This long winded post summarizes what our August was like.  August is a beautiful month in Northern Idaho, where everything is at its peak and plentiful and bounteous. We realize that school will start again the next month so we get really busy having fun and doing all our favorite things for the last few times.

Mia turned 11 months old and started cutting two front teeth through.  Not the middle two, but the lateral two so people liked to joke that she was a vampire baby.  She was our cute little lady who loved eating most everything except bananas and avocado.  She enjoyed her veggies and also especially frozen blueberries and huckleberries.

The first Friday in August we met Nick at a camp ground by a lake up near Bonner's Ferry after work.  We originally planned to camp with the kids but luckily it just turned into a tin foil dinner cooked in the fire and s'mores.  The we packed up and went home.

The kids loved helping to build the fire.  While dinner cooked we also headed to the lake to fish, but didn't catch anything.  As usual.  As a crawling baby, Mia spent most of the time in her seat.  Next year will be more fun for her as a toddler!

Dinner turned out really yummy and so did the s'mores.  We need to do that more often!

Guess who came to visit?!?!  Uncle Danny and Aunt Mindy!  My brother Danny came up earlier in the year to shadow Nick at work so he could get some observation hours for his dental school application.  We convinced him that this place is so great, he needed to bring Mindy back with him.  We were so glad they came and that we got to spend some time with them!

First we took them to a blueberry field to do some picking of the most fresh and delicious berries they will ever taste.

Teslyn took a quick liking to Mindy, and then became her shadow for the remainder of time we were with them.

Nick and Danny were the berry picking powerhouses.  We picked a total of about 20 pounds.  They were running a special that day so we got to keep half for free!  We stocked our freezer.  We will be enjoying lots of them through most of winter.

They spent a little down time in the backyard, where Danny played on his phone and Mindy painted nails with Teslyn.

See?

The weather wasn't the greatest but we decided we needed to take them to see our favorite little part of the lake at City Beach.  

We had fun even if the sun wasn't out.

That evening we took them up in the hills to one of our huckleberry picking spots. 

We did some good picking as the wind was also picking up.  We could hear it rushing through the trees and the thunder rolling in the distance.  Teslyn, who was deathly afraid of being outside during storms, flipped out and convinced us it was time to go.  It's a good thing she did because trees had already started falling and we made it out of the mountain in the nick of time.  It took us 3 tries, 3 different routes to get home because the wind had knocked trees down on roads everywhere.  It was definitely the storm of the summer.  Unfortunately power was out all over town for 2-3 days.  Living where we do, Nick and I had felt the importance of being prepared for these kind of things, so we had a generator.  We switched it between the freezer in the garage and the fridge in the kitchen to spare our food.  We felt we were blessed and looked over, so we couldn't really complain.  We actually had a family vacation planned in Canada for the next week so we left Danny and Mindy and headed north the next day.  They stuck around for a few days enjoying local activities like hiking, biking and paddle boarding before they drove back home to Utah.  We hope the storm didn't scare them and that they come back again soon!

This is on our way to Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia.  It was cool to see these huge rocky mountains jutting out as we headed north.

It was a relaxing place to go spend time as a family.  We spent a little time hiking and walking.

We found a cute little mini golf course.

Mini golf is a popular past time for our family on vacation.  We miss having one closer to home.

We read reviews of a great family friendly golf course and decided to take the kids.  It was our first time real golfing as a family. 

The golf course looked like it had a little old farm theme, with a tractor and barn.  It was beautiful!

We all loved it and plan to do it more often!

The resort we stayed at had a really fun pool we played at almost everyday. 

There was a splash pad area and a shallow beach entry area to the pool and even a big water slide.

These are Owen's legs.

The pool water was nice but the slide was freezing.  Nick looks like it here!

We spent some beautiful evenings at the playground.

Daddy is lots of fun at playgrounds too.

Nick decided to rent a raft and float down the Columbia River with the kids.  The Columbia River originates nearby so it is really small and was actually sort of shallow here.  We've seen where it meets the pacific and it is a giant by then.

All geared up and ready to go!

I hung out with Mia and met them a few miles down the river an hour later.  The kids had a great time.

We ate a few Canadian classics like a Nanaimo bar and poutine.

And we made a stop for Tim Horton donuts before leaving the country.  It was a nice and relaxing family vacation and fun to visit someplace new.

Our garden did awesome in August.  Especially the strawberries.

Owen and Teslyn with a small harvest of beans, peas, onions, carrots strawberries and a pepper.

Our 5 blueberry bushes didn't produce a whole lot, but what they did produce was tasty.  I know next year will be great for them and I am excited about it.

I jogged with the stroller the almost 5 mile round trip long bridge while the kids scootered. 

We made our 2nd annual day trip to Beck's Harvest House at Green Bluff Growers just north of Spokane to pick fresh juicy delicious peaches and eat amazing pumpkin donuts.  Definitely a highlight of summer for me.

Nick helped me bottle a case of peaches.  We ate a lot fresh and froze some of the rest.

Mia had been getting bigger and more curious.  She discovered the drawer where we keep the kids plastic cups, plates and bowls, and she loves playing in it.

We enjoyed some family bike rides around the neighborhood.  Next summer we will get Teslyn on a bike without training wheels!  She has nearly outgrown the bike trailer we just got.

With bright, early and sunny mornings I decided to get my workout in by getting up to run before Nick heads off to work.  The beautiful scenery and sunrises make it worth it.  We get lots of foggy but beautiful mornings here.

Mia loves bath time.

We went to the county fair, which was just down the street from our neighborhood.  Owen had a blast playing in this big bubble on water while Teslyn played on the bouncy house and slide.

We also panned for gold.

Played dress up.

Milked a fake cow.  Super cute and kid friendly country style fair.

Nick and I took the kids to pick huckleberries at least once a week.  We get our freezer stocked pretty well so that we can enjoy huckleberry pancakes and muffins through the winter.

Being in the middle of the forest on the mountain was part of the fun adventure.  And the views were amazing.

Mia didn't enjoy being carried in the baby backpack so we would set her down by a loaded bush and she would pick and eat to her heart's content.

We found a new trail along the lake and went for a family walk.  It's one of our favorite places along the lake now.

Mia has been doing this funny pose a lot lately.  We call it "baby yoga."

 

We got in as many beach days as we could handle before school started.  I am already looking forward to being back there next summer.

Owen and Teslyn spent almost everyday playing outside with neighbor kids. 

Here is Teslyn and her little neighbor friend enjoying a picnic lunch in our backyard.  Ahhh... simple summer days.  To be young again!

These are some snap shots I took while we explored and played around Dover.

It was the week before school started and the weather was so warm, I had the kids put on their swimsuits and we headed to the stream behind our neighborhood.

I am glad we did.  It was gorgeous.

The kids scootered there and back.  We took our time heading home so that they could ride up and down "the hill."

Another summertime memory for the kids is a 25 cent ice cream cone while on a free ride in front of the grocery store.  Something we do often.

Mia has become a helper with the dishes.  She climbs up and pulls things out.  Which isn't very helpful, but it's super cute.

That's our August in a nutshell.  Sort of.  On to September!