What's New With The Carter Family

We just got back from our camping trip to Lake Chelan. It was very nice up there, beautiful scenery, and a lovely lake. The water was a little on the cool side....though it didn't stop us from jumping in and enjoying it! The best part of the trip was just getting to do NOTHING. Lay in the sun, swim in the lake, eat out (we were only a 10 min drive to the town of Chelan), sit by the campfire, make s'mores, read a book, eat ice-cream, take the kids to the playground.... I'm really glad that my niece River was able to come with us....she is such a sweetheart to have around, and of course Jem adores getting to spend any time with her! I am glad that we are back though....there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed, the smell of clean sheets and a nice warm house! That tent was awfully cramped *LOL*.

Just wanted to send a "shout out" to my gal pal Jo :) It's her birthday today (or at least it is in the US *LOL* her actual birthday was YESTERDAY in Australia). I hope you had a wonderful birthday! Jem has a 'card concoction' that he made you and we need to send it SOON (sorry for the delay!). Which reminds me, today we went to the local craft store (it's called JO-ANN) and Jem said to me "hey mama, is that how you spell Joanne's name?" and I said "no, hers has an 'E' at the end and no line in the middle" to which he replied "When you gonna send her card?" Nothin' like a little kid pressure is there *LOL* I know I'm slow!!!!!!!!! But you forgive me, right Jo? :) Happy birthday birdie! Love ya lots! I'll be trying to call you this weekend (wish me luck, you're so hard to get a hold of *LOL*).

I was beginning to think that Summer would never come to us this year. I don't remember a Summer that has been this cold, wet and well...crappy! Today though was just beautiful! I heard it reached a lovely 84 degrees (about 28 C for my Aussie readers) and should stay that way for the next few days! Of course the following week is supposed to be rainy and cold *LOL* but hey, I'll take what I can get! So we decided to spend the day in the water today. We woke up early, packed our bags, stopped off at Haggen for some munchies and spent the morning at Lake Stevens (on the beach at Lundeen Park). Jem had SO much fun (and so did I!). He swam a little & played in the sand, we played some tic-tac-toe, and had a yummy breakfast and lunch by the water. Then we came home and decided to try out our pool (which we have only used ONCE this summer because of the aforementioned crappy weather)...and it was just GORGEOUS! Since the pool is at the bottom of the property it was quiet and peac...

Okay, so I couldn't resist that title heehee.....it's FINALLY a nice warm summery day, so Jem decided to go outside to try his new water hose thingy (that he saw at his friend Matt's house, and I ended up getting on clearance from Target for like $1.80 - I kid you not!). While I was taking some pictures of him having fun, getting wet....I looked over to our lavender bush and saw all these bees buzzing around, going about their business. So I turned my camera over there and got this great picture! Pretty neat, right?