Tuesday, August 18, 2009

What I did on my summer vacation! :)

I think I suck at blogging! I like to read other people's blogs...in fact I am a regular follower of a few. I check them regularly, make comments, I even get irritated if they don't post for a while...but none of this is evidently enough to make ME post on a more regular basis!

So, this is my essay on what we did on our summer vacation:

As I mentioned in my last post, our city pool was required to make some major renovation due to legislated safety requirements. At first, they said they were going to be closed until mid to late July, but they ran into other issues and ended up not opening at all. This has been a bit of a challenge, as our kids (especially Ike) use the pool quite regularly, but they have survived.

Ike play All-Star baseball into July. As usual, it was wicked hot during that time. They practiced about four days a week and the tournament was held north of Coeur d'Alene the first two weekends in July. They ran into some really good competition and played really well. Won some games, lost some games. True to tradition we held a BBQ for the players after one of the games to celebrate Ike's 12th birthday, it is always fun to do that & the players (and coaches!) look forward to it now. Since baseball has been over Ike has had a pretty busy summer. He volunteered for Vacation Bible School at our church, went on vacation to Yellowstone National Park with one of his friends & his grandparents, has spent considerable time with Mike's dad, and went to church camp. He mows our lawn weekly and also one of the neighbors' lawns. He is looking forward to school starting & also wrestling I think, as just the other day he was walking around the house in a singlet!!!

Cassidy has worked all summer at the local farmer's market selling baked goods. She has done quite well, some weeks better than others & surprised all of us by sticking to it for the whole summer. She is done for the year now, but we are really proud of her for figuring out a job when she couldn't find one. She also volunteered at VBS this year, has spent some time at Papa's house, and went to church camp. She is at Silverwood today on a youth group trip and leaves tomorrow to spend several days at my mom & dad's house. She is very excited to start high school in a couple weeks.

Kaittlin attended Ironwood Thrower's Camp this summer and also went to church camp. Besides those two events and a few days with her friends most of her summer has been spent working at the hospital. She has gotten to try out every shift & she really likes her job. She is going to continue working once school starts, but will only be able to work weekends to start with. Beginning this week the hospital is doing a trial run of switching the CNAs to 10 hour shifts which means that swing shift runs until 1am instead of 11pm. If that becomes permanent she will not likely work during the week. If they go back to 8 hour shifts & her class schedule accommodates it she may try to pick up one or two swing shifts during the week. She gets her second senior picture sitting done on September 1 & just got register for the dual enrollment college course she will be taking this fall. She is ready to start her senior year...can you believe it???!!!

As far as our family goes, we enjoyed a visit from the Schulz family in June. It was an amazing time of just hanging out & visiting & it ended way too soon. Sonny did stay an extra couple days before they had to move on to a family reunion in Boise...that was an extra good time, as she had not been here in such a long time...we really enjoyed that. We got to watch her play in Hoop Fest & she was able to watch Ike play in one of his All-Star games. It was a special time & we are planning a family vacation in February to attend her final college basketball game.

We have spent considerable time picking huckleberries this year. The crop is abundant & the berries are big. The kids pick & sell berries each year for school clothes money. Prices are down this year...I'm not sure if it is because there are just so many berries out there or because no one has any money (I certainly understand that!), but we have sold some & the kids have bought some clothes. None of my kids are clothes horses & are pretty thrifty, so they will be fine. Hopefully we can sell them all & put the extra cash toward the trip to Bismarck.

Summer is slipping away & the list of projects around the house, although smaller, is not nearly as completed as I would have wished by now...go figure! School supplies have been purchased & registration for classes is next week. Time flies...

Now you know what I did on my summer vacation! :)

1 comment:

Mrs. Dole said...

Sound busy as usual! I can't believe how BIG and plentiful the berries were this year! I think we ended up with 6 gallons in the freezer. :-O We are into football already ~ first game is this Friday. I think the following Friday they will be in Kootenai. I'll let you know.