Twins Lake 2011

This was my second year joining the Bruce Family Twin Trip.  Shane and I didn't get to be there the whole time because our school schedules didn't allow for a whole week off from classes. The girls were lucky and rode up with Don and Debbie so they could be there the whole week.  We worked plenty of late nights leading up to the Wednesday we could leave.  This being my second year, the sight of the ferry marked the moment I felt myself take a deep breath and realize we were not at work (and thankfully NOT going to be for four entire days!). 

Sigh.........deep breath........and another sigh.....ahhhhhh.

Our humble abode for the week, Cabin 20

Is it just me or is being on a boat, any boat, in the middle of summer, one of the most relaxing things to do?  Even with excited, hyper kids begging to be pulled on the tube within 5' earshot, it is one of the best ways to spend a summer day.  Apparently, Isabella feels the same, this is content if I ever saw it:

Can't you just feel the sun and cool breeze?

Nicole joined us Thursday night. Oh-la-la...what a pretty girl!  We had a terrific time sitting at Cabin 20's picnic table under the dark sky laughing with Shane after the girls had gone to bed.  We took a great morning walk along the lake and she spent the full Friday with us on the boat.  It was so great to have her visit!

For some reason I can't get enough pictures of the girls with their goggles on!  It just cracks me up to see them wearing them while they're walking around.  What a fleeting period of time it seems that kids do this...it is only acceptable for so long and then the turning point where it suddenly becomes 'not cool' anymore.  But until then, expect more Goggle Girl pictures! I love it!

Shane's Dad and Uncle Bob are infamous for their pranks pulled on each other.  This year Uncle Bob towed Don's boat away from the dock and put it up for sale. Oh...I've been corrected...the kids put it up for sale :) He recruited help from 4 Bruce/Everitt kids this year.  

I think Don took this really well.

One of the things I came to appreciate on my return trip to Twin was that nothing about Twin changed from last year!  It seems like so much has happened in this last year, lots of change, crazy work schedules, and well, just life happening every day.  We took a ride through the lily pads to Rainbow Beach to get an ice cream cone and I was surprised to see some of the landmarks last year that I found so beautiful are still exactly as they were. 

 
Kennedy and Brady ventured out in the raft together with Belle as their trusting passenger.  It reminded me of summers at Sandpoint learning to row a canoe.  Derek and I would be brave and venture out beyond the docks, always staying near the shore for our safety net.  I thought this was so great they wanted to row out by themselves, something they didn't do last summer.  It was also hilarious to watch them each try to row individual paddles and not spin in circles!

Eventually, they figured out it was easier to have just one person row, and Kennedy got elected.

Isabella and I played Marco Polo:

And, she was really brave and "swam" in the lake:

Shane loungin:

I know you're wondering where the token bird picture is!  Not to disappoint, here it is! Not sure if you can see, but there's a baby bird in this one.  So cute, for part of the time this 'lil baby was riding on her mama's back:

Tyler and Heidi have a great tubing boat and the Brady and Kennedy couldn't seem to get enough of tubing.  Sounds also pretty much like summers at Sandpoint!

Aunt Nicole even got in on the action!  As Brady kept saying, "This is wicked!"

The last night we were there Shane, Kennedy, and I took a walk. 

I sure love this guy

She sure loves this guy, too

Creepy squirrel that kept chirping at us long after we left him alone on the trail

 Good bye, Twins Lake.  Until next year...

Double Digits Kennedy

Kennedy went into the double digits this year, the big 1-0!!! She wanted to have her birthday party at Twins Lake (as she calls it - it's really called Twin Lakes) so we celebrated last week.

She wanted a SpongeBob theme this year....I have to say BIG yuck to this...Sponge Bob annoys me!  But we obliged and Shane got a bug in his ear to make a SpongeBob cake.  He is so cute - he was more excited about decorating the cake than a kid on Christmas morning.  We found a picture on the web and went to work.  One SpongeBob double layer red velvet with cream cheese frosting cake coming right up...

That may (or may not) be a bottle of Bud Light Lime in the picture...a little music, a little booze, we had a really fun evening in the kitchen together.

Oh, and did I forget to mention a fondant Patrick?  Not so tasty but cute.

 Kennedy was really excited about her cake:

I declared 2010 as the "year of the gurgle pot" - everyone we know got one :)  2011 has been our "year of the apron." I have some very cute aprons now thanks to some great birthday presents so we got one for Kennedy.  We found this in a cute boutique candy store in Walla Walla.

