Rain Gutter Regatta

Last week was the annual cub scout rain gutter regatta. This was Grayson's third and final regatta. He spent the week beforehand working on his boat, sanding and painting it until he thought it was perfect. He definitely had his own ideas and didn't ask for any help.

The event got off to a rough start for Grayson. He got three wasp bites before the races even started. He spent most of the time in the car crying and asking to go home, but we finally got him calmed down enough to participate. We knew he would be so disappointed later if he didn't get to race his boat.


In the end he only felt like racing it once, and then got distracted by the treats. After some cookies and brownies he perked right back up. But those darn bites did bother him for days after!

Veggie Lover

Gardening

Rowan loves checking the garden every morning for new things to pick.

He likes to go out there barefoot and in his pajamas, to poke around in the plants and see what he can find.

Then he brings us his days pickings, and occasionally even tries to sell them to us.

And so it begins.....

Tuesday morning we started our school year. This year Fuller is in 8th grade, Grayson in 4th and Rowan in 2nd. We had some of the usual nervousness and trouble sleeping the night before, but had a relatively smooth first morning.

Fuller is a WEB leader at his school, which means he's a mentor for 7th graders. So he had to wear his WEB leader shirt to school the first day so the 7th graders would know who to go to if they needed help. I hope the motto on his shirt was true and everyone felt like they belonged. Fuller had a bit of a schedule glitch to start the year out with, but luckily we were able to get it resolved within the first week of school.

Rowan has a male teacher this year which will be something new for him. I think he was a little nervous about that, and about the lack of kids he knew in his class. He seems to be adjusting well though and has announced that he and 3 other boys in his class are going to start a band. And how could he stay sad with such AWESOME school shoes. I have serious shoe envy over these babies!

And Grayson pretty much just seems happy this year. He has tons of kids in his class that he knows, which may eventually get him in trouble for talking too much. He came home from school the first day ranting and raving about all of the "stupid" rules in his class, but then paused and said he thinks it's going to be a really good year.


This is our cute carpool bunch! We've been carpooling together for about 5 years. These girls are about as close as the boys are going to come to having sisters. Their good-natured bickering and silly conversations make driving carpool something to look forward to.

Our Last Hurrah

We just couldn't let summer end without one more day of perfect summer fun. Though the forecast was for cloudy with a chance of rain, we decided to take a chance and drive to Shipwreck Beach. Lucky for us the weather man was wrong! It was the most beautiful, perfect, sunny warm day.





















Though we definitely aren't ready for Summer to end, at least we feel like we captured a little bit more of it.

Good People/ Good Times

I can hardly believe it's almost September. Despite the lack of summer weather, it feels like Summer has just flown by. In the last few months we have been really blessed with visits from many of our favorite people. We love these folks and are so glad we got to spend time with them all.
The boys with both Grandpas.

Uncle Jim and Aunt Enid

Aunt Heather and Uncle Forrest

My cousin Suzanne and Grandma and Grandpa Axtell

Alyssa and Noah

Gabe and Elsie


Uncle Jason and Aunt Barbara

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Lady.

It was wonderful seeing you all! Hope you all come back next Summer!

My husband ROCKS!

This Summer Paul spent some time over at my parent's house helping my dad tear down his old deck and build a new one. The wood from the old deck was still in good shape, so we hauled it to our house. For years I have been wanting a "bigger and better" outdoor table, with more seating. Paul got his creative juices flowing and came up with a great design plan.



He also included any kids that were interested in the building process. He is so much more patient when they help with projects than I am.


Grayson really likes power tools!

Paul originally built a very simple table, but then got an idea for some fancier benches. Once the benches were done it was obvious that they really outshone the table, so Paul took apart the table and built one to match the beauty of the benches.

One of the great things about this project was that it cost very little. The wood was free, we (and by we I mean Paul) just had to clean it up. So all we had to buy was a box of screws and I board, about $50 total.

And it turned out SO amazing! It's even better than what I was imagining!

We have been enjoying many nice Summer meals on it!