This summer has completely deprived me of the motivation to keep this blog up to date. We have had four weeks of visitors at the house with a week in between each, but that has consumed my time and lets all face it, the weather has been great and that makes me want to hang out outside instead of updating a blog.
As a consolation, I have prepped the longest blog post in the history of this blog and have included lots of photos of the fun and excitement this summer.
The Froese family visited the inland NW and hung out at the house for a few days. We had so much fun catching up with friends that we don't talk to all that much, but still feel like close friends. The kids had a ball playing together and running all over the yard. Of course we had to go to the beach, hit up downtown, and then kick back and enjoy the wonderful company.
Amy was nice enough to take a couple of photos of the family as a thank you gift for our hospitality. They turned out very nice and we got to enjoy wonderful picture of the kids and the family that we will look back at in 20yrs and laugh at.
Those kids can be so adorable. On of my pet peeves is when I post a photo like this on Facebook, the comment saying "what a perfect family" is typically thrown out there. Well....that could not be farther from the truth. All of us as parents know what it takes to look like this in a photo and usually threats are thrown out there and some not so proud parent moments as well.
My Family came out for a week of fun during the heat of the summer. I have been gathering bikes for a couple of weeks off of craigslist for $20 or $30 and that gave us enough where we could get just about everyone out on a bike and go along the centennial trail. It appeared as if everyone had a good time.
We went out and hit the links for a day as well. Liberty Lake is pretty reasonable and I was able to get clos to par once. I think that is pretty good for a guy who has only golfed twice in the past 6 years.
Of course the summer heat allowed us to get the kiddos out in the yard and let them enjoy the "pool". We had a blast with my family and it was nice to have my parents bring up their RV so we all could have some more space in the house.
Soon after guests left, we had our house broken into in the middle of the day. The thief took Brenda jewelry and our sense of privacy. We found some evidence that would likely lead to figuring out who stole the stuff, but the Sheriffs office is pretty busy and since they did not steal and guns, they seemed less than interested in solving this caper. Next time I may have to let them know I am missing my collection of AR's and then they may be more interested in figuring it out.
We had a couple of days in between guests, so I thought we should go out camping. I was going to just take the boys, but after the robbery, Brenda did not want to be home alone and who can blame her. We headed north and explored a local state park cavern tour and samped at a great little lake.
James love to whittle with his jackknife whenever he is camping, and I just love watching him and seeing him "build things".
That next week we had Brenda's family over. Once again it was time to load up the bikes and head for the trailhead so we could go on a ride.
Lots of people means lots of food and eating almost exclusively outside. Lets face it, when there are a lot of people, you need to do anything you cant to reduce the cleaning you will need to do, so outside it is. The weather was conducive to it and we even had breakfast outside sometimes.
The kids enjoyed each other.
And they loved to pick stuff from the garden. They even picked beans and snapped them all because "it is fun". They can come over anytime if they think that is fun.
Swimming in the summer is so much fun. Sierra is such a cutie. She like the water and is pretty fearless.
You also get naps in the summer. Since I took quite a bit of time off, I was able to see how cute Sierra is on a daily basis during her nap time. I wish I could be a fox and get to snuggle with her when she sleeps.
While family was over, we also invited 40 of our closest friends for the 3rd annual DeJong Square Dance. Of course a lot of fun was had and the kids were able to join in and have a blast. Matt Likes to wear his "Don't Mess with Texas" shirt given to him by Jim and Jan.
Look at all those square dancing experts.
Fun in the summer means fun on the motorcycle. Matt can now ride on his own and is actually really good at it, but he has a had time stopping. He cannot touch the ground so every time he stops, the bike tips over and he gets trapped under it. Not a great system, but he ill grow bigger soon an that should take care of that problem.
I know she looks a little scarred here but she is really laughing the contagious laugh only a baby can do.
Every time I go into the garage the boys want to build something. They nail scraps of wood together all day and try to build boats, or planes, or crosses.
Summer eggs and zucchini. Summer time is the best for hanging outside and taking the shirt of and running around.
I recently brought a projector home and we were able to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang out on the deck. The kids enjoyed it although we did fast forward through one of the "Child Catcher" scenes. I did not want to give the nightmares like I had the first time I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Last week I took a few days off and did three sections of the IDBDR from Wallace down to Elk City. It was fun to get out on the bike, but I did miss he kiddos and wife back at home.
Once I got home I was able to take the boys on a camping trip to Roman Nose Lakes. The huckleberries were ripe and pickers were everywhere. We had and blast and I cant wait to go up there again.
