End of Summer Blues

We had a wonderful summer but it was way too short. It started out with April and Amy staying with us while April 'rested' after her heart surgery. Rest is not a word April is familiar with on very intimate terms. Even when her body says, "Stop", her mind is still going. Hopefully she was able to slow down enough while she was with us to let her body recuperate, at least more than she would have had she gone straight home. We enjoyed having them with us. Hope Amy didn't get bored spending time with her cousins.


The kids had a week break after school ended and then Zack and Danyka started swim team and Carissa started dive team. The classes go for six weeks and each week they have a meet where they compete with two other teams from local pools. The two benefits that I perceive from having the kids in this was 1) it got them up early, class started at 6:30 for Zack, and 2) they got lots of exercise.

At the end of June we went to Washington where Perry worked four days while the kids and I toured with Uncle Jim and Aunt Cindy. We packed in all the activities we could manage including Northwest Trek, Point Defiance Zoo, exploring at the beach, nature hikes, Seattle and the Tall Ships. And, oh yes, we squeezed in our celebration of the 4th of July, too.

Perry was free to vacation with us from the 4th on. We saw beautiful Washington scenery and enjoyed visiting family and friends.
From Jim and Cindy's we traveled to Richland to visit Grandma and Grandpa Colton. We took the back way in the hopes of seeing Mt. Rainier, but it was too cloudy. However, we did take time to stop and play in the snow a few minutes. We were amazed to see snow in July, and even more amazed at the amount.

In Richland we spent time with the grandparents while we played in the park along the Columbia River and enjoyed a picnic. Our time there was a little more relaxed as compared to our whirlwind touristing in the Seattle area. Perry and I were able to go hit some golf balls and visit friends. It was nice to unwind.
From Richland we headed down to Provo to visit Brooke and Brandon. The girls went to Brooke's baby shower while the boys went to play golf. We are all excited for Evie to arrive and now she will have plenty of cute clothes to wear. Carissa, Zack and Dany got to sleep out in the playhouse in Brooke's backyard so that was an adventure for them. We had time to do some serious game playing at Brooke and Brandon's and at Paul and Pam's. The best part, though, is always just getting to spend time with family.
Once back home we had a couple of weeks in between trips to swim with friends and neighbors and play games. The kids had time to play Wii games and we invited friends over to play games and get fat. One afternoon we had the neighbors over and everyone had their own pint carton of ice cream and we also had cherries, grapes and fun foods to eat while we played games. So now when the neighbors come over they like to say, "Let's play games and get fat." We introduced Zack's friend, Hudson, to Settlers of Cataan and now he's an addict. I have to bribe the kids with treats to get them to play Settlers and Carcasonne with me, otherwise the Wii wins out.

We squeezed one last trip in to Texas for the Brooks reunion before the kids had to start back to school. We spent the week before the reunion at Grandma Brooks' house. Once again we were able to play yet more games with Grandma, Neil, Jerilyn, Jonathon and Adam. I also enjoyed visiting with friends from Pampa that I don't get to see very often, at least not often enough.Then we drove to Abilene where Perry met up with us. There we enjoyed more swimming, games, food and family. We drove back home through El Paso and got in late Sunday night. The kids started back to school Wednesday and that marked the end of our summer vacation.

I hope everyone keeps having reunions, weddings, babies and vacations so we can get together. Any excuse is good to be able to see family and friends. April's excuse was a bit extreme, but we were glad to be able to see them in any case. The places we go are fun but it's the people that make them worthwhile.