Thursday, August 14, 2008

A few memories from summer 2008

I'm having a terrible time determining where to start. I think I'll recap a few things from this past summer and then maybe we'll try to move forward as life happens!
This picture was taken one morning before Cub Scout day camp. Kaylee & Brandon went each day and stayed in a sibling group while Dustin attended the camp and Derek & I volunteered. We spent all day every day in the heat with lots of little boys. We were very tired by the end of the week!!

Brandon is the only child who gets to have his birthday in the summer. He was under the mistaken impression that he could start school as soon as he turned 5. We had to deal with his disappointment daily when he would ask, "Now is it school time yet?" Every time we told him that there was a lot more summer left first, he would burst into tears. You just can't convince the youngest child to enjoy not being in school!
This was Derek's first year to go to Boy Scout camp. I was pretty amazed that he could still stand up with his backpack on! Despite being sick for a few days, he seems to have enjoyed himself very much.
All of the kids took swimming lessons for a couple of weeks this summer. Kaylee was fortunate to have her friend Taylor in the same class with her. Actually, I kept Taylor every day through the summer, so Kaylee had a non-stop friend. They got along great, and Kaylee was so excited to have another girl in the house!
This was so funny. We heard through the grapevine that Chick-fil-A was celebrating "Cow Appreciation Day" on July 11th . My sister Sara was flying into town that day, so we decided to surprise her with the news that we were going to get free dinner from Chick-fil-A! The only catch was that we had to dress up like cows. Sara was ecstatic, of course (thanks for being a good sport!!). We were short on black construction paper, and I couldn't justify spending more money to save money (you know me!), so my poor children spent the entire drive to the airport coloring and cutting out black spots. Unfortunately the black didn't show up too well. Derek designed our ears and tails and we were good to go. We felt really stupid, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of people had taken the challenge. It was a hilarious memory, complete with lots of free food.
At the end of July, we went to visit my family in South Carolina. Everyone was there except for Adam's family (since Holley was due to have a baby very soon). Roger and my brother Nathan decided to be brave and take all the boys on a bike ride. Sounds like it was quite an adventure. We did an evacuation on a couple of exhausted riders, but overall I think it classified as a good experience!
These three generally stick together like glue when we go visit my family. Justin (Nathan's oldest son) is right between Derek and Dustin in age, and they love to spend time together. In this picture, we were all heading out to a nearby field to see Derek shoot off his rocket. Lots of fun, and even a little extra excitement the time the rocket got stuck on the launch pad!
Despite what it looks like, only Derek and Dustin will be playing soccer this year (Kaylee decided she didn't want to play, and we're having Brandon wait another year). Anyway, the league that we play with changed names this year, and they were unloading some old uniforms pieces for $1. We picked up a few things to practice in and when we got home, the kids decided to suit up and play a game in the backyard. They felt really professional and insisted on posing for some pictures.
Our latest attempt at pet ownership has been this lovely ball python named Houdini (don't ask how it got it's name!). Dustin was the original owner, but has since decided that he doesn't care for the grunt work involved, even though it's very minimal compared to other pets. Kaylee was heartbroken over the thought of selling the snake, so she has dutifully taken over cleaning the cage and playing with the snake. She thought it was fun to put him on her head today - go figure.

Well, that's a quick snapshot of our summer. There were a couple of beach trips, lots of swimming in the pool, and some free movies, but mostly we spent a lot of time enjoying a slightly more relaxed summer schedule. The kids would argue that their summer was terribly structured with mounds of chores, piano, reading, and 'schoolwork', but trust me, the free time far outweighed the work! Be that as it may, I think they are all excited to start another year of school. Orientation was today and now I have to get started on MY homework - filling out the piles of forms and sorting through everything the teachers gave us. I better get used to it. School starts on Monday, and I'm sure life is about to get a lot busier again!

4 comments:

Jodi said...

I cannot believe Kaylee put that snake on her head! She cracks me up!

Amanda and Levin Gunter said...

how fun! your family looks great! We just started a blog too.
http://gunterfullife.blogspot.com

Tracy said...

Hahaha. I am LOVING cow appreciation day! That is hilarious.

Anonymous said...

Good words.