Solitude

This past week we had our annual Solitude weekend with Brent's extended family.  We began our long weekend with a picnic lunch up at Silver Lake.

Both kids were fascinated with the squirrels.  Ian especially wouldn't leave them alone.

Going to Silver Lake always brings back fun childhood memories of being there with my cousins-- long before they had this nice boardwalk around it!

Solitude is always a great getaway, especially since it's practically deserted during the summer!  There's lots of fun things to do-- including hanging upside down on the road gates.

We threw rocks into the pond.  Now the kids want to throw every rock that they see.

Ian found some new places to climb.

But Kirstie's favorite thing is just being with her cousins.

We have our traditional marshmallow wars...

...and softball game.

And of course we do lots of swimming.  I love this picture of Kirstie and Brent just chillin' together in the pool.

Kirstie loves to swim--unless she can't touch the bottom of the pool.  Then she just clings to us.  She also was very adamant that she didn't want to go down the slide.  She ended up going quite a few times, as long as Brent went with her and they went slow.  We're still not quite sure if she liked it or not.

She loved hanging out by the stairs in the shallow water trying out her new goggles.

And then there's Ian. He's the opposite.   He LOVES the water!  We put some floaties on him and he was in heaven.  While Kirstie wouldn't let us go, he didn't want us to hold him.  

Kirstie didn't like the slide, but it's all Ian wanted to do-- with a "Wheeee!" as he went down.  

This year we had an "Aloha" theme for our vacation.

Taking evening walks is a great way to cool down and see the beautiful sights.  We even saw a deer while on our walk.

Kirstie found a new place to hold her baby dolls.

Ian, Kirstie, Sydnee, Kamden, and Payton-- most of the cousins that were there.

 Kirstie and her cousins danced around to the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance with Grandma Buchanan.  Poor Ian missed out because he fell and had a HUGE goose egg on his forehead, so he and I were resting and putting ice on it.

No vacation would be complete without a ride on the luggage cart.  We had a great time with family and are excited to do it again next year.