Kerner Corner: Where do I even begin?!?!?!

This past month has been a complete whirlwind. 1 month ago today we moved into our new house. Promptly following unpacking all the boxes we left for camping at Hills Creek with the Kerner clan. Came home long enough to do laundry. Neal and I squeezed in a quick happy hour dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. Once again we packed up, headed camping in the gorge at Memaloose State Park. Laundry and cleaning again. Now as I sit here blogging, I'm making a mental list of all the things I need to get done tomorrow before we leave for our last camping trip of the year at the beach. PHEW!!!

So now for all the details in between. I'll mostly let the pictures tell the story. I apologize in advance for the random jumping around that is most likely to happen when trying to squeeze one busy month of photos into a single blog post.

Aubrey and Ella on the 1st day of swim lessons

Aubrey learning to kick

Free time at the end of the lesson!

Ella can now swim with her face in the water using her arms and legs!

Ella is a very quick learner!!

Today its officially ours!! 7/21/2011

Aubrey got a new rocking horse from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Allie for her new room.

Our new house has a perfect climbing tree out front =)

Nothing beats an early morning cup of hot chocolate by the lake.
(The girls felt a little left out as we were sipping our coffee ;-))

Aubrey is a camping animal. There isn't an aspect of camping this girl doesn't love.

Well, I guess I should clarify that caption. We did find 2 things she didn't like while camping. 1st of all, Aubrey loved riding on the "big ski" behind the boat. If you look closely in the picture, she is rocking herself back and forth faster that the boat is taking her. Apparently on one of her rides, she decided for whatever reason to let go---not hold onto the big ski--- while G-Daddy was still driving the boat. Centrifugal force took over and Aubrey was no longer on the big ski, but in the middle of the lake. Of course G-Daddy immediately turned around and Uncle Ryan dove in to rescue Aubrey from the lake. Although she was scared, she was doing great keeping herself upright in her life jacket. Afterwards, she reprimanded G-Daddy as if he was the reason she fell off "Don't knock me off the ski G-Daddy."

Example 2. G-Daddy has hidden in his attic for many years these Crest (yes like the toothpaste) pedal cars. These cars get hauled down to Hills Creek each year. A stick is found to be used as the "pusher" stick as the kids can't make them go. Since these are fully-functioning cars, the steering wheel works and is actually required to be used in order to keep the car on the road. Can anyone guess where this story is going???

Aubrey was game to try this out. She had seen Quin doing it and he is a maniac at it! G-Daddy gives Aubrey a little push and off she goes in between about 4 adults (we are all standing around watching). "Turn Aubrey" is yelled as she heads off the road...... Next thing we know, she has driven UNDER Uncle Ryan's truck and is stopped by running head-first into the mounted hitch of his truck!!! She ended up with a little cut on her lip, but overall fine. G-Daddy on the other hand felt HORRIBLE!!

We are trying to coach Aubrey to tell G-Daddy "I forgive you G-Daddy." Instead, she looks him square in the eye and says "That's NOT VERY NICE G-Daddy. Don't push me into Uncle Ryan's truck!"