Trent took the 3 older kids backpacking in Oregon. He met his brother, Mike, somewhere in Oregon. The exact location changed the day before they left because of fires where they wanted to go. The kids had a blast! I was a little worried about how Hunter would do having to carry a pack and with limited food options. He did great! They each carried a pack and hiked a total of about 12 miles over the course of 3 days. Hanna was a little nervous to pee outside, but quickly caught on how to do it. I'm pretty certain this will be a new summer activity for them. It's not something I enjoy, especially with little kids.
As they were coming home from their backpacking adventure they picked up the Ruitta kids to spend the week with us. We med the Ruitta's when we were in San Antonio. They lived on Fort Sam with us and we became good friends. They PCSed to Fort Lewis, just south of Seattle, just before we left for CO. So when we accepted the job here in WA we were so excited to be close to them again.
We had a great time with Noah and Maija here! We spent a few days down at the lake, till the air got too yucky to be there. Noah got so sun burned the first day we were at the lake. I felt really bad! We tried really hard to keep the sunscreen on. Over on the other side of the mountains (Seattle area) they don't see the sun like we do. Maija brought mostly pants, the weather here is so much warmer than over there, she got really hot really fast in jeans.
We went to Slidewaters one afternoon...as the ash rained down on us. Which is something the kids always look forward to! We were lucky and Trent had a few hours in between patients so he was able to come spend most of the day with us. The kids ran and did slides for hours, checking in every once in a while to get a snack.
The girls and I canned peaches Saturday afternoon. Andrew tested them as we cut them.
We went down to the dam to escape the smoke. It was much clearer down in Wenatchee so we spent a few hours down there enjoying the clear air. We played at the park at the dam, went to the dam museum, went to the apple store and got ice cream, and finished our afternoon off with dinner at Panda Express. I had put a sleeping bag on the floor in the boy's room for Noah to sleep in, but after just a day they decided it was much nicer to just share a bed. I guess it seemed to work. I met Erin Sunday morning and we said goodbye to Noah and Maija....till next time.
Malia had an appointment to get her 6 month shots. She had a bit of a fever when she went in for her 6 month check up so I opted to not do shots then.
Before school started the boys needed hair cuts! We spent our last day before school started down in Wenatchee getting hairs cut and running errands. To celebrate the start of school we went to Company Creek Pizza for dinner and each of the kids got $1 in quarters to play games. They all enjoyed it. This little pizza shop is the only place in town that has games for kids, and it's not even that impressive.
One afternoon I found this little note that Hunter had written to his first grade teacher, Ms Farnsworth. She was Hanna's 3rd grade teacher the year before. My kids LOVE her! She is young and single, in her 3rd year of teaching, and an excellent teacher! She would come down to the lake while we were down there to visit sometimes and Hunter really wanted her to come hang out with us again. It was really sweet! Hanna and Hunter can't go a day without seeing her at school and giving her a hug. If Hunter sees her outside of school he hangs all over her. She doesn't seem to mind it too much.
The first weekend in August (when Trent was gone with the big kids) one of my young women got baptized. It was also her birthday. After her baptism we went over to her house for a birthday party and to play in the water. My friend, Sara, gave Malia her first taste of chocolate cake. She loved it! Andrew had gotten a huge blister on his leg, still not sure from what, but it had ruptured and the skin underneath was raw so I wouldn't let him get into the pool. Cassie put him on the floaty and he had a blast just ridding around the pool on the alligator.
August also brought a bounty from our garden. First thing every morning Andrew would head out to check how things were doing. While we didn't grow this cucumber, our friends did, Drew often had things eaten before they made it into the house.
I love summer and was so sad to see it end! I feel like we missed out on so much this summer because of the nasty air. We were kept inside for so long. We didn't get to spend as much time down at the lake as usual because of the hazardous air. We also seemed to be pretty busy this summer, not as much down time as usual. As soon as school was out we had visitors, then girls camp, then we went to UT, then Trent and I went to Hawaii, then more visitors, then gross air hung around for the rest of the summer. Before we knew it it was time to start school again.
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