Hot Weather

It's been so hot here the past three days. The temps have been in the high 90's and yesterday we even saw 100 degrees. Now don't get me wrong I was happy to see the sun, just would prefer it to be in the 80's and sunny. Thankfully we have seen the last of these hot temps for now, the weather has started to change this evening. While sitting at the pool I believe the temp dropped a good 10-15 degrees. Right now its 81 and perfect.

After dinner darling hubby and I took the rug rats for walk. I only managed to hobble around the park once as I have a huge blister on my heal that made walking uncomfortable. But its a start, who knows maybe tomorrow I will be able to walk longer.

Trying to decided on what type of adventure to do with the kids tomorrow as Darling needs to sleep for work tomorrow night. Maybe we will hit the zoo or just go to the park. All I know is that it will be cooler and so getting outside is for sure something we are going to do.

WOW it's been a year!

Hard to believe that it has been almost a year since I last wrote anything on here. So much has happened in the past year that it would take me hours to write it all out. So lets just touch on the highlights.

First I went back to school last September, passed my coding certification test in March and graduated in June of this year. Now on the hunt for a job. The hunt seems to be harder then actually getting the training and certification!

Our son has had a busy year with completing several camping trips with his boy scout troop. The last of which was a backpacking adventure along the Olympic Peninsula. He made the rank of Second Class and is currently working on his next rank as well as merit badges. June saw him graduate the 6th grade, he is looking forward to entering middle school in the fall. (I on the other hand refuse to believe he is old enough.....something I will have to work on this summer.)

Now on to our daughter. She was busy with girl scouts this year and moved up to Juniors in June. She was very excited about this change as it allowed her to stay overnight the last day at girl scout day camp. Ok, so she didn't make it all night...yes I got the call around 9:30 p.m. to come and get her because she wanted to come home. None the less she had a great time and is looking forward to all the badges she can work on this coming year. As for school we are proud to say she is moving on to the 4th grade. Still working on the reading but with practice this summer I'm sure she will be fine come September.

Darling hubby had his sabbatical last winter. He was off work from the end of October till the middle of January. We didn't take any grand trips like we had talked about since I was in school. However he enjoyed his time at home. The holidays arrived and we all had a great time off together, that hasn't happened before. Yes it was hard for him to go back and we are already counting down the days till the next one. (six years from now!)

Now that summer has arrived we are making plans for day trips around the area and our annual camping trip to Beverly Beach in August. This will be a great summer spent just hanging out with the kids and relaxing. Let the fun and adventures begin!

Camping here we come!

Time has arrived, we are heading off to the beach for a camping trip! Lists have been made and piles of gear are waiting to be packed into the car. Kids are excited and the adults are looking forward to a few relaxing days by the campfire.

We are packing the car tomorrow and heading off to Beverly Beach for three nights of camping. The kids are looking forward to playing in the surf, collecting shells and of course roasting marshmallows over the fire. I'm looking forward to taking tons of photos, sitting around with friends and family and making memories with the kids.

Check back for fun photos and all the stories that I'm sure we will have to share.

Proud Parent

Johnathan has been so excited about becoming a Boy Scout and has tried very hard to prove himself to his scout masters and the older scouts in his troop. We have been very busy working on his first rank which is Boy Scout.

Tonight the troop held their Court of Honor and had a pot luck dinner. All the scouts were a little put out because they had to wait till all the parents and the siblings to fill their plates before they were allowed to eat. Needless to say all the parents thought that was a great idea! Once everyone had finished eating the awarding began.

The first patch handed out was the Camporee patch. This was hard earned by all the scouts who went to this weekend camp out. The weekend started on Friday night with clear skies and warm weather, at around midnight the clouds gathered and the rain started falling....it didn't stop falling till Sunday afternoon. Everyone was wet and muddy but they had a great time. Then Johnathan was called up and I had to accompany him, he was handed his Boy Scout patch and a pin that matches. He had to put the pin on me for all the hard work I helped him do to reach this point in scouting.

It was a great ceremony and all the boys were thrilled about getting their patches. The next Court of Honor will be held in January and there will be more patches to come!

What a way to spend a Sunday

For several weeks now the kids and I have been meaning to visit the Historical Jenkins Estate located about a mile from our house. It is now a park, but the original buildings are still on the grounds. Many people have their weddings at the estate. I wanted to go and check out the gardens this place is supposed to have. I was not disappointed and both of the kids had fun looking at the flowers and walking the paths.

I really enjoy trying to capture nature photos, with that said I have lots of flower pictures. And today I was in heaven taking photos of all kinds of things. But what made me smile and feel kind of good was Hannah snapping away at whatever Mommy took a photo of. She is getting pretty good at taking photos.Johnathan enjoyed the herb garden that is planted towards the back of the property. He enjoyed rubbing his fingers on the leaves and then smelling the different scents. One of his favorites was the lavender. When the kids smelled the rosemary they both said it made them kind of hungry.
We spent two hours walking around the place and we didn't even see everything. None of us are sad at having to plan a second trip to Jenkins Estate!

A Day at the Zoo

Well I know that this is a week late, but I had to wait for my laptop to return home before I could put my photos online. Now that it's back I can share some of the photos I took at the zoo with the kids and my niece and my two sisters. It was a full packed day at the zoo, I think we saw everything. And yes I took photos of flowers and other objects I saw during our day.

Johnathan, Mackenzie and Hannah stopping to pose for photos. They had flashes going off in all directions as all three adults were snapping photos.


I love this photo, usually the chimps are inside when the weather is questionable. But on this day they were out in their new yard. And I love how this one went straight up the hill and sat in the tall grass.
Here kitty kitty! I spent a lot of time taking photos of this cougar, its usually really hard to find them in the enclosure. But on this trip he was wanting his photo taken, he jumped down from his log and came to the window. Granted Johnathan was standing to the right of me when I took this so maybe the cougar was checking Johnathan out at the time. HHMMM lunch!
My little woodland pixie peaking in the bushes!
Johnathan likes to watch the birds of prey show at the zoo. Before it started they put a couple of the big birds on display up on the stage. Johnathan was getting a closer look at them without having to get too close to them.

It was a great day. The kids had a blast and everyone was completely worn out by the time we left.

Memorial Day Tribute

Hannah loves to do crafty things and play with play dough. So this morning she did both. Hannah made a tribute for Memorial day.

Hannah used her play dough and made an American Flag. She was very proud of it so we had to take photos. And not just one photo but many. She wanted to pose outside with the flowers and in the sun. So we did...any excuse to use my camera I will take!

And Hannah wanted to show her flag along with the flag in our red, white and blue petunia pot.