Our First Official Weekend of Summer

Yesterday Chip had the day off so Sam, Chip, Cloe and I went for a hike. Every summer Chip and I like to hike to Lewis Peak a few times. Sam wants to do it with us this year. The first 2 miles are all uphill and quite steep, but after that it levels off nicely and the rest of the hike, the other 3 miles, to Lewis Peak is like a rambling little trail compared to the first part. We took Sam up the first 2+ miles so he could get a feel for it. He did great but was a much happier kid on the trip down.
That's Sam up ahead, once we got past the steep part of the hike. This picture shows all the wildflowers that are in bloom right now, but it doesn't do justice to the real beauty. In addition to the copious amounts of yellow flowers in bloom, there are numerous purple lupine scattered amongst them. The contrast is spectacular. The last time Chip and I did this hike was the last weekend of September and leaves were changing.
It was breathtaking.The guys on the way up.

The girls and "the guy" on the way up. Our other girl, Caitlin, was home asleep. It was her first official day of summer vacation, after all!

Cloe will follow Sam anywhere, and she did. He wanted a picture on this rock and as he was getting himself all set up for it, she bounded into the picture. You can tell she took him by surprise and almost knocked him off the rock!

Sunday afternoon after church we drove down to Salt Lake and went to a Bees game. It was great fun. We haven't been to a ball game in a long, long time. The weather was perfect for an outdoor event. We actually stayed the entire game. That might not seem noteworthy to a lot of people, however, every game we've been to in the past 15+ years we've had young kids who lost their sense of humor way before the 7th inning stretch. (The novelty of a tub of popcorn only lasts so long.) The Bees won 8-3, by the way.

We had a great time! The Humane Society was there with pets that were up for adoption. It was "bring your dog to the game"day, so lots of people had their dogs with them. We were thoroughy entertained by the beagle "sitting" in front of us. (I should've taken a picture! Darn!) I can guarantee not one of these pictures would've been taken if we'd brought Cloe with us.

My family!