Samantha's first camping trip.

A couple of days ago we took Samantha on her first tent camping trip. And might I say it went wounderfully! We are doing it again. She had so much fun and got so dirty! It was a lot of fun for all of us! Enjoy looking at the photos below. They are in order from first day to last! Starting at the top!

Camping Day 1 Setting up camp

Samantha helped us put up the tent. She really got a kick out of cruising in and out of the tent and figured out rather quickly how to open and close the door.

Camping Day 1

yes she is drinking out of the dog bowl!!! The way I look at it, she is building up her immunities!

Camping day 1

Walking the dog (yes she is walking the dog!)
Lake Pend Orielle! And Samantha and Mom! (this back pack is a wounderful invention!)

Camping day 1 First night and first marshmellow!

Day 2 Part 1 Goodmorning

Yup she slept in our bed! Samantha did really well in her crib until about four in the morning our first night camping but.....I didn't want to make the effort to put her back to bed so I just pulled her into ours! I think she slept well....I don't think J thinks that it was a goodnight sleep after she came to bed with us!

Building a fire Day 2

Day 2 Samantha's first cup of hot coco

Day 2 Swimming

We attempted to go swimming in Lake Pend Orielle! Ya um a little cold. Samantha was a blueberry. But the crazy thing was the little pumpkin decided to try to swim! Yup made it about two feet each time!

Day 2 Sitting around the campfire

These photos are crazy! For some reason the lighting really made a haze to the photos. But it does help that there was smoke between Samantha and the camera

Camping Day 2 Bedtime

After a busy day of playing Samantha was not willing to go to bed at all! Yet she wanted to wear a hat! Crazy child! Without to much struggle (and me dancing with her to a neighboring camps guitar!) she crashed out!

Camping Day 3

What a happy and bright child waking up (at six am) after sleeping through the night while camping! we must have worn her out! I think she was ready to go home though! of course soon after this picture was taken Samantha and I treaked with the dog up to the bathrooms and no one else was awake in the whole campground!

Gee mom what you makin?

So I may not get the mother of the year award for these pictures but....Samantha was terrified of the sound that the bread maker was making so how do you fix that? You let her see what is making all the noise. After a exploration with her father Samantha was satisfied to just sit on the counter and watch the dough spin. Ya I left her on the counter...but her dad was standing right there!

Thundershower days in the summer

Like a good paranoid mother I read a few weeks ago that if it looks like or sounds like thunder showers don't go outside! So what do you do with a nineteen month old on a muggy thunder shower day? BAKE COOKIES! Otherwise.....she tries to climb onto a window sill....and finds mommies lipstick! YA messy messy day!

lightening strikes

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am (was) terrified of lightening! Well, here in Spokane Washington a thunderstorm is not an oddity it is the norm. Which means that I decided to grow up! The following post is a video of the show from our front porch this last friday night. What a great show! We stood on the front porch drinking wine and watching it. Be patient with the clip. The actual lightening is at the end of the video. I just can't figure out how to edit the video. I am really surprised that my digital picked up that....and some extra stuff that we hadn't seen. Enjoy! I know we are!

lightening strikes

Do we live in the Country or the City?

This is a deer in the back back yard of our house ( the fields and horse ranch would be to the right of the picture by oh....a football field length)
oops he spotted us....earlier he had been on our front walk!
and here is my child with grass in her hair!?!

Happy Fourth of July

Samantha loves to swim! We are so fortunate to have friends with a pool! We were over there I believe almost everyday from the fourth until yesterday! It has been great. Samantha really wants to swim but I can't seem to get her to float. I think she might have her mom's back end and will just sink every time she tries to float!

Because pushing it is so much easier

My kid is short. Big surprise? No not really! So in an effort to slow her down on her attempts to steal the neighborhood kids bicycles we bought Samantha a tricycle. Well, needless to say she is a tad bit short! We have to push her around and guide her in peddaling at this point. But soon enough she will be tall enough and that will be the end of everything. Of course Samantha figured out that she doesn't need us to have fun with her trycicle, pushing is just as fun and even easier than having a parent push you around!

(oh ya I found the outfit that Samantha went home from the hospital in, I can not believe she was ever that small!)

Monkey

Warning to all mothers....if they can climb it they will!
I snapped this photo just before Samantha fell off (J caught her) She was trying to get what she wanted to snack on not what we wanted her to snack on. She is a monkey these days climbing on everything! We had to move her changing table so that she wouldn't climb out the window!

Racing baby

Great Grandma's little helper!

My Grandma came for a visit and Samantha decided to help her with her walker. It was really cute. They are quite the little pals when they are together!

Are we not fabulous?

Shameless plug! It was my _ _ Birthday and we went to a fun formal function with Heather. Wow in each photo either J or I looks drunk! We weren't! But we did have fun and we did Drink!

Good God It's been a month?

Okay so it's been a busy month. So I will pace my postings over the next twenty four hours.

These photos are of Samantha's new favorite thing to do. She loves to "cook" and goes as far as getting a bowl out...demanding her apron....and scooting over a stool and demanding to be up on it. Sometimes the cooking gets carried away into our dinner...and then well you can imagine some of the seasonings that we get to experience!