Summer of Family

Summer

Here are a few of the things we did this summer.
To be brief, we enjoyed:
*seeing all of our relatives
*hanging out with cousins for a long time
*playing with snakes
*boating and water-skiing (BTW-my bruise healed nicely after about 2 weeks)
*playing at the water park with cousins
*quick trip to Sacramento
*biking around Monterey Bay with Ellie
*lodging steps away from the Pacific shore (I recommend the Best Western Beach Resort)
*eating at Macaroni Grill while being entertained by my opera singing friend
*4-wheeling with Grandpa
*eating food from the garden

Did I miss anything? Probably. Please leave it in the comment section if you remember something I didn't. It was great to see most of you.

My family

I'll try to catch up on our summer activities now.

About 4 days after our move, we loaded up whatever belongings we had been able to find so far, left a house full of unpacked boxes, and headed to Utah for our much anticipated family reunion/50th anniversary for my parents.
Highlights included:
-yummy food
-singing with my family
-rope making (thank you Royce)
-candy launcher (thank you Logan)
-horseback riding (thank you Charlie)
-playing with cousins
-being all together since I don't know when

I wish we could do it again soon.

P.S. my photos are limited to whatever I could grab from other's blogs, facebook, etc. I was without camera the entire trip, but found it carefully packed in the backpack I was going to take, but decided at the last minute not to, along with my phone charger and a few other things that would have been nice to have. Darn.

Ellie's Place

A while ago a friend of mine blogged about her kids playing "getting-accepted-to-college" which included things like excitement upon receiving the acceptance letter, thinking about the school mascot, packing for college, etc. I thought that was so hilarious and totally unique play for children all under the age of 7.
Well, about one week later Ellie made this poster and a couple of menus too. She was playing "opening-her-own-business" which included a grand opening complete with ribbon cutting, thanking everyone for coming, talking to the newspapers, and making sure everyone was happy. On the menu was spaghetti, pizza, breadsticks, sandwiches, and a few other main dish items. There were also desserts like milkshakes, cookies, and cake. All items were available to order that evening thanks to Richard who couldn't let this type of play go unnoticed or unsatisfied in any way.
Thanks Ellie for the delicious meal. I'll return anytime.

8th Grade Grad

Congrats Maddie!
Maddie was the recipient of the Presidential Academic Excellence Award. She was voted by her peers "Best Female Musician" and "Best Actress". She was a member of Student Council this year and Band. She has 4 poems published in the school literary magazine. She has seen great success this year and will really miss her friends and teachers. But, she has proven that she is capable of great things. I'm totally proud of this gorgeous girl.

Branson

We went to a funeral last week in Branson and mostly just spent a lot of time in the pool. BTW-the World Mark condos in Branson are super! The hot tub could accomodate at least 40 people.
This is Ellie posing as usual.

Just for the record. . .

Maddie recently hula-hooped for 92 min. non-stop! Why, you may be wondering? Well, she had to save face. She told someone she could do it, because she is great at it. But then she got to wondering if she really could. So, just to prove it to herself she stood out on the driveway while Richard and I watched, and we timed her. 92 minutes. She was really sore the next day. I think she could have gone longer, but she probably won't try again for a while.