June, first of July my sister suggested that we have a Cousin Campout with the nieces and nephews. It was a 3 day, 2 night deal and alot of fun!! 12 kids + a lake and sand + a campfire + night games + crafts + fireworks + a scavenger hunt + a tent = a whole lot of FUN and memories for the kids!! I'm so glad that we could get the kids together and do this. I don't know about the other cousins but my boys definately did not want it to end - although they played their little hearts out - if it would of lasted for 9 days they still would of been saying that they didn't want it to end. I am glad that they love to play with their cousins on both sides of the family.

Dillon bein' silly!

All of the cousins in the sponge painted shirts they made. OK - don't look too close. When I grabbed a white t-shirt for Logan to paint I thought I grabbed the right size - it's a tad small. Looks like he's wearing a belly shirt! Ha, ha - he didn't seem to mind though.

At Rigby Lake...

The Scavenger Hunt... they had to do some pretty wild and crazy stuff but the more creative the better. Just some of the fun and hilarious pic's...

Yellow Team doing something creative off the trampoline for the hunt.

This one just makes me laugh out loud every time I see it! That is Sierra, my niece. :)

Red Team showing their muscels for the hunt.

Jason about to eat cold gravy out of grandma's fridge for part of the hunt! Yucky...

The Green Team showing their muscels for part of the hunt.

David likes to spend time in the yard and garden. I think it helps him to relax after a long day. Mason has started going out with him and is usually eating the strawberries while David weeds the garden or something. But this night he was eating dirt clods. Yep....

and trying to share them with me too. Yum... yum...

My honey. :)

"Another one, Mom?"

"They are pretty tasty..."

Love that time of day when dinner is done and the sun is starting to set and it cools off a bit - evening. The boys like to spend their summer evenings either jumping on the tramp or riding around out front on their bikes, scooters - basically anything with wheels. Mason is no exception - he loves this fire truck.

OK - notice the sling in the picture - yes, a broken arm. Bryson and Dillon were sword fighting on the trampoline with wrapping paper rolls and they got a little rough and Dillon pushed Bryson off the trampoline. Boys will be boys, I guess. Compression fracture - jammed his humorous bone up into his shoulder bone - because it was so high up they didn't cast it and he had to wear it for 3 weeks and try not to move it much. Kind of hard when its summer and your a 9 year old boy.

Then it was time for the annual Searle family reunion. It was up at Cottonwood Lake in Wyoming. It was such nice weather, hot and sunny. It was alot of fun and it was good to see and be with family. It is so pretty up there. So many different kinds of wild flowers. Joe made 2 of these dingies and everyone loved rowing out onto the lake. They were awesome. The lake water was freeeeezzzing so not many were actually swimming in it but there was a rope swing and yes, my husband took the plunge, 3 times I think. Talk about brave - I barely could stand to have my feet in the water for a few seconds.

Dillon, Bryson, David, and Jason.

This is the last time that David jumped off the rope swing. Whew!! It's the kind of cold that takes your breath away when you hit the water. I think he's glad he did it though.

Dillon waiting for one of the boats to come back.

Bryson and Jason.

Logan, dipping his toes in the water. Too cute. :)

We had decided that we were going to stay an extra night. It was so nice and relaxing. Mason playing with water bottles and telling David about it.

He was so filthy dirty - oh well, a little dirt never hurt anyone, right? He's happy and that's all that matters.

On our way home we were able to make it in time for the Blue Angels show. We just pulled off the highway next to the airport. They were so awesome and loud!! I loved it and so did all the boys (biggest boy of them all - David). Well, it held Logan's attention for about 10 minutes and then he was saying that they were too loud and so he went to find his own little adventure.

This is what he found. It was really really HOT this day so he had been sweating but isn't he so cute?

Then there is Mason who is just a little busy body. Always, always into something. He is so funny - he has such a cute little personality. He loves to wear hats - this time it's his shorts.

He loves these lazer gun glasses. Too funny.

And then there is this picture - first time on the trampoline. He wasn't too sure about the whole bouncy bouncy thing. Made him a little nervous. Love this picture though. :)

David's sister from California came for a visit with her cute family. She has the 2 cutest little girls ever!! We got together for almost a full week every day. Lot's of fun and it was good to see the Cummings side of the family. I seem to forget to take my camera alot so I didn't get any pictures - guess I just need to leave it in the suburban so it's ready to go when I need it. There were also 2 baptisms this month. David's 2 nieces got baptized. I can't believe they are that old. There are 5 birthdays in July on the Cummings side - Kylee, Jake, Jordyn, Ella and Shane so we celebrated all of those too. It was kind of wierd celebrating without Grandma and Grandpa Cummings - we missed ya - but it was still fun. Then later in the month David's sister had a House Party for Kleenex Hand Towels - introducing a new product. My kids had a blast - they got to finger paint, make their own soap and decorate cupcakes - point is for them to get exptremely messy and use the wipes - which they did. Lot's of fun - thanks again Andrea. Thanks for the pictures Jo.

