Priest Lake

We spent a great August weekend with our friends at Priest Lake. 7 Families, 23 kids, 9 tents, 2 boats, 1 catamaran and lots of beach toys. The kids will have great memories of spending days on the beach and evenings around the campfire with their friends.

We had great water skiing in the mornings and evenings and gentle breezes during the day for the catamaran. I still don't know if I'm over the work of packing and unpacking - but it was definitely a fun trip. The kids loved the beach and spent at least 14 hours a day in their swimming suits.

The adults had lots of fun water time too. The Dads spent an afternoon trying to figure out the air chair. I wish I could have been on the boat to see that!

The Moms got out too. Here's Cassi and Erin skiing double. Way to go girls!

An unexpected wind and rain storm blew the catamaran off the beach. Kirk had to swim for it. But no damage was done.

Some of the girls had the crazy idea of doing a polar dip. We did say they couldn't get out of the tent until 7am, but it still seemed too early to be swimming.

Got Milk?

I made my first purchase of raw milk this week. We drove to a small farm not far from our house - complete with barefoot children, chickens on the front porch & cows in the meadow. We spent $5 for a gallon of milk in a large olive jar from the fridge in the garage.

There are very strong opinions on both sides of the fence regarding raw milk. You can check the information from both sides and decide for yourselves. Many argue that raw milk is healthier. See this website for more details. The other side argues that pasteurization is essential in avoiding the risk of bacterial contamination. See this website for more details.

I'm not sure which side of the fence I sit on. I've always put a gallon of milk into my cart at WalMart and not thought too much more about it. So why the raw milk purchase???

Purely NOSTALGIA.

When Kirk heard a friend mention she was buying raw milk, it reminded of him drinking raw milk growing up. He also reminisces about powdered milk (which he likes for some unknown reason). Two extremes, I know.

So we came home with a gallon of raw milk. What did the kids want for dinner? Cereal to go with it. Perfect. Kirk showed us how to skim off the cream and we had a delicious dinner.

Fair Results

The results are in. We went to the fair tonight and came out pretty well with our photo entries. 2 blue ribbons 2 red ribbons Yeah!

The Fair

The Bonner County Fair begins this coming week. We love our local fair. Kirk and I enjoy it mostly because it's small - which means easy parking, small crowds and seeing friends and neighbors. The girls love all of the animals and the horse rides and the face painting.

One of Kirk's more recent hobbies (he has many of them) is photography. This past year he challenged our family to submit a photo at the Fair. We've just had them printed and are submitting them today. Here are the photos we've entered. Hannah

'Sophie in the Morning' - domestic animal photography

Kirk

'Sebastian' - wildlife action photography

Kirk

'Green Monarchs' - landscape photography

Kirk

'Half Moon over Hope' - sunset photography

Kirsten

'Toothy' - child portraiture

Kirsten 'Sisters & Best Friends' - family portraiture

Kirsten 'Miss Photogenic' - black and white photography

As you can tell, I didn't get too creative. Just stuck with the standby photos of my kids. But I was impressed with how Kirk has developed his creative side. Hannah, too, was excited and really started figuring out how to use a camera. I'll update our standings after we visit the fair this week.

Snack Time

Isabelle (who turned 2 in April) is growing up quickly. We are discovering what an independent child she can be. For example, we had this interesting experience yesterday...

I came home to find her walking around the house eating a bag of microwave popcorn. Annoyed that her dad was not supervising the snacking, I started a conversation that went something like this...

me: 'Kirk, why is Izzy eating popcorn in the living room?'

Kirk: 'What popcorn?'

me: 'The popcorn she is dropping all over the house.'

Kirk: 'I didn't give her popcorn.'

me: 'Maren, did you make popcorn for Izzy?'

Maren: 'No, but can I have some too?'

me: 'Izzy, where did you get popcorn?'

Izzy: 'Make it MYSELF' (said really proudly while sticking out her chest)

She then went on to tell me how she found scissors in the drawer to open the packaging with and put the bag in the microwave and turned it on. After the explanation, she popped a piece in her mouth and smiled proudly.

The bag was only half popped, which I thought was quite amazing. She could have easily put it in to for too much time and burned the popcorn. How she figured all of this out after only watching us make popcorn a few times amazes me.

Let's hope she doesn't try to make cookies next!