Things weren't 100% normal in July, but Covid numbers were down and it was WAY better than last summer. We even got a few weeks off of wearing masks in stores and at church that were a desperately needed return to normal.
I took the boys on a biking dinner date one evening when Alan was working. We all chose where we wanted to eat then rode bikes around town picking up take-out from three different restaurants. Then we ate and played at a park for awhile. Spencer started feeling a little sick at the park and felt totally rotten by the time we got home. We realized that his burger from Killer Burger had probably been contaminated by peanuts when he started throwing up. He threw up several times and felt horrible the rest of the night. I felt terrible for allowing him to get a burger from a restaurant that I knew served a peanut butter burger. It was a dumb mistake that I won't make again. So much for our awesome date!
My hydrangea did NOT like the super hot weather. I'm lucky it survived.
Swimming at the Williamson's pool with the Holdens. Even though the Holdens live in WA now, Allison still makes a big effort to get Spencer and Sawyer together. We go up there occasionally, but they come down to us more often. The kids had such a great time swimming that we decided to do it again in September.
4th of July bbq with Darwin and Debbie: This was the last of our 10+ years of celebrating this holiday with them before their move. Cornhole gets just a little competitive at our house. ;)
Too much yummy food for this guy
Traditional homemade ice cream: Our ice cream maker bit the dust near the end of this batch. It turned out alright, but that was the end of the ice cream maker we got for our wedding 18 years ago.
All big fireworks displays were cancelled again because of Covid so we bought our own and set them off with our neighbors in the street. We're lucky to have awesome neighbors!
More swimming lessons:
Darwin and Debbie moved to Idaho slowly over the summer. They rented a U-haul and took a big load after the 4th of July. Spencer rode with Darwin to help and have some good bonding time. They put him to work for a couple of days in Idaho and paid him well.
Kiki waiting for Spencer to come down the stairs to feed her. Too bad he was a 7 hour car ride away!
Moon sand!
Alan, Mason, and I followed Spencer to Idaho a few days later to visit Geoff's family and say farewell to Nathan before his mission to Michigan. We hadn't seen Geoff's family since Christmas 2019 so it was really fun to catch up. It was hot in Middleton and the kids enjoyed the splash pad.
Darwin paid for all of us to go white water rafting the next day. Alan had been as a teenage scout, but it was the first time for the boys and I. This trip was supposed to be safe for 5 year olds and up so we were more excited than nervous. We had to drive over two hours to get up in the mountains for the trip, but it was worth it! We were on the water for about two hours and it was awesome! Just the right amount of thrill and calm, peaceful beauty for me. Our guide was great and told us all kinds of interesting things about the area as we floated down the river. We got to stop at some hot springs (the same springs we visited during the Rasmussen reunion in 2019) to swim for a bit. It was late when we finally got back to Geoff's and we were all really tired, but it was such a fun activity!
Playing video games with cousins was a BIG hit with Spencer and Mason since we don't have them at our house.
Middleton is gorgeous, but full of mosquitos! I didn't get any good pictures of Nathan who was really the whole reason we went. :( We're grateful our boys have such good examples of cousins who are making good choices!
Pretty park day:
We rode 100 miles on our bikes as a family during last year's Covid summer. We set that same goal this year, but didn't even come close to making it. There were just too many other fun things to do! We did get some good rides in though.
I actually got the entire family to help me pick berries this year! We only went once, but got a decent amount of raspberries, marionberries, and blueberries. One of my very favorite summer activities (as long as there aren't too many whiners around! Haha!).
Mason's first primary talk since pre-Covid! He surprised us and was very brave and did a great job! Before Covid, he would hold a picture, but wouldn't talk into the mic at all. Good job buddy!
I had been wanting to check out Klineline Pond in Vancouver for years and we finally got to do it with the Holdens since it's close to their house now. The water was shallow and warm and the kids had a fantastic time.
Alan and Spencer heading off on the Deacon's Quorum High Adventure (Mason just wished he could go!). They went to Mt. Hood for camping, hiking, rafting, and Ski Bowl Adventure Park. They were gone for three days and had a great time! All of the boys wanted to sleep in hammocks and Spencer about froze, but he still loved every minute of it. He's the oldest (and tallest!) boy in the quorum right now and I'm glad he has a good group of boys to hang out with. Alan said they all got along really well.
Mason got to go to Lucky Ducks Summer Camp while they were gone. It was just three hours/day for three days. I thought he would love having something to do while Alan and Spencer were gone, but separating from me was hard for him. Mason never wanted to go, but had always had a good time when I picked him up. It was a good practice for first grade.
He also made this turtle craft from the library and we found a cool nest in our backyard while Alan and Spencer were gone.
