Henry's Lake

     The third weekend of July we took our family up to Henry's Lake where Phil's Grandma and Grandpa Monson have a cabin. We were looking forward to spending time with Phil's family and being in such a beautiful place. And we were especially excited to see Amy, Clark and Emmett who were out visiting from North Carolina. The night before we left, Phil had gone up to scout camp for the night and the majority of the next day. That left me and the boys to hold things down at Phil's shop while he was gone. We had a lot of work to get done before we left and so as soon as the boys were up we left and headed to the shop. While we were there I finished two interior details and did another as well. There weren't too many phone calls or customers so the only hold up was a grouchy Brewer. Phil ended up being able to come down from scout camp earlier than expected, which meant we could leave a little earlier!! 

     Friday was very fun and relaxing. The kids discovered the lake and couldn't get enough of it. They mostly just threw rocks in while Remy chased the rocks, swam and played fetch.  It's a little embarrassing for us to watch Remy swim. She can do like a normal dog...you know a normal doggie paddle? But even though she loves it she insists on being as far above the water as possible. It turns into a pretty humorous site, especially when uses her hind legs to jump off big rocks 20 feet out. After a late lunch, it was dinner time in our family, we headed out to set up our tent. There weren't quite enough beds at the cabin, so we took the opportunity to use our tent again! It was a beautiful night and we didn't end up even needing our rain fly! Plus it was extra entertainment for the kids and even Beth slept in the tent with us too! After we got everything set up we went back down to the lake for a little canoe ride. This was the moment that Boyd had been looking forward too, while Brewer on the other hand wasn't too thrilled about the life jacket he was wearing. After we got settled into the canoe and Brewer figured out he could stand up and hold onto the sides everyone was pretty happy. We even took Remy in the canoe with us, which ended up being a mistake because she was really anxious...no real surprise there. We ended up dumping her out and even had Boyd jump out for a little bit too. The two of them swam to the shore together. and Boyd even went for a swim with Remy. The rest of the evening was spent around the fire, roasting hot dogs, chatting, and finally ended with a little girl talk with Beth in the tent. 

     Saturday morning we took it easy, let the kids throw rocks in the lake again and we thought it would be fun to put Brew in the hammock. He LOVED it! So much in fact, that he fell asleep and took a decent nap in it. It was so sweet! When he woke up we all headed out to the Wolf and Bear Discovery Center just outside the west entrance of Yellowstone. I always love seeing animals up close, in nature or in exhibits. The bears at the discovery center were fun to watch and even wrestled and played together in the water. They also had bald and golden eagles that were no longer suited to live in the wild for one reason or another, just like the other bears and wolves. On the way out we couldn't resist taking a group shot on the giant bear couch. Phil couldn't stand it and was more than happy to take the picture if it meant he didn't have to be in it! 

     After we got back to the cabin and had a delicious dutch oven stew we decided to drive home since Brew was tired. He is still so bad in the car and may even hate his carseat more than he did before. I really thought we were making some progress with Brewer on car trips, but I think we have recently taken a few steps back. The only way we were able to keep him happy after he woke up from his nap was to give him Cheetos and my electric tooth brush that I had to keep turning back on every two minutes. Oh the things you do to keep your kids happy!!!