Last Week

Last week came and went and I didn't even take a picture. A few months ago my good camera was stolen from the car along with Jason's ipod. We have yet to replace it and I'm just not as motivated to take pictures with my little camera. Last week flew by. It involved a lot of driving kids around and a lot of time lounging by the pool.

Emma did a tennis camp with Abbie and Reese. It started at 8:00 and Kariann and I carpooled. It was so hot which made it less enjoyable for Emma but by the end of the week it had cooled down and she enjoyed it a little bit more. Jack also did a little sports camp and he loved it. He looked forward to it every day and managed the drop off with only a few cling-on moments. He is definitely ready for kindergarten and I have great confidence it will be a successful year for him. Small things like watching him make eye contact with his coach at the camp and confidently tell him his name make me realize just how far this boy has come. On a side note Jack is obsessed with the lake. On Saturday we didn't do his usual routine of getting up and heading right out to ski. About halfway through the day he said, "hey, it's Saturday, why aren't we at the lake?" He later put the hitch on the back of the car and helped Jason hook up the boat. I need to video tape it because it is the cutest thing ever watching him guide Jason backing up to the boat and then giving him the thumbs up signal when he has the car in the right position. He is an observer and has learned from watching Jason.

Jason and Eli spent three days on a high adventure activity with the YM. They had a great time white water rafting, swimming, hiking and doing a zip line in the Glacier Park area. It was a great three days for them and they came back tired and satisfied. I am so grateful for good YM leaders. It helps that one of our best family friends is our YM president. Jason is anxious for us to take a family trip to Glacier, something that we've been meaning to do for years.

While Jason and Eli were away Jonah's friend Mitch got to spend three days with us. Mitch's family has a pool at their house and they graciously let us use it while they were out of town. I was truly humbled by their generousity of just letting us crash their house. They probably didn't realize that I would take such advantage of their offer but every afternoon we spent about three hours swimming. Their pool was nice and warm so even though it was only 60 degrees on Friday they swam their little hearts out and it made the long days with Jason gone go by quickly for me.

Saturday was one of those slow days where we were indecisive about what to do. The weather wasn't great which always depresses me. Eli was working on his Eagle project. He and several other scouts spent from 9 am-3 pm standing outside Shopko getting donations of school supplies. Eli is donating them to a school in our district where Brother Barnett, our favorite ward member did his student teaching. I am overwhelmed by how many donations they received. Our dining room floor is covered with sacks of crayons, markers, glue sticks, scissors, pencils and piles of paper. The project will require a separate post complete with pictures.

By the time we got home it was four and Jason and I were back and forth about what we should do. It had never really warmed up but the thought of a Saturday without getting in a little waterski time didn't sound very good. Jason had been home all day doing load after load of laundry and I had driven back and forth to Shopko about ten times. We asked the kids who wanted to go skiing and we had three very enthusiastic yes votes and three who wanted to stay home. Jonah, Jack and Emma were the enthusiastic ones so we headed down to our little sweet spot on the river. Earlier in the summer I had just listed our boat on craigslist. I listed it at about one in the morning (it took me a few hours to figure out how to post big pictures) and the next morning I wanted to see what else popped up when I typed in Mastercraft. Right above our listing was a post offering boat moorage on the Spokane River in exchange for occasional use of our boat. I had heard Jason and Chad several times say how it would be their dream to have a place on the river where they could ski right in town. Long story short, their dream came true and they have enjoyed skiing there every weekday this summer. Since we only had three kids and it was already evening we decided to ski there. I about had a panic attack driving Jason through the waterski course. The water was smooth and it was the warmest time of the chilly day. We didn't even feel cold after we skiied. Emma and Jonah skiied great but poor Jack had to sit it out since we didn't have his skis. After the river we headed out to Coeur D'Alene so we could dock our boat at our cabin for the week. I hope to give the kids a few more chances to ski as the summer winds down. By the time we left the cabin it was late and we were starving. We took the kids to a fun dinner at Panda Express and then stopped by Wal Mart for more school supply shopping. It was the perfect way to end a busy and full summer week. Only 2.5 more weeks until school starts. I am not ready to put the summer to rest and neither are the kids. It's going to be a big transition.