A few more lake pictures

During one of the big storms we had last week the wall behind our condo took a tumble...

 Our landlords are busy getting it fixed so they can start showing the condo again.  Sometimes it's nice to be a renter :)
A picture of Asher at the lake

 CK took Reese out on the kayak

 She loved it, of course

 She also loved looking at all the fish, worms, frogs, etc. that her cousins managed to fish out of the lake

Camping at the Lake

Lucky for us the LaFond camping trip this year was at Hauser Lake which happens to be a convenient 20 minutes from our house.  So last week CK's parents, sisters, Aunt and Uncle and some cousins all camped in their RVs at the lake and CK, Reese, Asher and I headed out a few nights/afternoons.  We came in most nights to let the kids sleep in their own beds (ok, who am I kidding, so we could sleep in our own beds) and it worked out great.  Friday night we braved it and stayed on an air mattress on Craig & Jan's camper floor.  That simply reminded us why we drove home to our beds the others nights :)  2 adults and 2 kids who kick on one air mattress = not much sleep for the bigger people.  The week was great, though, and both Reese and Asher had a wonderful time playing with their cousins, second cousins and keeping Mom and Dad on their toes chasing them around the campground.    I even managed to get on a jetski for the first time in 4 years.  The ride didn't last too long but that's another story.  Here are some cute videos from the last few days.
This is Asher with his 2nd cousin Owen whose family just moved to Missoula from California so hopefully we'll get to see them more often now!



This one is Reese playing with her second cousins, Ava and J.J. (brother and sister to Owen).  She LOVED the lake and we had to drag her out each day.



It's been a great 3 weeks at home.  Tomorrow I head out again on the road- this time to Charlottesville, VA, where apparently it's been 107 lately.  I managed to work 40 hour weeks and cook dinner just about every night.  Neither of those have happened in years.  It was a great break but I'm looking forward to a new project and seeing what Virginia has in store.

In other (very exciting) news, Reese is doing great with her potty training.  She's about 90% trained so all the hard work is paying off.  Guess I'll have to find another reason to clean my house now ;)

Adventures in potty training

CK has been helping out our neighbor Dave with his backyard landscaping  He gets to dig with the backhoe and then Dave does all the manual labor.  Not a bad deal.

 Reese posing with Mommy during our first meal out in a long time (to celebrate our anniversary).

 Reese built herself a throne and then sat on it overseeing the playroom

 and feeding her baby

 I managed to get a not-so-great shot of Reese and her potty chart before she ripped off all the stickers...oh well.  She's doing very well.  She's only had one accident this week at daycare and is about 50% at home.  A huge improvement from last week.  Hopefully we're making progress.

Happy Fourth of July

Our weekend has been pretty low key and here is the reason:

 Yes we've started potty training Reese...again, and hopefully for the last time.  She hasn't shown much interest the other times we've tried but I'm hoping with 3 weeks of both of us around and some incentives (stickers, treats, whatever it takes :) we can win her over.  So far she's added 3 stickers to her chart.  Sounds good until I tell you (which I won't) how many super clean carpets, chairs and floors there are in our condo now from the various cleanups we've had over the last 3 days.  Oh well, if nothing else, our condo is getting a good spring (summer) cleaning.  With a non-diapered, unpredictable daughter, however, we've been laying pretty low and hoping routine will pay off.
CK got life jackets for the kids so hopefully we will make it out to the lake sometime soon.  I also hope they like wearing these as much on the water as they did in the kitchen.

 Reese is checking out her 4th of July attire

 and twirling for the audience

 Reese using her sippy cup as a Sproutoscope (if you have toddlers and watch the Sprout channel you'll recognize the reference)

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone.  Have a safe and happy one.