Cousin Time Summer 2020

We’ve had this idea of an annual trip with the cousins Baertlein, but it never seems to become actualized, so Brent suggested we just do a swap and take one at a time. We hate to be missing the opportunity to let them bond and have a ton of cousin time while they are young. We started back in June with  Charlie. I was not great about keeping my phone charged and taking pictures on these outings...but they had a blast. We went to a local lake and did some fishing and hiking. The boys camped out in the yard and did s’mores and movie night. They also built a pretty elaborate for they slept in for one of the nights. 

While at the lake fishing it started snowing. Yup! Snow flakes falling down and we were having fun walking and fishing. 

Although the boys didn’t catch anything a nice elderly gentleman gave Charles his string of fish. Apparently that’s just as good as getting them yourself. 

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A couple weeks later we went ahead and picked up Miles. 

We tried to think of fun things to do that would break up the drive and we decided to stop by one of our favorites, the Rainbow Trout Farm. We got there like a half an hour before closing, but we decided to make that time count!! We went straight to the big pond!

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The fish were too smart or too full and were not biting, so we decided to head to the smaller pond. Plus Emmett was losing his mind...

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Finally success. An 11.5 inch trout. Only 20 mins after close. 

After that we headed up to Mt. Hood and decided to stop at another of our favorites, Frog Lake. 

The boys tried so hard to find frogs, but all we found was tad poles. We hiked around the lake and explored the area. We found dead fish bones floating and lots of downed trees to climb on. 

I also saw a lot of these Dr. Seuss flowers. 

At first Emmett didn’t want to walk across, them he decided to dance?! Go figure. 

We finally made it home. It was a hot week so we had a lot of fun playing in sprinklers in the yard...but soon we wanted an actual pool to cool down in. 

 

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So we got a room at the local hotel and the boys had a guys night. Full of swimming and jetted tub fun. 

Grandpa and Grandma made sure to get some snuggles in too. 

Then in July we had Edwin come for an overnighter!

We decided to break up the drive the same as before. This time we had cruncle Justin tag along. We stopped and got some refreshments on the way. 

We started at the big pond again. It was taking forever to even get a bite. And word must have got out because it was packed. Still with Justin’s help Emmett finally bagged us the first fish! 

Then we decided to try another pond. 

Edwin was getting bored fishing and so we gave him a little help with his casting. Soon he was reeling in his own fish!

Edwin really liked the scissors the lady used to cut the fish. They matched his shirt. 

We then headed to Frog Lake again. Hoping this time maybe we would see some frogs. 

We didn’t find frogs, but we found some rain!

Once home the boys played in the yard and with toys mostly. They also fought a lot. Which was great for Emmett to experience. He doesn’t really have anyone trying to play with his toys. So the need to share and be patient are new for him at home. 

Unfortunately I was busy getting the house ready for a ton of guests, so we didn’t do as many outings. But somehow they wore themselves out just playing around the house. 

I tried the water slide but Edwin wouldn’t use it. He was afraid of a bee he saw flying around. 

The family came and we had a party to celebrate George’s 88th birthday. 

We ended the weekend at the bike park. The boys had fun trying it out. August had finally taught himself how to ride the week before, so he was still very new to even riding. They seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a good finale for the weekend. We are just happy that the boys are able to have this time and develop solid relationships with family.