SRRYJ 2015

We love the annual Snake River Roaring Youth Jam. What's not to love? Free art projects for the kids to do. Beautiful scenery along the Idaho Falls greenbelt. Messy fun with paint. This year we upped the ante by inviting along cousins and grandparents.

Miriam driving the paper airplane bench with Cooper as her co-pilot.

Winnie, Miri and Kelsey at the Junk Jam.

Bekah tossing balls into a toilet. Seriously.

Helping Winnie contribute to the Jackson Pollock-style painting.

Taking her painting seriously.

Winnie wearing the glasses Analee made from pipe cleaners.

Analee made a pirate hook for cousin Charlotte.

Miriam, Analee and Emma at the paper-making station.

Eating a picnic lunch at Civitan Park.

To see more pictures, start here.

Island Park camping

We've had our travel trailer for more than a year now, and it has absolutely revolutionized camping for me. Instead of having to pack everything in the back of the truck and set it all up at camp, we can throw it in the trailer, haul it up there and have everything we need. Besides, I feel more secure in a trailer versus a tent, and with four little ones, that's a load off my mind.

Before, we have taken the trailer to my brother's house in Washington, archery camp in Island Park, and the cabin. All those times, we were part of a larger group. We decided we needed to take it out more times this year and enjoy it as a family.

So we hitched it to the truck and hauled it to the Island Park reservoir at the very end of July.

Sidenote: We HAD intended to go on this trip three weeks prior, but that weekend the weather was horrible. Horrible as in "there's a tornado in Idaho" horrible. We were glad we stayed home. The weekend after that, Seth's cousin got married, and we wanted to be around for the festivities. The weekend after that, Seth had a kidney stone AND jury duty (what a lucky guy!), so after putting it off for nearly a month, we made it to our camping spot.

Rather than going to an RV park or a campground, we meandered through public land until we found a beautiful spot on the edge of the reservoir. Then we spent two days floating the river (twice!) through Box Canyon and playing in the water by our camp.

I don't have any photos of the floats (because I value my camera), so picture Winnie, Miriam and I in one little raft (we figured Winnie would scream bloody murder if she wasn't in the same raft as I) and Seth, Bekah and Ana in the other. The first float on Friday was fun and uneventful. The second float on Saturday, we had the same configuration, but Seth's raft hit a few more rocks this time. The bottom air chambers of the raft tore out, and that left them sitting lower in the water (and therefore hitting more rocks) than before. I found a place to stop my raft and waded out to the middle of the river to help them stop theirs so we could reconfigure the ships' manifests. With Bekah, Winnie, Miri and I in one boat and Seth and Ana sitting on the edge of theirs, we made it to the car without further incident.

On to everything I did take pictures of!

Winnie and her "monkey bunkey" in the trailer. She bought the stuffed monkey at the public library with the book bucks she earned with the summer reading program. She insisted it come camping with us.

Miriam in the trailer.

Bekah reading her Kindle in her top bunk of the trailer.

Sitting around the fire cooking s'mores.

Adorable Winnie and her enormous s'more.

Rebekah with her delicious marshmallow.

Seth with a mouthful of s'more.

It was the first time we've taken Peach camping. She chased gulls, barked at cows and swam all over the lake.

Miriam and Seth in the lake.

Analee and Rebekah floating in the water.

The girls in the water under Seth's watchful care.

Peach and Winnie headed to the water. Winnie paddled all around the edge of the lake in her float.

To see more pictures, start here.

Gwenism #9

After coming home from a date, we checked on the girls in bed. Winnie (the little stinker) was still awake, but dutifully staying in her bed.

Andrea: Did you have fun at Grandma's house?
Gwen: Yes.
Andrea: What did you eat for dinner? (Knowing it was spaghetti.)
Gwen: Sss ... meatballs.
Andrea: And what else?
Gwen: Sss ... some other food.

Apparently she has a problem pronouncing "spaghetti" and found a way around it.

Meeting Oakley

It was obvious we've got a houseful of girls when we went to the hospital to meet Tyson and McKall's new edition and heard a chorus of "Awww!"s from our offspring. These kids absolutely doted on sweet little Oakley. Everyone got a turn to hold her.

