Last Half of July

July 14:  Justin climbed Mailbox Peak with Brandon.  He said it wasn’t nearly as hard of climb as he’d feared and that the views were better than Mt. Si.  Perhaps next summer I’ll add this to my summer bucket list. The last part of the hike requires you climb up this rocky hill.  There is a rock “path” laid out to the top.

July 17:  Carly had five full days in July that she babysat for a family in the neighborhood.  She babysits for them regularly, but never for a 9 hour stretch, days in a row.  She planned some activities each day and brought some crafts for them to do together.  On one day she brought them over to our house to play outside in our little kiddie pool and slip-n-slide.  Another day they came over for a little while to play with giant bubbles.  Jason, Katie and Drew enjoyed watching her get everything ready the day before.

July 20:  The kids sure did take advantage of their lunch dates this summer.  Katie made a list of places she was interested in going.  Red Robin, Dickies, Panera Bread, Chipotle, etc… then she mentioned she wanted to try a place she’d never been before.  I looked through Justin’s T-Mobile discount card and thought the Salish Lodge sounded good to me, especially with a BOGO free deal.  We looked over the menu and she saw a meatball dish that sold her.  Lunch was yummy and it was a beautiful day at the falls with my girl.

Tonight we had a ward BBQ at the park.  The turnout was great and before we knew it it was nearly 9pm.  Justin and Jason spent most of the time playing  “Nine-Square in the Air”,   which is a fun twist on foursquare.  Not surprising that with Justin’s height he had quite the advantage and spent a lot of time in the middle square controlling the game.  Anytime Justin got out everyone would cheer. 

Abigail spent the day at Wild Waves with some friends and Carly came to the BBQ, but left early with some friends to go watch a movie and hangout.

July 23: The Gibbs invited us, the Squires and the Rowley’s over for dinner tonight.  It was fun to catch up and see some of the landscaping changes the Gibbs have made to their beautiful property in Fall City.  The kids were prepared for some outdoor water fun.  It got quite crazy.

July 25:  The Squires invited us to join them at the pool today.  Added bonus was that the Loders came too.  Jason, Katie and Drew played until they kicked us out for adult swim at 4pm.  Not much swimming for us this summer so this was fun.  Katie really wanted me to take a video of her fancy moves on the diving board.

July 26:  Drew’s little toes have been sticking out of these old Crocs of Jason’s for weeks? months?  Who knows.  He hasn’t cared or complained, but I did take a picture of them today as I finally decided to replace them with some new summer shoes.  “Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without”

July 27:  Our neighbor sent me this picture they’d taken this morning.  That’s my driveway that big black bear is walking in front of.

July 28:  Just had his running buddy take a little video of him causing a little elk stampede.  What a punk!