July

It's nearing the end of August, and my blog (once again!) has been severely neglected. It's going to take a couple of installments to catch-up, but I'm also excited to start blogging about our real first year of homeschooling on the horizon. To begin with, here are some of the things we did in the month of July.

While Phil's parents were in town, Phil and his dad suddenly had a great urge to build a treehouse in our backyard. So with the Dangerous Book for Boys tucked under his shoulder, they headed to the lumber store and began to buy supplies. Amazingly, they got a lot done in one day.

Getting Started

Button getting in on the action

The boys enjoying the "finished" result.

It still has a lot more that needs to be done. The corners need more support, we need a better way to get up there, and walls still need to be built. Basically, though, the platform has been finished, and it has been enjoyed quite a bit as is.

The very next day, we had planned to have a contractor friend come and help us replace our doors from the kitchen to the backyard. We had beautiful french doors originally, but unfortunately, when we opened the door, there was really no room to get around the table and to the outside. It was difficult to open and close, and also caused quite a draft that we hoped would be remedied. We chose to replace it with a sliding glass door and sold the french doors on Craigslist.

Before

After

Again, this is still a work in progress. We still need to fix the trim, but we are already in love with our new door.

The following weekend, we headed down to Green Lake for their annual Milk Carton Derby which is part of Seafair. It was so much fun. There were amazing "boats" - all of which were floating via milk cartons. There were races, prizes for the best design, and lots of things to do and look at.

At the end, we found that they were giving away wooden hydroplanes. When we got home, the boys were so excited to put all the stickers on them. They have been a favorite toy ever since.

Then it was off to California again! I took the boys on the airplane by myself this time as Phil had to go to San Francisco for work first, but they did great. This trip was mostly for a family reunion that would happen later in the month, but we spent a lot of time beforehand just hanging out with my parents.

I was also blessed to go to my beautiful cousin's bridal shower. I won't be able to make it to the wedding next month, so this was a precious time with her.

The theme was a Garden Tea Party hosted at my grandparents' home.

My beautiful cousins. The bride-to-be is on the right!

Then, of course there was more family...

Super Villian with Super Man

All my boys

We took one Sunday and headed up to the Biola area to see some college friends and go to our old church. It is always so great to see them.

The boys loved picking cherry tomatoes from my parent's garden. Now if they'd only eat them!

One of my favorite parts of this trip was Phil and my very first overnighter without the kids. We went to Mission Beach in San Diego and had a fabulous time just being "us". It was also Phil's birthday which made it extra special.

We also went to a park in San Marcos with the kids the next day for Daddy's birthday. The park had a nice playground and loop around a small lake. The boys particularly liked the splash area.

The family reunion that we came for was also a lot of fun. We celebrated my grandfather's 80th birthday and saw lots of cousins for the first time. We hung out at my parent's home, went to the Oceanside Beach, and even had a pool party at my grandparents. It was a fun-filled weekend.