Kennedy's big present from us was a guitar.  She has been wanting one for awhile now and loves watching her Daddy when he's playing. Shane is a really great guitar player and I'm excited to see them play together now.

Every night before we tucked in for bed they had a mini-lesson together in our cabin.  It was really great to see them bonding this way.  And of most instruments that are painfully hard on the ears to listen to when someone is learning, the guitar just isn't one of them.  It sounded really good and by the end of the week she almost had mastered Mary had a Little Lamb on her own.

Birdies & Eagles

I had an amazing round...well, maybe not an good round, but I had an amazing two holes of golf this weekend!

I got a BIRDIE on a par three (hole 8) and an EAGLE on a par three (hole 10)...yep, an EAGLE on a par 3 is a HOLE-IN-ONE!!!!!

Here was the front nine scorecard...we were both playing so bad we decided to not keep score. 

Then, on the back nine, Shane had a great shot on hole 10:

After I hit, we drove up to the green and couldn't find my ball.  I was sure I had come in "hot" and rolled it off the back of the green.  Shane looked, I looked, and then he looked in the cup to find this:

Hall - le - lu -jah !!!!!  Can you believe it?

Shane was so happy for me and I was grinning ear to ear!  The back nine card looked like this (we were by then soooooooo excited and distracted we decided not to keep score :)

 

It was an awesome experience!

River Ride

Shane worked with Ryan on Ryan's boathouse all last Friday laying tile on the patio.  He decided to take us to Anthony's on the river for a great boat ride and dinner.  It was a ton of fun and super relaxing to be out of the water. 

I even managed to snap some pictures of water foul.  I'm honestly not sure what these are...I thought geese had black beaks and feet?  They seem a little big for ducks? I don't know, but true to my bird infatuation, I had to snap a few pictures.  Ryan even did a round-a-bout them just for me so I could get a shot in better lighting...so kind of him.

Anthony's Restaurant

View from the patio

Concert in the Park

We took the girls last Thursday night to a concert in the park.  The band was called Third Date.  Kennedy is a very inquisitive young lady and the band's name prompted quite a few questions about why a band would name themselves that.  Neither Shane or I knew for some reason.

Turns out "concert in the park" had tons of food booths, a jumpie house, and vendor booths with free stickers and stuff.  The girls had fun fun fun.

One of the vendors was giving away balloon microphones - it was almost as tall as Isabella.  Kennedy used a lot of hot air blowing them both up :)

Isabella posed on purpose for this picture.  She has become a little diva in front of the camera like her big sis.

I asked the girls to stand with their mikes and Kennedy oh so compliantly agreed.  Isabella on the other hand had something else in mind with her mike......

Which prompted this.........

The girls also decided to get their face painted.  For 50 cents a piece it was hard not to, right?  Until we got there and the guy doing the face painting admitted he wasn't an artist and was filling in for his girlfriend who went to get dinner at the taco booth.  Isabella was a little skeptical about it after that:

But she was happy with her butterfly result.  I don't think he did too bad considering he was a temp.

Kennedy wanted a more intricate design: a big smiley face with big pink lips in a pucker position.
We had to wait for the real deal to get back from the taco wagon to paint her design.

Although, I'm not sure her smiley face was any more professional than the butterfly.

Kennedy posed us in a variety of family pictures:

Here's my favorite:

Dance Recital Weekends

Isabella's ballet recital was in mid-May.  Here are some pictures from that weekend.

 In June, both girls had their dance recital.  Isabella did her tap routine and Kennedy did both hip-hop and jazz routines.  They had so many supporters, it was a fun weekend!  Their Nanna and Meme watched their routines on Friday night.  Saturday night was a repeat performance and their Gramma and Grampa Wagner, Great Gramma and Grampa Rambo, Great Aunt Rhonda, Aunt Nicole, Aunt Brittany, and Uncle Ryan all drove here to watch.  Their Aunt Heidi, Uncle Tyler, Meme, Papa, cousins Mason & Brady, and their Great Gramma Bruce all came for a BBQ lunch.  Shane made amazing brisket and then we went to the dance recital. 

Kennedy's hip hop routine

Kennedy's jazz routine

Isabella's tap routine

 Thanks to everyone who drove so far to watch them.  They really appreciated having everyone come watch them.  Kennedy had looked forward to it for months.  Their Meme and Aunt Heidi did alot of shuttling them around to their practices which is also WAY appreciated.  It was a fun weekend!

Just a few of the supporters - we took up almost a whole row :)