Tuesday

A pesky neighbor and his family recently moved. Probably a decent family, not a great neighbor. Anyway, he seems to have left two roosters. This used to be a great chicken lane. But then we ended up with two roosters this spring, our neighbors ended up with two roosters....

Which reminded me of waking up as a little girl on the Sunrise Road in Custer, WA to a gunny sack on our front porch with two hens and a rooster. To this day I have no idea where they came from. What I do know is my dad has been  an interesting, un predictable friend to many --with shenanigans from time to time and my guess is a buddy of his was trying to get rid of a rooster. Or maybe he was moving and didn't have a place for a rooster and a couple of hens. They free ranged with no coop and that rooster chased Lesha and I! We feared going outside because of that blasted rooster! Our dad took care of that problem and I have no idea what happened to the hens. My guess is dogs or coyotes got them.

Some days I want to go back to one day on the Sunrise Road, but without the rooster.

The kids and I made it to Silverwood yesterday and we had a BALL!! My kids rode rides with the West kids! Our good friends Cary, Liz and fam were there! This was dreamy for Oren especially! We enjoyed the water park there so much too. It was a LONG day! Two hours and forty minutes there and home. But the big chunk at Silverwood in between was fantastic. Oren made me so proud. His little feet walked a few miles I am sure and he rode on rides that I didn't think he would!

Hazel's audiology appointment went great today! I am so thankful. Her hearing test went better than a year ago and she had a bit less pressure on her left ear. Her right ear was and has been great. The knowledge of an audiologist is pretty impressive.


We'll see what happens to the orphaned roosters...

in the thick of it

This summer I saw my sis in law Cary at my bro in law John's. side note; John and Katie love to entertain and they are excellent cooks. We had a really yummy Mexican dinner there! With fresh local corn and homemade salsa....

Cary and I were talking about kids and their interests and activities. And just the lives of a family of 6.  Cary said to me "you're in the thick of it" referring to the ages and stages of 4 kids.

This summer I have felt "in the thick of it" --- I should have logged our baseball travel from June 9th till July 15th -- Wenatchee, Yakima, East Valley, Walla Walla, Kennewick, Pendleton. A few of these towns more than once. I saw some good baseball (which I LOVE). I saw wineries (only saw didn't visit), fields of alfalfa, dry flat lands, farm houses, fields of mustard, burger joints.... Our Walla Walla and Pendleton weekend being a favorite. If you are ever passing though Walla Walla I would recommend Fast Eddy's Burger Joint! YUM! But, this body of mine has hit one too many burger joints and filled my plate with Vance's delicious BBQ a few too many times. It is time to get to walking and spinning.

Hazel and Willem earned Silverwood tickets again - through a reading program. Last summer we did not get there.  - it is a very fun water park and theme park! Silverwood is well run, clean and expensive. The kids had earned their reading tickets last summer too. But there are only so many summer days which translates to there are not enough.

When you sort of forget to schedule summer dentist appts., a mammogram for me, an audiology appointment for Hazel and sports physicals for the big boys and you have 3 weeks of summer left - the appointments feel a bit daunting.
so, I got Merit in for his physical last week and Willem's is scheduled. We'll wait for fall for dental appts. Hazel will see the audiologist this week. She has had pressure on her left ear for months. No fluid, just pressure and although she passed her hearing exam, she was right on the line.

I get really sweaty in August, not just because of the heat. The end of summer pressure hits me kind of hard and I dislike the back to school displays. My garden begins to look dry and tired if we do not very carefully tend to it. Kind of like me. Last summer I had my annual exam in August and expressed to my doctor how every August I have to take deeper breaths. I have to schedule exercise and even sometimes then, the schedule gets thrown out the window. I dread the kids going back to school, but I have to remember by mid September I love the new schedule.


This August has been better than the previous few. Many whispered prayers!


Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I can face more with a prayerful, joyful, thankful heart!

So, I enjoy each day. And am so thankful for the energy to make memories with my family!

August 9th

Summer Break is the BEST.

Ketchikan, Alaska refreshed our family in several ways. We needed cooler temperatures, especially Vance. The GREEN, cooler temps, and a breeze felt wonderful.
Our kids worked together, played together and helped each other so much on the trip. Our travel days  were stressful. Merit and Oren were seated together on the plane, I was a row behind them. I was so grateful hearing Merit help Oren and listening to those two converse.

The water was low where we were so we were able to do a lot of hiking over areas that usually have a foot or two of water. I loved watching the kids look for muscles. It was so fun to see them hunt for skipping rocks. Hazel experienced successful skipping for the first time. The exploring was so fun! Willem took Merit and I on quite an adventure! We thought he knew where he was going, he did not 😀We experienced sunsets there like never before. Ketchikan gets a lot of rain, so clear days with gorgeous sunsets were a bonus.

 Great food, but we did not over buy! We were not going to starve but we didn't plan for enough meals.

Hide and Seek, Racko, UNO, fishing, reading and gold mining were favorite activities. Life slowed down for 6 days.

I love coming home and this trip was no different! Our dear friends, the Bongs, watched our chickens and watered our garden. We came home to happy chickens, sunflowers and veggies.

Now here we are with about three weeks left of summer break, wanting to fit it all in! Today was 106 degrees so the water park was a god place to spend part of the day. We are trying to fit in sports physicals, I am doing more shopping for the Favored Farmhouse where I consign. We dream of a trip to Lynden and a trip to Silverwood...

Vance and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary yesterday!

Happy August! One of the busiest months of the year, it seems! Hot too. --This fam doesn't even think about school until about the 24th!