Oaks Park

Every year, the kids get a discounted ticket to Oaks Park in their summer reading packet from the library.  They all really wanted to go, so I finally gave in and took them two weeks before Madeleine was born.  Luckily Stacey was up to going with me or I don’t think I would have braved it on my own.  The weather was another hot summer day, but it wasn’t quite as hot as our record breaking days were.  Asher loved to ride the motorcycle ride, and Landon loved the Frog Hopper.  James especially liked the rockets, and I think Davis loved it all!  I couldn’t go on any of the rides, so I was especially grateful Landon was there to take Asher on everything that he wanted to go on.

              

Annual Morris Family Coast Trip–Part I

It was another great year at Harris Beach camping this year  The only negative was that we were without the Packers since they were in Luxembourg, and then Dave, Liz, and Olivia were driving out to Chicago for Dave to start his MBA the week we went to the coast. 

We went to our usual spot Wednesday through Saturday this year.  We got there in the afternoon, and Shane and I were lucky enough to get a yurt this year to sleep in.  Shane helped my dad set up the tent, and my dad and mom slept in the tent with the older boys.  After dinner, we walked down to the beach to walk along the beach and see the sunset.  I don’t know why I ever think the boys will just walk along the water.  They always end up soaking wet and sandy.  The sun seemed to slip behind some clouds before the sunset, so we headed back up to the campsite, but as we did, the sun came out from behind some clouds again, so we went to the viewpoint and watched the sun finish setting. 

                   

Jake and Stacey arrived late that night after all the kids had gone to sleep.  The cousins were all excited to see each other the next morning, and they had fun playing cards in the back of the pickup, eating breakfast, and doing the grandma and grandpa store.  Grandma also had a fun craft ready for them to make dreamcatchers, and they all had fun making them and then hanging them over their spot in their tents so they’d have good dreams while camping.

       

After the morning activities, we packed up and headed down to the beach.  The kids were all excited to try out their new backpacks Grandma made them for Christmas.  They were just right for their towels, water bottles, and a change of clothes. 

         

Asher would stay in the water so much that he would turn blue and we had to force him to go out of the water and warm up a little bit.

   

Shane tried to get Asher to lie by him and take a nap.  He did lie down, but wasn’t successful with the actual napping part. 

   

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the little stream that feeds into the ocean.  They found pieces of driftwood to float one or to push through the water, and they played in there for quite awhile. 

           

After a great day down at the beach, it started to get late and cold, so we headed back up to the campsite to roast some hot dogs for dinner and warm up by the fire.  It was a great day at the beach, as always!