Paradise

It's appropriately named Paradise Creek.

We come here every summer.

First we have to hike in a bit...

go over some barbed wire...

But once we're there, there's a lot of nothing that goes on,

like playing with sticks 

walking in the creek

tossing rocks in the water

Seriously this little one thought throwing rocks in the creek was the best thing in the whole wide world!  She could have done it all day long.

At one point it started to rain, so we went under the cover of some spruce trees for about 5 minutes.

The wild flowers aren't in full bloom yet.  They're patiently waiting for the monsoons to come so they can explode

Back when cropping was an afterthought, when I thought the more contrast the better, and when we only had 6 children, 3 years ago, I took a pic of my kiddos on this very same log.  

I think it's pretty ironic that back then it was our first summer with Tess and Jude, and they didn't have shirts on then. 

Now it's Mimi's first summer with us, and compliments of a very juicy cherry incident, she doesn't have a shirt this time. 

Even my teen girls (plus one extra that actually is like family and is such a joy to have with us) seem to have a good time.

Really, it was paradise.