Summer Synopsis

Since its the first full day of fall I figured I better wrap up our summer happenings.  We were pretty busy this summer which didn't leave me too much time to feel bad about staying home instead of taking some crazy road trip somewhere.  After Mt Rainier I ran a week-long tennis camp for the kids.  I made them sign a contract because I know just how competitive and perfectionists my kids can be.  Also, Mason doesn't like me as a coach in anything so I wasn't sure how it would go.  They actually did really well.  Bree was into it for about 5 minutes, just long enough to learn how to hold the racket.  The rest of the week she either cried about it being hot (contract breaker!) or ran around picking up balls for us.  Darcy hung in there and worked on her serve and hitting balls against the fence but she got frustrated too.  Drew and Mason improved tremendously and I think they had some fun in there.  Mason will have a killer serve if he keeps playing.  In the end serving was what they were most into.  As long as they had fun that was fine with me.  I had a great time being Coach (which they all called me) and after a week of tennis I was warmed up enough to beat Paul on Saturday when we were showing dad our new skills.  I rarely, if ever, beat him.

 
 
Just prior to, and during our tennis camp week we had two new babies join the family.  Paul's brother's wife, Star, had their 4th.  A sweet little girl named Aspen.  My brother's wife, Tamara, had their first.  A sweet little girl named Ashley.  Both sides of the family have over 20 grandkids now.  Big families are so much fun!  (Obviously Mason loves babies)

 
August was a busy month for us too.  We went to the Benton County Fair in Corvallis where the kids got to go on unlimited rides in the million degree heat.  We didn't last long, outside with no shade walking around for hours makes for some cranky family members, but I won't name names.  We did have fun seeing all the animals and the kids made friends with a llama.

 We also went to a barn dance at Paul's friend from high school's home and I impressed Mason with my do-si-do skills.  The next day we attended Paul's sister Carmen's fancy 40th birthday party.  I was a little out of my element but I survived :)  It was actually a nice evening.




Let's see, next I made 17 quarts of applesauce, 12 of which rotted on me.  I still need to get over to the OSU extension office to see if they can help me figure out what I am doing wrong.  I sure don't want to give up on homemade applesauce but the thought of the cost and effort make me cry as I dump the moldy sauce down my drain.
Next up we went to Seattle to watch the Braves play the Mariners!  I know I told Paul we wouldn't plan any more vacations around the Braves but since this was just a day trip that didn't count.  It was a beautiful day for a ball game and it was a pretty exciting game too, but of course the Braves lost.  I've seen them 4 times now and they have only won once.  I think I'm a bad luck charm.

 
 Our big summer project was painting Drew's bedroom.  It hadn't been painted since we moved in and Drew wanted a change.  She has mega high ceilings so Paul wasn't thrilled with the idea but in the end it worked out nicely.  Paul put up a white chair rail at about eye level and Drew chose purple for the bottom and gray for the top.  Not my choice of color schemes but she loves it so that's what counts.

Our next activity was Paul's work picnic with an alien theme.  We had a good time playing games, eating good food, visiting with Paul's co-workers, and the kids loved the huge slip and slide.  Darcy had the best facial expressions in the pictures we took.  I made Bree go down once with Drew and once with Mason and then she wanted to go on her own.  I was leery but she was fearless.  She had her arms up in the air the whole time, silly kid.  I can't wait till she's a teenager.

 

We decided we liked tent camping so much (?) that we needed to do it once more before the summer ended so we set up the tent in the backyard and had a fire to roast marshmallows on too.  It was a fun evening that ended with only the 3 youngest actually sleeping in the tent.  I don't enjoy it enough to sleep on a cot when my cozy bed is just 20 feet away.

And speaking of backyard activities, Paul set up the big screen and projector so the kids could invite a few neighborhood friends over to watch the Lego Movie and have popcorn and treats.  I think the idea is always better than the practical implementation of such plans, but everyone had fun on the last night to stay up late before heading to bed early to get used to school hours.

We made it back to the Kite Festival in Long Beach after a 2 year hiatus.  Its one of our favorite places to camp and see the kites and eat elephant ears!

Also for two weeks in August we were able to take care of the garden and chickens for some friends while they were on vacation.  We got tons of fresh vegetables and eggs and had a great time tending things.  The kids LOVED the chickens.  Drew and Mason took over their care, feeding them and hunting for the eggs.  I loved doing that when I was a kid too.  I'm glad they got to experience a bit of "farm" life.  They miss the chickens now!

 

I think that covers our summer pretty thoroughly.  We had a good one even though we were stuck at home.  Its pretty hard to get bored when you live in as beautiful a place as the Pacific Northwest.