Hayden Lake may be one of my most favorite in the area! The Honeysuckle Public Beach is so accessible and chill. The u-shaped dock is lots of fun and the boat launch gave the boys a ton of entertainment. I took Ira on the paddle board - he had mixed (mostly negative) feelings about it. He's a bit of a scaredy cat!

Also this summer has been all about practicing self-love of my body. Those tummy rolls are uncomfortable for me. Getting into a consistent workout program is really difficult with 5 children, two of whom are really little (and covid, damn covid). And... because my mental health has been leaps and bounds better post Ira's birth than my other births, I've been able to nourish and fuel my body adequately. After my other three births, my anxiety was so high and I struggle to eat when that happens to the point where I lose more weight than I gained during pregnancy. It's kind of one of those things, if carrying some extra weight means I can make it through the day without panicking (and crying and all those feels and living in darkness) then I think that's worth it. Still, I'm looking forward to feeling more like myself in my body. Working on it, and working on being okay with it all taking a little more time.

Anyways... here are some photos of my cutie family!

Some more photos of our vacation at Hayden Lake! Conor, Holly and Greta went on a big canoe trip one morning. They packed snacks and covered a good amount of the lake. Conor reported that it was really fun with no bad moments. I hope it's a memory Holly and Greta get to cherish! Our friends came down for a day of play and that was super fun! It was all about hanging out on the beach and playing! We had a couple family movie nights. I finally watched Moana start to finish. That movie choice was inspired by the canoe adventure. My tummy is definitely popping. I'm 12 weeks pregnant in these photos. I've received a lot of feedback about my size from Greta; "oh ya Mom, I can definitely tell you're pregnant."

Sometime in the spring, when I could see that summer was going to be a tad on the disappointing side with zero trips to Canada, I got desperate and booked a couple vacations. I needed something to look forward to this summer! And I'm so glad I did! I book our trip to Banks Lake and our stay in Hayden Lake. We just got home today and we had a really lovely time! The weather was gorgeous and fortunately there aren't really any wildfires this year, or at least no smoke from them (yet). We stayed in a little two bedroom cabin, ate simple food and we were a short walk to the shared beach. The beach was super beautiful. It's south facing, pretty sand and the water is so clear! This was my type of vacation! We had access to a couple kayaks, a paddle board, a canoe and some other lake toys and we loved using them. Swimming out to the little dock was so much fun. I loved watching my girls play on the dock.

Coming back home feels like a downer. It was so fun to play and have so few cares and concerns! I'm so glad we went on this little vacation. Our family really needed it, I really needed it!