Fun at Camp Ireland and other summer camp fun!

I went with Brandon's den to Camp Ireland on the Friday before we headed to Sun River.  I was able to use a community service vacation day with State Farm to go.  Our den had a parent go each day to the camp and we carpooled out to the camp all week.  I picked the boys up at Alberta Rider and we headed out the 35 minute back roads to Camp Ireland.  When we got there the kids got to play group games and then we had a fun assembly where the dens got to perform skits for everyone at the camp.  The camp counselors also performed some funny skits.  After that we went to our first station which was a fun coding station.  The boys had to decode a worksheet and then got to make their own code.  The second station they went to was a fun Obstacle course.  The boys loved the obstacle course and I even raced Brandon (and lost).

Working on their own codes

Such a fun obstacle course

Cheering teammates on

That suspension bridge did me in!

Climbing down the tires

Going across the monkey bars

After the obstacle course we had lunch and then the boys got to have free choice time where they got to go various stations and choose which one they wanted to do.  They were excited that they got to go to the trading post (where they sell candy and other goods) and go shopping after lunch instead of at the end of the day.  Brandon got some candy and a soda and I got some candy for Olivia and an old fashion licorice rope for myself.  The boys were disappointed that the cooking station was not open but had fun doing the giant board games and doing the stomp bottle rocket that sprayed water.  They also got to the obstacle course again.  In between the free choice time, the boys got to do archery which was really fun (even though the Archery master was a bit strict).

Giant Jenga!

Archery time!

The camp ended with a fun closing ceremony with a few more den skits and then several really funny counselor skits.  It was a fun way to end a very fun camp.

The kids had some really fun camps this summer and seemed to be pretty excited to go to camp (a plus from the year that we did the school's YMCA camp with Brandon and he hated it and would cry when we made him go).  This summer, the kids started off being off with me the first week school was out (I was on vacation).  The second week they went to a fun Oregon zoo camp where Brandon was with the 3rd grade group and learned about Home Sweet Habitats and Olivia's 1st grade theme was "Animal Tales."  Olivia was a bit apprehensive to go to camp at first but did great and they both loved the hot lunch I bought them at the zoo.  Each day they had a fun Critter tale to tell me and it was fun to hear which animals they got touch and interact with.

The second camp the kids went to was Willowbrook Art camp in Tualatin.  They both loved the camp and loved the choices they got to have going to each station.  The camp was more than just art projects, it was music and drama as well. There was also looming and pottery.  Brandon got to be in the Artisan group for 8-18 year olds and Olivia was in the Village group for 5-7 year olds.

The kids went back to Oregon Zoo camp the following week and this time Brandon did the 4th grade Extreme animals camp (we had to put him with 4th graders because the 3rd grade content was the same) and Olivia did My Big Backyard which was a half day at the Children's Museum.  Both kids loved this session of zoo camp more and Olivia especially loved the crafts at the Children's museum.

The fourth week of camp Olivia went to Westside Gymnastics all day camp and did the Jedi Gymnastics camp while Brandon went to Cub scout camp at Camp Ireland.  Since Brandon was not with her, we wanted Olivia to have a camp she was comfortable with by herself and since she knows Westside so well we picked that camp for her.  She had a lot of fun by herself and was excited to go each day.  She also got to walk over to her gymnastics and dance classes (we had her do 2 make up classes plus her 2 regular classes that week) and that was so easy.  Also Westside Camp by far was the closest camp to us and had the longest hours although was a bit more spendy at $310 a week.  Olivia got to do a fun field trip to see Toy Story 2 at the movie theater and go bowling.  Also Critter Cabana came and shared their animals one day.  The kids have had a lot of fun with their camps thus far this summer and we still have 3 more weeks of camps to go (with 3 weeks of vacation and Grandparents camps mixed in).

4th of July fun and Lulu's 1st birthday!

Lulu turned 1 on July 2nd. She had been spayed just 4 days before so we had a low key birthday party.  The kids and I still got some fun birthday treats for Lulu and each kid picked out a present for her.  Olivia picked out a squeaky chicken and it ended up being Lulu's favorite toy.  Brandon picked out some fun chews and bones.  We couldn't imagine our lives without Lulu and can't believe our sweet girl is now one!

