Ahhh, Summer

My blog posts are few and far between this summer, but we are still here. :) I served as a camp counselor for 3 days in late June at a camp for abused and neglected teenage girls...which might explain why I haven't been blogging much. It took quite a bit of time and energy to prepare for camp, serve at camp, and then recover from camp! I learned so much through this experience. I was blessed to lead a 14 year old girl to place her faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and saw walls come down in lots of girls' hearts--allowing them to be real with each other and have a few days of fun as well. I rode a zip line with one girl and did all of the water slides with another girl--and ended up with some burns on the backs of my thighs from a slide that wasn't wet enough. Ouch! When I came home I felt poured out and filled up at the same time. A paradox, I know, but that is how I felt. Braylen took one look at me and said, "You look like a camp counselor, Mom." I guess my staff t-shirt and orange headband gave it away. At least he didn't say I smelled like one. :)

For the first time since our vacation in early June, I felt like summer truly arrived the first week of July. The boys bought lots of fireworks thanks to my parents' "care package" filled with treats and firework money. It was glorious--they were entertained all week and I soaked up summer in a chair as I supervised their fun. (And read a novel of course!) They also swam in our pool and Aaron invited a friend over. Braylen and his buddy Matthew were pretty inseparable as well. It was a great week, topped off with two days spent in a nearby town at a family reunion.

My house is a mess--it looks like a "stuff bomb" went off on both levels of my house. Once in a while it gets to me and we sort of clean it up--but it just gets messy again. Most of the time I don't even care. :) In just a little over 5 weeks the kids will be back in school and I can vacuum the sand out of the carpet one last time. This week is VBS, and Aaron is my only one young enough to enroll. Braylen and Kaleb are both helpers. Derek is busy at work this week conducting his driving course for the PD. He's involved the boys as much as he can, and last night after another visit to the course Kaleb told him, "I could do this all day, every day, and never get tired of it!"

This week Aaron's tennis lessons wrap up, Kaleb's golf lessons and Aaron's swim lessons begin, and Braylen gets to spend some time with a friend who was gone the entire month of June. The boys bicker and love each other, sometimes in the same minute. We always have a lawn to mow. We stay up way too late and sleep in. The calendar is full of fun with friends and family. We are cruising right along through summer and I finally feel like I can say, "Ahh, it's summer." :)

Having fun in our backyard pool

Strawberries from our own strawberry patch!

Kaleb loves Daddy's new cruiser--a Dodge Charger!

I think Ginger needs a new cool-a-roo sling, don't you?

The boys and their cousins splashing in the river

Braylen was capturing a carp with his uncle while the others posed for a picture.

Here's the carp they caught with their bare hands! Our river sure needs more water.

A few days later, Braylen caught this large mouth bass with Grandma. (Not with his bare hands!)

Sent with love from Grammy & Grampy. Aaron's black eye is from a fall at a park, not from fighting over the snacks!

Watching Suessical the Musical at the park, with popcorn of course!

The show was fantastic!

It's always fun when Daddy gets in the pool.

I thought this was a great shot of Aaron having fun in the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke balls!

Watching the show our boys put on. Look at all the hair from brushing Ginger! Kaleb and Aaron decorated our yard with flags.

For my mom :)

The "big boys" make bigger noise. :)

Happy 4th of July!