R & R - or - ME Time

I had a chance to fly to Chicago to spend the weekend with my hubby back on the 14th of August. It was a great time to just be together. Now that Jennifer has her driver's license she was able to run the boys where they needed to be while we were both gone. The weekend of the 21st the boys all went to a Boy Scout Jamboree up at Fort Lewis. Jennifer and I spent the weekend at my sister's house in Puyallup. She and her daughter joined us on a drive to Forks, WA (the sight where the movie "Twilight" was filmed). We barely made it home before I was packing my suitcase again for a trip down to Utah to visit my good friend Wendy. It has been a very relaxing, fun-filled couple of weeks.

Friends

Aaron was lucky enough to have his friend AJ come over and go swimming with him before he left again for his home in Ohio. They had a great time splashing around in the pool with AJ's cousins. It was good to see that they could just pickup their relationship right where they had left off. We sure do miss AJ and his entire family.

Extreme Weather

Okay this last winter we had the coldest season in 41 years. We have now broken the heat wave records this summer with 107 degrees! Not fun when the air conditioner is not working. The pool's water isn't even cool anymore. The boys and I have even taken to sleeping outside to try to cool off. Ed and Jennifer are both up in Nisqually at Girls Camp this week. Ed said he made a run to the store just so he could spend a few hours in the air conditioned car. This is Jennifer's final year at Girls Camp as a 6th Year YCL. She has spent several hours working on her devotionals getting ready. I know she and Jessie are going to be very sentimental come Friday night. I'm glad Ed is there with her this year.

Yesterday Aaron and I drove up to the Ape Caves to try to cool off and escape the heat. It is a very nice 42 degrees deep down inside the caves. I didn't want to come back up. As we finally did ascend the stairs leading out my glasses started to fog up as we reached the first landing where the temp increased by 30 degrees. On the trip home we pulled over to get this picture of Aaron and Mt. St. Helens.

Last Saturday while the two older boys were still on their 50-mile hike we went to Long Beach on the Ward Beach Trip, organized by the Singles in our ward. Unfortunately for everyone else, not many people joined (we only had a single single attend) along with us, Brother Hullinger and the Schmit family. It was a bit overcast, but beautiful. Ed and I came home with lovely sun burns. We took Dapple with us. She did very well, although she still does not like the water.

Summer Camps

Well, Cub Camp is done for another year! This year our Pack went to Camp Lewis up in Battle Ground. It was the first time I had been there. It was a lot different than Camp Discovery over in Clackamas, Oregon; smaller, but more spread out - if that makes sense. The week started out cool and wet, but by Friday it was up in the 90's. Luckily most of the classes were in the shade. This is Aaron's second year at Cub Camp and he did extremely well at both Archery and BB-Guns - getting Bull's eyes in both! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the one that went right into the white part of the bull's eye.

This morning we sent Jennifer off to Cheer Camp down at Oregon State University. Before she even left the school's parking lot she was texting me that she wanted to come home. I think once she gets there she'll have the same fun as she did last year. She gets back home on Tuesday.

Both Edward and Andrew leave Monday morning for their 50 mile hike. They will be gone all week. Edward will be turning 14 on Wednesday, and it will be the first birthday he won't be home. Ed is going down on Thursday to do a food drop. I hope to be able to send a birthday cake and maybe some ice cream.

The following week Jennifer leaves for Girls Camp up in Nisqually. Ed is planning on going also to be the Priesthood holder on the permises, so it will be just me and the boys. I think we'll have to go do something fun.

Ed and Aaron took a few days and went camping by themselves down at Garibalidi, Oregon. They pitched their tent at Barview Jetty where they cooked their own meals out doors amongst the elements.

On Friday morning they rented a boat and went out into the bay to do some crabing. It looks like Aaron managed to manuver the boat pretty well.

Here is Aaron measuring one of their take. He wasn't afraid to reach into the crab pot and pull up those crabs and toss any overboard that weren't up to snuff.

Saturday morning they went back out into the bay coastline to do some more clamming. They caught 29 in just an hour. Ed then made some of the tastiest clam chowder when they got home. What good memories!

The School Year Winds Down

Andrew plays percussion in the Pacific Middle School Band. We all attended his final concert last Monday night. He does a very good job! Edward joined in on the last song, as they had asked for all parents and/or siblings who played an instrument to play along. It was the first time in almost a year that Edward had even touched his sax. In this picture you can spot a few other members from our ward.

Last night was Edward's Eight Grade Graduation Celebration. This fall he will join Jennifer at Union High School. He has been with the same group of kids since 2nd grade. I'm sure it is going to be quite an adjustment as they stay at River Homelink and he moves on.

I am going to miss working with Mrs. Albert. She has really taught both Jennifer and now Edward how to prepare for high school. She is a great teacher.

A Mini-Vacation

Last weekend we decided to take a mini-vacation as the Red Sox were up in Seattle (the only time this season). Ed took the boys out of school on Friday and headed up north. They stopped off at a sporting goods store and drooled at all the gear they wished they had. Then the went to the XXX Root Bear restuarant Guy Feitti (sp?) talked about in Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. From there they went to the game. Red Sox were winning up until the last, and just missed a winning home run by mere inches. They then drove south to join Jennifer and I at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington.

Aaron had been wanting to stay here for some time, since it has something to do with his favorite animal - the wolf. Jennifer and I arrived after 5pm since she couldn't skip school like the boys. We arranged to her get an upper body massage - her first ever. She said she liked it even though it wasn't given by the cute guy she had imagined. We then spent the remaining hours in the lodge's water park and eating at the buffet. The boys arrived sometime after midnight.

The next day we spent several hours in the water park enjoying the wave pool and slides. Jennifer still is not the adventurous one and didn't really enjoy the slides much at all. Aaron wanted to participate in the lodge's Quest adventure, so we all called it quits early to help him run around the place finding the mysterious items. Ed and I were amazed as to how many people were staying at Great Wolf Lodge in today's economy. It was fun, but it is not anything that we will be doing again for the price.

Jennifer and I headed home for Stake Conference and a Stake Dance. The boys headed back north for the second Red Sox/Mariners game. This time the outcome was much better. Even more so after the game when they got to give Brad Penny (a starting pitcher for the Red Sox) a ride with a couple of his friends to a restuarant in downtown Seattle. The boys were a bit star struck, but they all got autographs and memories to last forever. Unfortunately, they didn't have the camera with them, so no photos.