Just wanted to drop a few lines today, since we have enjoyed our summer so much! There are only a few weeks left before "Summer" is done, at least by the local School Districts' standards. That's not to say that the temperatures will decrease any come school time! Amazing, but Ben starts Kindergarten in only three weeks!!
We have been able to do a bit of traveling this summer, which has been fun. In June we went to the Oregon coast with most of Emily's brothers and sisters and their families (we really missed you, Lynn and Nathan!!). It was SO FUN! We enjoyed the beach, an awesome dune buggy ride, whale watching, the aquarium, tide pools, and Josh loved the seafood! It was great to see everybody, and for Ben and Claire to spend time with their cousins! We played some games, chatted a LOT, and just had a blast! By the end of the week, Josh and I were ready to come back home to the heat- 107 when we left Phoenix airport, and when we arrived in Portland it was only 57 degrees and rainy, and stayed around that same temperature all week. I suppose we've grown accustomed to having the "cold" water tap run lukewarm water over the past year!
A couple of weeks after that, we went to Utah for a week. We enjoyed Riverton's parade, carnival, fireworks, etc. with Josh's family! Had a barbeque with Emily's family, a baby shower for Josh's sister Amanda St. Clair, went to Lagoon, and just had another good relaxing week!
Back in Phoenix now, not to leave for a while, we're enjoying the use of the pool a LOT. It feels so good on the days when we've worked so hard and are hot and tired to go jump in and cool off! Ben and Claire are getting better at swimming all the time, thanks to Lacey being willing to help them with their swimming skills. :) Lacey rode home with us from Utah, and we've loved having her here to visit!
I've definitely enjoyed watching Ben and Claire grow this summer. They are so funny! Claire is my little music lover. She's always humming, or dancing, or singing a song! Her favorite thing is to turn on music and put on a "princess" dress and dance away! We've put her in a dance class starting this fall, and she could not be more excited about it! She talks about it every day. Ben is my little smarty pants! ("Mom, I'm SO smart, my teacher's going to say, "Why are you in Kindergarten? You're so smart!") He's SO excited to start school that he can hardly wait for the next three weeks to pass! He loves to do math, he likes to spell things and sound out words. He's also asked to start Karate, since Soccer is not his passion, and we're pretty excited about that!
The kids can't wait for their new baby brother to arrive. They ask every week how much longer till he comes! Ben and Claire both love to feel him kicking around in Mom's tummy (Claire loves to "hear" him kick and put her cheek on my belly). We're all excited!! Only 10 more weeks. . .
Josh and Emily have been fighting a battle in the yard with the weeds, and hopefully will win soon! It brings to mind a quote from the movie Megamind, if you've seen it-- "He would win some, I would almost win others. . . " That's how I feel our weeds are! Every week new ones spring up. We've pulled, raked, sprayed, repeated, and done all we could think of. So far the only good news is that they're growing slower each week. Josh is so good to take care of our yard, keep the garage clean so we can park in there, and help with the housework! Emily does the best she can, but can definitely feel her energy draining faster than before.
To finish off, we have had such a great summer! We're reluctant for it to end, and yet with the end of summer brings some new beginnings for our family, and the only thing to do is look to the future and get excited!!