We had a fun week, hiking, going to the pool twice, visiting the aquarium, and going to the spray park a couple of times.

On July 4th, we went hiking by a local lake we had never been to before.  As we hiked up, we discovered that it was buggy.  So buggy, in fact, that our bug repellent was not effective, and it turned mom into a crazy bug lady.  (Think "Vikki" from the original Parent Trap Movie).  However, Mom soon found out that spraying bug spray directly at the swarms of mosquito was not effective either, and aborted the hike. 

Later that afternoon,  E.J. drew a picture of our hike for his Grandma's Birthday.  The hike, through his eyes, looks a little different than the scene I remember.  In fact, after seeing his picture, I realized that the bugs didn't seem phase the kids at all, (even though they did end up with multiple bites) Ethan, Drew (and Mae)  were cheery and happy to examine the different birds and bugs along the way, despite sub-par conditions.

After hiking we had a fun picnic, and even spotted a pair of Green Herons in their nest.  Glad we had brought our binoculars and bird book.