2 weeks into summer - 2 river trips

It's already June 20th. Which is also West Virginia's birthday in case you were wondering. We've been out of school for two weeks, but it doesn't feel all thought much like summer.  We don't have much of a routine yet except going to bed late and at least the kids sleep in until about 7:30 am or so. Our days have been filled with baseball, preparing for Big Kick Soccer Camp and Young Life camp, work days for camp, swimming lessons, and a lot of rain in the evenings this week. There's barely a minute to sit and think. But we have been to the river twice already which is always our favorite part of summer. The plan is to make it back twice in July and once in August.

 There's always swimming. We (well the kids) were in the river earlier than years past. Usually it's higher this time of year. But our first trip it was lower, but still too cold for me.

The kids like floating from the dock in a tube. We tie a ski rope to the dock and let them float.

Mayor John (he's not really the mayor) bought a new-to-him pontoon boat.

Breakfast on the front porch is one of my favorite parts of the day. Ben makes bacon and scrambled eggs made in a little bacon grease with toast made from homemade bread.

We walked to town (a little over a mile) a couple of times and done some bike riding.

Both kids first time crossing the bridge on foot

We play lots of games.

The view from the overlook.

Ted and Pat (my mom's cousin) really enjoy each other's company. They 

haven't seen each other from last summer and had some catching up to do.

Sophie isn't road ready yet so she does some riding in the yard.

On our most recent visit (Sunday-Tuesday this week), we went to Cook's Forest with Uncle Jim and my Mom. This is the fire tower that we climbed. Um, yeah, it was super high and we only stayed a minute at the top.

My mom took this picture from the top. That's us on the ground.

Cook's Forest has enormous trees, a lot of them 300 years old.

We were tired after lots of hiking!

Dad and John cut down a tree while we were gone so we had a lot of cleaning up to do when we got back. Ted didn't really use the chain saw. Just posing with the heavy machinery because Mr. John's son owns a business that sells Husqvarna.

There's always chips and dip with Gary Pap.

And Millie is quite the pup she used to be. She poops out much earlier in the day and usually takes several days to recover after we get home. She does love a good swim in the river though.

 

River days are the best!