Finger painting masterpieces.

Making their own soap.

We also started swimming lessons. Although Bryson was able to take his sling off his arm wasn't strong enough to swim so he had to wait for the next session. Dillon did great! He is a natural in the water - I asked him if someday he would like to swim in races, he just smiled and shook his head, "No... I just like to swim for fun." He isn't very competitive - he has a really big heart.

This was Logan's first year - level 1. He was all excited about it saying that he was going to take swimming lessons with the boys this year. Then the day we were going he says, "Nope. I'm not going mom." Ummm... yes, you are. Then I realized that he thought he was supposed to get in there and swim by himself. I told him that his teachers would help him. That seemed to do the trick and he went in just fine and did a really good job. He needs to feel a little more

comfortable in the water with his back float but other than that he is a regular little fish!

Getting ready to do Motor Boat, Motor Boat. He loves this part in the lesson. As you can tell from the picture below.

WOW! I can't believe how fast summer has come and gone. Next Monday is Labor Day, the official end to summer - although the weather here has already changed a bit and you can feel a chill in the air. Fall is on it's way. This post is a short recap of some of the fun things we did over the summer.

JUNE

The first week in June we went to my brothers cabin in Island Park again. We had lots of fun watching old classic movies, playing games, ping pong championship games, and playing the wii and exploring the dam at Island Park Resevoir and also headed into Yellowstone National Park again.

In between all of that David even got some relaxing reading time in.

Bryson and Dillon did the Junior Ranger Program at the park this year. They really enjoyed doing it and we learned alot of interesting things. One thing they had to do was listen to a Park Ranger. This guy was great - very fun to listen to.

Logan in one of the Gift Shops wearing a coon skin cap and trying out the pin wheels. Silly boy!

The boys after they had completed the program and earned their Junior Park badges.

Among the usual buffalo, elk and deer we saw a wolf and interesting water fowl. We talked to some people from Alabama and found out that we had just missed a mama bear with cubs take down an elk and another bear catching fish in the river. Next time we go we have got to work on our timing more. I have yet to see a bear in Yellowstone National Park. Next time for sure. :)

Then I headed off to Cub Scout Day Camp up at Krupp Scout Hollow with Bryson and Dillon. The boys always love this. This was Dillon's first year and he said it was awesome! It was a Circus theme. The start of the day - bright and early.

Waiting and ready to go!

Dillon trying to outrun this massive huge beach ball that they were playing soccer with. Bryson said this was his favorite thing there this year.

The climbing wall.

The tight rope walk - with eyes closed.

Playing around at lunch time.

Archery - they wouldn't let me get in front of the archery shooters (I don't know why! :) ) so this is the back of Bryson.

I snuck one in and got Dillon real quick.

Center Ring - jumbo marbles game.

Bike Course - this one was alot of fun for them too. They had a great time and didn't want to see the day end.

Winding down with baseball. This year they played minor league and it was a whole different ball game (no pun intended :) ). They could steal bases and it is player pitch. They really liked it and had alot of fun with it. At the very last game the coach told Bryson that he was going to be catcher because the catcher couldn't be there. He did a really good job for not playing that position before. I was really proud of him. I think they won all their games but one, but who's counting, right? It was a good experience for them and they had fun.

Dillon, getting ready to bat.

Bryson - up to bat.

Aunt Jo came and got Logan for his "Day with Aunt Jo". She took him to McDonald's and to the Zoo. He LoVeD every minute of it! He talked about the zoo for days after. Thanks again Jo!

In between everything going on there were some moments to just relax and enjoy, like the boys sitting on the porch swing one evening eating popcorn before bed.

Logan making Craisin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dad and being able to lick the spatula! Yum!

and reading, reading, reading. :)

Then at the end of the month brings Pack Meeting. We had another Raingutter Regatta. Another first for Dillon. This is always a fun event. The boys did such a good job on making their boats. Dillon's was a police boat and Bryson's was a detective boat. They designed their own boats and did a great job.