The Cook Family Adventure Blog: Summer 2022

We have had a great spring and an event packed beginning of the summer. We always seem to pack in alot at the beginning of the summer. We returned from Belize and finished out T-ball seasons for Elliot and Weston. End of the year at school for Elliot was hard, it will be her last year with Mrs. Hudson, with the pandemic we were lucky to be with her and the same group of kids for 2 years!. Weston got o have birthday party with his friends that was of course SPIDERMAN themed. The bouncy house got rained out a bit but we made it work!

T-ball! Elliot has decided she is done with T-ball this year but stuck it out

Snuggly madison

They LOVE the library!

PJ's and ice cream!

What a crew.

Big girl bed! Finally moved Fiona out of her crib. She stayed in it longer than the other kids because there wasn't a younger sibling needing it ;)

Baseball time!

Ugh....can we say drive through ice cream?

No longer a first grader :(

A friend shot this one, thought all the things Mac was carrying was hilarious.

Wes' 5th Birthday Party. Dad was spiderman. Although one of the 5 yo's needed to point out to Mac that his costume was on backwards at first....oops.

So much love!

We then hit the summer of with a trip to Wisconsin to see family. We apparently are crazy enough to do red-eye flights with the 3 kids since flight prices are so high. We were able to spend an afternoon in Madison on the lake then head up to Wisconsin Dells! And boy did we DO Wisconsin Dells. Water park, candy, mining for rocks, go carts, put put golf...all the things. Kids LOVED it!

Checking out the Ruppel's new boat!

Cousin LOVE

Father's Day Golf...but where are all the dads?

Pool Party!

The gang is all here.

Go carts!

Fiona LOVES her cousin Paige

Wow do they look alike!

The next weekend was off the the beach for a 1st grade camp out. THere were so many first grade families and what a great group of kids and families. We got to hang at the beach, eat smores, watch the kids play in the water and were blessed with great company and amazing weather.

Camping with the Mrs. Hudson 1st Grade Crew. What a blast at the beach

Bug bite to her eye but she was a trooper!

Bombfire at the beach.

3 days home and off the the Wallowas! We told you the beginning of summer was action packed. Our friends Jess and Joe with there boys Leo and Ollie met us there. Some hiking, swimming and hanging out was in order. There was a huge hail storm and the weather was not on our side for this trip but we made it though.

Hiking in the Wallowas

Wallowas how we love you!

Pontoon Rental on Wallowa lake, the weather did not cooperate to much but we made it through.

In the napping house where everyone is sleeeeping

No idea what sparked the family hug but I will take it.

Railroad bikes!

Wes and mom racing to drink there drinks...great parenting

July 4th!

Parade in small town Oregon on our drive home!

We relaxed at home for a bit. Hung out with our new Au Pair Marina who has been a trouper through all this travel and change and then hit to the woods for a backpacking trip. Wes, Crystal and Mac all felt a bit sick while hiking in and turns out we did the first 3 days of COVID isolation while backpacking! When we hiked out all 3 of us turned positive. I guess there are worse things than backpacking with COVID! We hiked to Marion lake and camped along the eastern shore both nights. We moved from one campsite to another the 2 nights for change of scenery but both were amazing and relaxing. The kids were such troupers. LOTS of mosquitos and LOTS of miles but they are strong! Wes hiked 6 miles! Elliot hiked > 7 and felt like she could go more. Fiona hiked in about 3.5 to 4 miles the first day! She was a bit tired after this :) As always we love backpacking with the kids. Its hard work, we keep it easy with freeze tried food, but there is nothing like seeing them explore nature, play with each other and be completely unplugged.

Little did we know this hiking man had blisters on both his feet and hiked 4.5, 6 then 4.5 miles the 3 days! Tough guy never told us.

Living her best life.

3 Finger Jack in the background. There was alot of debate about truely how many fingers Jack has.

Camp site 1. We moved on night 2.

Dinner time!

Marion Veiwpoint with Mt Jefferson.

This girl is as sill as it comes.

Again, this girl!

Dinner time at the lake.

Oh and we broke a hammock again! This time it was dad that broke it not just the kids. I think its official, hammocks can't handle all the swinging :)