Bright and early, Jantzen headed out for his first official scout camp (Monday, July 7).
He had a wonderful week and concentrated his efforts to complete 9 merit badges at Treasure Mountain. It was pretty intense and he accomplished more than expected. Way to go Jantzen!
After the weekend parties and celebrations, Dad headed to Alaska for work and Mom flew to Pennsylvania to watch Tricia & McKay's children. That being the case, Tiffany and Abigail decided to hang-out with us for the week.
Abigail enjoyed having 'built-in' playmates and was exposed to a few new concepts including sibling rivalry and "food scarcity mentality". Ha-ha!
We packed in the activities while our Texans were in town - particularly with the younger children.
The 100-year old carousel is a classic favorite.
The hot weather was perfect for all of the water activities the kids enjoyed.
And Tiffany can now attest to the fact that we don't always have wind blowing here.
You can spot a true water-lover by the condition of their hair.
Notice who has the wet hair?
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| Quinn, Elsie, Abigail with Aunt Tif |
Hanging out at the local splash park.
This sign shows how much drifting has occurred since last summer.
Our morning trip to the sand dunes allowed us to play a bit before the crazy heat.
Hot sand has a way of burning your feet.
We found a new favorite shady spot.
It required that Tif and I get a workout in by hauling the sand toys up this mammoth dune.
Tiffany, Elsie, Abigail (running), Anna
Anna climbing a dune.
Glad Brinley was able to join us for this outing.
Elsie decided she wanted to sleep "right here - it's so comfy!".
These kids got out all kinds of energy before heading home.
They spent the afternoon in the backyard swimming pool - and for as often as they were in there, I didn't manage to snap a single shot of them.
Tiffany took up resident position as "pool watcher" while I went visiting teaching that afternoon.
In fact, we accomplished quite a bit between the two of us. I especially enjoyed the day she picked up Anna from gymnastics and took the kids to their Cloverbuds 4-H meeting while I helped a neighbor pack/move for a few hours. All I can say is that I got the better end of the deal that day:).
One day we took the kids to the LEGO movie and had Tanner stay with them while we ran exciting errands like getting the Yukon lubed, checking out an oil leak in the Grand Am, etc.
Being a cool aunt, Tif wanted to experiment with a new theme and variations on s'mores.
The kids filled sugar cones with marshmallows, caramel and chocolate or butterscotch chips and wrapped them in foil before put them in the fire pit.
In theory, a fun idea.
In reality, we decided to stick with the good old-fashioned s'mores.
Along with hosting our first soccer practices of the summer rec season (story for another day), it was a busy evening as Brinley's violin teacher, Emily, came by the house so we could record their duet. When I get a chance, I'll try and post it here. We are super sad that Emily is moving away with her husband to pursue
graduate degrees elsewhere.
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| She's been an awesome teacher and will be greatly missed! |
Tiffany and I enjoyed attending the temple together earlier in the week and she helped out while I had a few random foot zone appointments. On our final day together, we drove the kids south to pick raspberries at Aunt Jackie's place. Though it was a bit early to harvest berries, the kids had fun eating what they put in their buckets and Abigail enjoyed her country experience.
After lunch at the park, we put on the swimsuits again and headed to the lake.
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| Abigail A., Saylor, Elsie, Talon, Abigail S. Quinn, Rigdon |
We met up with my friend, Yvonne, and her four kiddos.
The kids spent lots of time burying themselves and building castles, motes and such.
Anna brought Brenley along and these giggling girls had a blast together.
Brinley and Niki spent most of their time out on the lake in the black inner tubes, on the docks, going down the slides, etc. They did come to shore to "chill" with the little kids for a bit.
After a week of play, it was time for Tif and Abigail to pack up. How fortuitous that Uncle Cam (from AZ) surprised us and showed up late Friday night - just in time to help us load a very heavy piece of furniture into the back of the truck headed for Mom & Dad's barn the next morning.
Saturday morning came early after all the late nights.
It's hard getting kids to bed when the sun doesn't fully set until nearly 10pm.
Thanks for coming Tif & Abigail! We sure enjoyed having you around!
They headed south and we headed north.
Quickwater Ranch is the girls version of Sky Mountain Ranch that Tanner participated in two years ago. We are so grateful Brinley was accepted into the program this summer!
One difference - the boys had rustic cabins. The girls have rustic tents.
We're looking forward to hearing more about Brinley's adventures when she returns.
The Lodge where meals are prepared and served.
Brinley was assigned to the "green team" and asked to wear a green shirt upon arrival. We didn't notice that the rest of us also happened to be wearing green (except for Quinn) until someone asked if we dressed in green to support Brinley. Definitely not planned!
Jantzen stayed home to clean HCP offices and mow the lawn while Tanner had other work to do. After a quick tour of the place, we said our good-byes then made the drive home.
She's in good hands but we'll miss her!
The rest of the day was filled with exciting stuff like fertilizing the lawn, cleaning deep-cleaning the cars, sweeping out the garage, etc. After a days work, Aaron took Jantzen and Anna along with Janene and Cameron for an evening of fishing.
They did well.
Can you tell who caught the bigger fish?
2 comments:
We had such a great time! Thanks again for the hospitality. Can't wait to hear about Brinley's camp.
Glad you were able to spend time with Tif and Abigail. Busy time as usual! Those fish look great! Hope Brinley had an awesome camp!
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