Happy birthday Lulu!

Happy birthday bone for Lulu-she loved it!

Lulu and her cute birthday collar

4th of July fell on a Thursday this year.  Unfortunately, I did not have the next day Friday off and only had Thursday off.  My co-worker was also off all week which made things much busier than normal for us.  Brandon's cub scout pack had planned to have a recruitment event with a booth at the King City parade and we had a pack event for them to ride their decorated bikes in the parade.  We went last year for the first time with Brooke and Taylor and their family and it was fun.  It was a nice small low key parade with fire trucks and police officers.  We lucked out too with the weather being warmer than they thought.  The kids had fun riding their decorated bikes through the parade.  I walked the parade with Brooke and Luke (who was in a stroller).  We all met at the park where the booths and the parade ended.  The kids had a blast going around the booths and looking at all the fun items at the parade.  The kids also had fun promoting Cub Scouts at our pack's booth.

All dressed up and ready to ride!

Olivia's bicycle that she decorated

Sweet Olivia ready for her parade

Olivia and Addie all dressed and ready to ride in the parade in their matching dresses

Fun Cub Scout booth

Olivia having a blast playing with bubbles near the Cub Scout booth

After the parade, Sean drove and picked us up and we headed back home.  We were going to have the Mowerys over later for a fun BBQ at our house and then were going to do fireworks with them.  Before the Mowerys came over, I had the opportunity to take some cute photos of Lulu with her 4th of July bandana on.  We also were able to go to our winery Hawks View for a glass of wine. 

The Mowerys came over in the late afternoon and we enjoyed some yummy pulled pork sandwiches that Sean had been cooking most of the day.  I made some Funfetti cake pops for dessert and we had baked beans and corn on the cob too.  Afterwards the kids played some Just Dance while they waited for it to get dark to light off fireworks.  We ended up walking down the street to say hi to some of our neighbors and got invited over to their block party.  We ended up walking back up and getting all of our fireworks and having fun lighting off fireworks with new friends and old.

The kids looking at the smoke bombs

The smoke bombs were still a hit this year

Brandon and Logan best buds and matching

Olivia having a blast with her sparklers

Sparkler fun!

Mommy having fun with the sparklers

Brandon having a blast with sparklers

Olivia had double sparklers

Olivia and Addie all snuggled up together watching fireworks

Such a beautiful and fun way to end our night with some great fireworks

Olivia's birthday party-fun 6th gymnastics birthday party at Westside!

Olivia decided to her have her birthday party at Westside Gymnastics this year.  She had a lot of fun at her friend Avery's birthday party there earlier in the year.   I was worried about people not being able to come due to her summer birthday and vacations that people like to have after school gets out but we got lucky and almost everyone we could invite could come.  We could have up to 20 kids and I wanted to make sure we had as close to that as possible as it was a bit spendy.  Olivia's best friends Addie and Lauren from Rocking Horse were able to come and her friend Kennedy from Rocking Horse.  The rest of the girls were from her kindergarten class and her friend Amelia and Elise from her soccer team.  It was super hard trying to track down e-mail addresses to send the Evite but luckily one of the moms had some of the e-mail addresses.  We ended up choosing to have Olivia's birthday party a week before her actual birthday as her birthday fell on a Saturday this year and we were worried about people being out of town for a long 4th of July weekend.  Olivia has been obsessed with these little dolls called LOL Dolls where you unpackage them and get a doll and an outfit.  She decided pretty early on she wanted to have an LOL themed birthday party.  Luckily, Westside does most of the decorations and I were able to get a few extras at Walmart. I was also able to re-use some of the same decorations she had used the past few birthdays.  I let Olivia get a birthday shirt on Etsy and she choose a cute Uni LOL doll.  I also let her pick out a birthday leotard and she chose a sparkly rainbow one she had been eyeing.

