In The Good Old Summertime

Ahh, summmertime!  Days of sand, sun, water, heat, sunscreen, and the like.  Summer storms, washing cars, eating watermelon, slapping mosquitoes too.  :)

Oh, and thank goodness for air conditioning.  I am all about having the AC on in summertime.  That's what it's there for! A friend recently said that they just now turned on the AC in their house.  I don't know how folks can deal with the heat that way, especially with the humidity.  We've experienced plenty of humidity this summer!  So now you know about one of my favorite things in summer - the air conditioning!

On the 10th, we had Bryan's graduation open house.  It's a big ole party and you invite just about everyone who ever knew your graduate.  What a crazy tradition these Minnesotans have.  Ha ha.

We had an uncut watermelon left after the party.  I had some in a bowl in the fridge too and first we ate that.  I had the uncut watermelon on the kitchen counter and I was going to cut into it about 3 days after the party.  Alan was up before me that morning and he woke me up to tell me we had a big mess to clean up.  Little did we know, the watermelon was rotten inside and the bottom collapsed and broke open.  Nasty watermelon juice ran across the counter, down into the cupboard and onto some dishes.  Then, it ran onto the floor and ran for several feet.  What a sticky, nasty mess to clean.

I'd never seen a watermelon do that.  The thing was just a shell inside, and completely liquid.  Wow, I'm so glad we didn't need that one for the guests.  Today, the garbage man came to empty our garbage containers we roll out to the street.  Guess what was left in the garbage container.....Yep, all of that sticky, nasty, smelly watermelon juice.  I did bag the thing up before it went into the garbage.  I don't know what happened.  Evil watermelon.  Smelly!  I just finished washing the garbage can out a while ago.  Yuck.  Good times!

On a better note, here are some recent photos.

Here's Bryan, just before his open house started.

Here is Lauryn, just about to eat Bryan's face that was on his cake.  He ate her face, from the cake at her grad party.  Payback time!

Our town's annual festival was this weekend.  Here is Jadyn, with a friend at the parade.  Bryan marched with the band that night.  Lauryn and Aaron walked in the parade with our church, handing out invite cards.  It was a fun parade to watch.

We had a beach day with friends on Friday.  

Jadyn, Cate, and Rose.

Jadyn with Zhou

It was a fun afternoon at the lake.

Here's a picture of Jadyn, playing in her sandbox today.

I'm off now, to cut the watermelon that I bought on Saturday.  I must cut it before it explodes on my counter!

Enjoying Our Busy Summer

Greetings, from our house to yours!

Parties, picnics, playgroups, graduation, baseball, swim lessons, cook-outs, parades, and a mini vacation.  These are just a few of the things we've been doing this summer so far.  Apparently, we are trying to pack in as many things as we can.  :)

We have been enjoying our summer very much.  Some things have been all about relaxing and spending time with family or friends.  Other things have been about learning, or doing things to help others.  Some things have kept me a little busier than I'd prefer, but it's all good.  Most of the really busy things are done.  I am happy about that.

It's been so long since I've updated the blog, I've almost forgotten how.  Just kidding of course.  I hope to get back to my usual bloggy self eventually.  I do always check in on many of you.  Even though I may not have been blogging, I'm still here getting my blog fix on most days.

Our camera is usually on hand and we take lots and lots of photos.  I will share some of our summer photos.

Bryan graduated on June 13th.  We are so proud of him and enjoyed his graduation so much.  We so enjoyed having family from TX, NM, and MO come for this event.  What a blessing that they could come.

Bryan marches with the high school band in many parades each summer.  We always love seeing the band performing.  Tonight is the last one this summer, and the last time he'll perform with the high school. :(

Here's Jadyn, finding something to do to pass the time while we wait for Bryan's band to perform.

Jadyn and Jon, who teaches her swimming lessons.  Jadyn has a fear of the water, but he is doing such a great job with her.  He is very gentle and patient.  

We went to the zoo with playgroup friends in late June.  

Pretty flowers near the zoo.

At the beginning of July, we went on a 2 1/2 day trip to Lake Superior's North Shore area.  We had a great little mini vacation.  The beauty of the area never, ever disappoints.

Gooseberry Falls

We saw many beautiful flowers on the North Shore.  We must have arrived at the perfect time.  We didn't remember ever seeing so many flowers there before.  God's creation is awesome.

This has been our summer so far.  More fun things to come before long!