A wonderful visit from Paul and Lindsay

My brother, Paul, his wife, Lindsay, and their children, Ethan and Benjamin, stopped for a quick visit. It was great to catch up with them, and the kids had so much fun playing together -- there's definitely a special bond between cousins.

Ethan and Trent had a great time playing with the tractors together. Thanks, Grandpa Child, for instilling a love of "John Deere" in our boys!












We were so happy to finally get to meet the newest addition to our extended family! Little Ben is just precious and adorable!

Swimming!

Our adventures in dog-sitting

We took care of "Skippy" for a weekend while his owners were out of town. The first night, Skippy ran away. David woke up in the middle of the night to a loud scraping sound. Upon investigating, he discovered it was the sound of the kids' scooter being dragged up the street by a runaway-Skippy. We had attached his leash to the scooter after being assured by his owners that he would stay put in the backyard if his leash were attached to something. David searched the neighborhood for over an hour, praying that he would find our friends' dog. In the middle of the night, it seemed a horrific thought that Skippy might not return. We couldn't imagine how awful it would be to tell our friends that we had lost their beloved pet. However, at 4:30 a.m., when David and Todd began the paper route, Todd saw that Skippy had returned to our cul-de-sac! We wonder where he went in such a hurry and so suddenly in the middle of the night. Maybe he ran home, saw that his owners weren't there, then decided to return. Or maybe something scared him and he decided to run away. (If only Skippy could talk!). We will never know where his adventures took him that night, but we're so thankful Skippy found his way back to our house. Needless to say, the next night, we made him a bed in the garage!
Which leads us to the next adventure in dog-sitting. . .

The weather was very hot, so we decided to leave the garage door open a bit. When David and Todd went into the garage the next morning to do the paper route, they couldn't believe what they saw -- a SKUNK!!! He was eating Skippy's dog food, while Skippy just sat there, watching him, completely composed. The skunk turned to look at David and Todd, then went right on eating the dog food. David thought quickly, then acted on his brave, but risky, plan to rid our garage of the skunk. He grabbed his air soft gun and slid into the van, which was parked in the garage. He opened the window a little bit and shot at the skunk, who again turned and looked, then went right on eating. After a few more shots, the skunk finally decided the dog food wasn't worth it anymore and he slowly left the garage. Crazy!!! We were so relieved that the skunk didn't spray. That could have really been a disaster.

Summer School ("Kids' Club")

I am participating in a co-op summer education program with my two middle kids, Todd and Tiffani. There are eight moms and about fifteen kids who are participating, and we meet twice a week for a couple of hours. We meet in a different home each week, with the host mom planning and carrying out the curriculum. The areas of learning include: music and movement, geography, art and literature, earth sciences, human anatomy and physiology, recycling and conservation. During each class, we also spend time focusing on math, writing, and oral language skills. It has been really fun and educational for Todd and Tiffani to participate in this great program for the second summer in a row. I have had fun making lesson plans and teaching!

Here's a picture of the summer school crew in our bonus room. We had just finished a unit on musical dynamics, followed by dancing "The Funky Chicken" and "The Hokey Pokey." The kids were a little wound up when I took this picture!
Last summer,

Family baseball game

We've been savoring these last few days of summer vacation, and the weather has been so beautiful! Two nights ago, we rode our bikes to a nearby park after dinner. We ran up and down the large hill, played on the play structure, and imagined we were undersea explorers (Trent's idea).
Last night, we played baseball in the park behind our house.

Trent batting, with Tiffani's help

Trent had lots of help from his big sister when it was his turn at bat.
I love to watch him run around the bases.

"Golfing" - Trent style!

We were playing baseball in the park behind our house, and I noticed Trent had lost interest in the game. He was making up his own game of "golf" -- with a tennis ball.

Bikes in the cul-de-sac

The kids were riding around on their bikes in the cul-de-sac, and I took this short video of them having fun together.

Trent and his tricycle

Here is a video clip of Trent being crazy on his tricycle. He absolutely LOVES to ride his tricycle, mostly in our driveway, and whenever we go on walks, as well as in the tennis courts next to our house. He can peddle really fast, and it's so fun to watch his cute little legs going around like they are bionic toddler legs! When I was taking this video clip, Trent said, "Thank you, Mom!" then he said, "Mom, why are you waving at me?" His response is pretty adorable.

Summertime fun!

Some friends invited us to join them on the Columbia River for a morning of fun playing in the water and getting pulled around on the tube behind their boat. Trent thought riding on the boat was the greatest!

David drove the boat for a while -- something he loves to do (and he's good at it, too!)

Here's a shot of David and I on the tube right before the boat started pulling us. The calm look on my face in this picture is deceptive -- I was actually really apprehensive about it because the water was freezing, and I didn't want to get wet! I made the driver promise to be nice!

Todd was the "wild man" on the tube! He was kneeling, holding both hands above his head, and smiling the whole time!

Tiffani rode on the tube with Todd, and also with her friend, Kate.

Making ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa

We spent Thursday through Monday with my Mom and Dad. As always, we had a wonderful time with them. We enjoyed their amazing hospitality and created some more fun memories, including this one: making ice cream!!!

We placed the ingredients in a ziploc bag, then in another ziploc bag filled with ice.


















We squished and squeezed the bags until . . . Ta-da! Ice cream!!! Yummmm!

My 20-year class reunion

The Quincy High School class of 1988 celebrated old friendships and remembered fun times from days gone by. We've grown a little older and a little wiser (and maybe a little wider?) There were 88 of us who graduated back in '88. About half of our graduating class
attended the reunion.

My dear friends from Primary and Seminary gathered Thursday for a family BBQ at Paul's condo at the Crescent Bar Resort. It was so great to see everyone! A highlight for me was seeing the children of my friends.

Friday night we had a casual gathering at a local bar and grill.

Saturday a few of us met up at the Quincy Aquatic Center, where our kids played in the water while we visited.

Saturday evening we had a catered outdoor dinner, followed by "awards" and dancing. Carmen was one of my closest friends from Quincy. We met way back on the first day of 5th grade. I was sitting in the desk in front of her when she got her wrist pinched in her 3-ring binder and I helped her get it out. We sure had lots of fun together over the years. Our experiences cheerleading are especially memorable!

This pose was an attempt to imitate a picture from our senior Homecoming dance. The only one missing from this picture "re-make" was Trina, who was at her husband's 20-year class reunion Saturday night.
Carmen, Carol, Annette, Stephanie, and me!
We got pretty silly dancing together as the hour got later, especially when the DJ started playing our old songs (ie: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!)
Wow! Did we ever have fun in high school!

We got to see Trina and Brett Friday night and Saturday afternoon before they took off for Brett's reunion in Richland. As always, it felt like no time had passed since the last time we spoke. That's a unique and special friendship.Carmen, Trina, and I had a wonderful time catching up and remembering the old days.

Picnic at the Park

We had a fun Saturday at David's company picnic at Howard Amon Park in Richland, next to the Columbia River. There were clowns who did balloon art, bounce houses, an obstacle course, a yummy lunch, a dunk tank, and entertainment.Tyler and Trent enjoyed the snowcones! Schwann's ice cream, too!