The girls all wanted another round of baby-holding, but we told them we ought to give Oakley (and her parents) a rest and respectfully made an exit.

Cress Creek

Once our softball season was over, I decided we needed to do weekly activities to keep us outside and active. So last week we went to Cress Creek.

Four Grover girls hiking up to the creek. 

Everyone had fun looking at the water cress and crossing the creek until ...

... Gwendolen misstepped and ended up with a shoe full of sludge. I had to wash out the sock and shoe, then she was constrained to riding in the sling the rest of the way (which made it more of a workout for me).

Rebekah with the pocket knife she found in the parking lot, Miriam, shoeless/sockless Winnie and Analee.

Everyone loves a parade

We celebrated the Fourth with our usual sit-on-the-curb-staring-straight-into-the-sun-sweating-buckets-and-loving-every-minute-of-it parade. Seth and my dad went early enough to save us a place by the road, and I hauled the kids to our seats in time to see bagpipes, flags and horses. We had the pleasure of attending the parade with our usual crowd (my parents, Uncle T and Aunt McKall, Bennet) and a few extras. (Uncle Ethan's family was here on a visit.)

Miriam sporting the festive headband Aunt Jessica made for her and (her current favorite pattern) cheetah spots.

Grandma Scott holding Winnie on her lap (also sporting her headband).

Rebekah and Analee wearing matching skirts and waving matching flags.

The sun and heat proved to be more than Miriam could bear.

Baseball

This year we made the switch from the Ucon baseball league to the Iona league. They have more teams per age group (which results in fewer byes), better maintained fields (with covered dugouts!), snow cones for sale at both fields (with fun flavor combinations such as "Lego" and "Star Wars"!), and a longer season and tournament for the older teams.

Another bonus! Analee and Rebekah were able to play on the same team, which made for one fewer game we had to attend each day.

I chose not to coach Miriam's T-ball team this year (I had nose surgery the day of their first game, and I didn't know how long I'd be down and out), but when Bekah and Ana's coach asked if anyone wanted to be her assistant coach, I explained my situation and told her I'd be happy to help as soon as I felt better. No one else gave her a better offer, so I became the assistant coach of the flaming neon yellow/green Yankee Ponies.

Miriam's team was the Iron Men (or "Iornmen," if you believe their team pictures), and she got to play with her two cousins again this year.

Miriam was a great catcher.

Putting the ball on the tee.

Cheering with her team. (She was one of only two girls on the team again this year.)

Congratulating the other team.

Eating her post-game Gogurt.

Our Yankee Ponies played so well during the regular season that we went into the tournament seeded second. Unfortunately, we didn't take second in the tournament, but our girls played well, had fun and learned a lot throughout the season.

Bekah started out the season wanting to hit a home run SO BADLY that she had a hard time staying in the batter's box she was reaching so hard. She ended up hitting five this season and feeling very content.

But I had to remind her many, many times that, as a runner, it's not her job to watch the ball. She got better after I chided her on several occasions.

She has turned out to be an incredible fielder, too. Bekah got several girls out throughout the season. After getting used to all the catcher's gear, Rebekah decided that was her favorite position.

Scrawny little Analee surprised me with her scrappiness on the field. She loved playing infield (especially pitcher) and got her fair share of outs as well.

Analee has quite the arm. She can pelt that thing hard. Whenever she carefully aimed, she could get that ball to her target in no time.

The pitching machine was new to Ana, but she proved to be a dependable batter. 

I had fun learning all the girls' names, coaching third base and spraying them with the water bottle.

Next year, we'll be back to three teams (Bekah will move up to slow pitch), but I won't be having surgical instruments up my nose, so I'll probably coach at least one team.

And Winnie will undoubtedly continue to amuse herself with rocks, dirt and broken toys discovered in the dugout.

To see more baseball pictures, start here.

Cousin zoo trip

Three Grover women decided to wrangle nine children at the Tautphaus Park Zoo a couple of weeks ago. Besides the intense pre-noon heat and losing two children (only for a minute!), everything went swimmingly.

Four Grover girls and a Wilde boy riding a tiger.

Miriam brushing a goat.

Winnie hatching from an egg.

Analee being eaten by a zebra skull.

Rebekah growling at a lion.