We had Olivia's party from 2-3:30 PM.  There was a bit of a scheduling issue as one of the boys in Olivia's class scheduled his party after we sent out our evites for the same time.  I contacted his mother and she was able to reschedule his party for earlier in the day.  His party was at Plumper Farms and it was a lot of fun.  Olivia and I went from his party home for an hour and got dressed and everything ready and then headed to Westside with Sean and Brandon.  It was super easy to set up and I made her cupcakes that morning (Olivia's favorite Funfetti cupcakes) and got LOL toppers on Amazon so that was pretty easy.

Having fun on the hayride at Plumper Farm

Having fun at her friend Josh's birthday party at Plumper Farms

Birthday girl next to her cupcakes ready for her party!

The kids were broken up into 2 groups led by 2 instructors.  Each group got to do all of the stations they just rotated around.  Olivia's group started with zip lining.  All of the kids did it despite it being quite high up (although some of them did not go quite so high).

Lining up from the party room to go down to do gymnastics 

Stretching!

Warming up!

Waiting for the zip line

Sibling fun!

Brandon getting ready to go on the zip line

He went really high!

Zip lining down!

Getting down the zip line

Birthday girl getting strapped in

Going back 

So high!

There she goes!

Waiting in line for the zip line

The next activity they did was the trampoline track.  The kids loved jumping on that and doing various kinds of jumps.  After that they went into the foam pit.  Olivia went off for a bit and did some rope climbing.  The kids liked the foam pit.

Tumbling track fun!

Laughing with Brandon and Logan

Jumping away

Foam pit fu 

Climbing the rope

Doing a fun jump! 

Brandon having fun in the foam pit

They ended the gymnastics part of the party with the bounce house.  The kids all joined hands and were jumping around crazily in the bounce house.  I got a group photo of all the kids with the birthday girl and then we headed upstairs to do cupcakes, snacks, and presents.

Bounce house fun 

Jumping all together

Olivia had a blast in the bounce house

Brandon bouncing with Logan

Happy birthday Olivia!

Waiting in line to get photos

First birthday photo attempt

2nd birthday photo attempt  

Best shot I could get of everyone-Trevin, Mikayla, Vivian, Amina, Avery,  Addie, Olivia, Lauren, Elise,  Claire on top, bottom-Lauren, Grace, Brighton, Amelia, Logan, and Brandon

Silly shot!

Olivia really wanted to open up all of her presents in front of her friends.  She had so many friends come that we had to rush a bit to get through all of them but she was able to.  The kids had snacks that I brought-Olivia's favorite cheddar pretzels and apple sauce pouches and juice boxes.  Then we sang happy birthday to Olivia and she blew out her candle.  She started opening presents then while her friends ate so we could get through all of them (we only had 30 minutes in the party room).  She managed to get through all of them and got some really cute presents this year including a Rainbacorns from Lauren that came in a giant egg and she got to open up and it was a lioncorn (a lion unicorn with a flippy heart).  She got several LOL dolls and pets, some craft items including a pottery maker, bow maker, pom purse, and quilt making set, and a fun unicorn Barbie backpack doctor kit.  Olivia loved seeing all her friends again and having fun with them.

Getting sung Happy Birthday to

Getting ready to blow the candles out

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Making a wish and blowing the candles out

Showing me her LOL doll on her cupcake

Opening presents

Getting a fun princess candy land game

She got a bow making kit from Trevin and Mikayla! 

She got a cool raincorn from Lauren!

Hugging Lauren for her gift! 

Reading her cards

Finally getting to eat her cupcake once she opened up all those presents!

After her party she got to come home to Just Dance set up on Daddy's Xbox 360 downstairs and she got to have Addie and Logan over to play for a bit and to open up all of her new presents.  The kids had fun trying out Just Dance and Logan and Addie liked it too!  We went out to dinner after Logan and Addie left for an early birthday celebration.  Olivia chose to go to her favorite restaurant Old Market Pub and get her beloved "Buttered Noodles" dish.  It was a perfect way to end such a fun celebration.  As Olivia said, this was her best birthday party ever!

Dancing with friends! 

Hugs from Daddy at Old Market Pub

She loves her buttered noodles and got a birthday sundae 

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