Goodbye to summer

Ryan and Derek

Even though our temps are still WAY up there.  In the beginning of August we had to say "goodbye to summer" getting ready for school to start for Ryan.  The last full week before school started, we took Ryan and a friend of his to Big Surf for some water park fun.  The boys had a great time.  Doug & I hung out in the wave pool almost the entire time.  It was so relaxing.  So much so that when I went to bed that night, I could still feel the waves moving me around.  A wonderful day all around.

End of School Swim Party

Well . . . here we are one week away from the new school year starting and I am just now posting the End of School Year Swim Party pictures.  Slowly, but surely I am making progress in my backlog.  I have toyed with the idea of just starting from now, but really do want to share all the fun adventures.  So, hopefully those of you that are hanging in there with me don't mind.

Every year since second grade, we have hosted an End of School Swim Party.  We invite the entire class.  We have yet to have the entire class come, which is okay, because I'm not sure where we would put them all.  We had a pretty good turnout this year, in spite of a couple last minute cancellations.  The kids had a great time.  I didn't melt too bad and had two moms that stayed with me during the heat.  It was fun to sit & visit with those moms.  My brother gave up an afternoon to man the door for us so that we could be outside with the kids.  And Doug made sure all the pool toys, snacks and drinks were taken care of.  All in all a great day.

The kids have a great time with the water guns.

Posing for me.  Unfortunately because I could not see the LCD screen because it was so bright outside one of the girls got cut off in this picture.

Goofy shot!

Sammers absolutely loves these parties.  Inevitably some food gets dropped and makes his day!  He pretty much hung out under the food table for two reasons.  1.  The Food (duh!)  2.  It protects him from all the splashing water.  He is not a fan.  And if there was no food, he would have been nowhere near that pool that day.

Summer 2009 Revisited

Boy this summer really flew by. We had a great summer. Lots of fun. And yet, it was nothing official. No vacations this year, nothing really planned out. We kept very busy nonetheless. For a couple weeks of bowling league, our teammates were out of town, so Ryan invited friends to substitute for them. One week, we had a friend and a cousin come along. The three boys had a lot of fun bowing.

Getting the bowling balls:

The three boys waiting for their turns:
Steve, Ryan's cousin finishing up his turn:

Happy Fourth to all!

This year, our plans to celebrate the fourth were very last minute. It worked out that my parents and brother and my niece and her family were able to come over for a cookout, swimming, movies and video games. I'm glad we got together from some fun family times. There were a couple Harry Potter movies that got watched, some Halo was played on the XBox, swimming and tons of yummy food to share!

Ranger & my dad:

My mom with her newest great-grandson:
Ben & Doug grilling the food. Ben prepared these totally yummy shish-kabobs (or however you spell them!):

Ryan was very excited to have Ben come over. That meant someone new to play Halo with:

Ben "rocking it" in the pool with Doug & Baylee:

Both dogs made it in the pool, with a little help from me, to hang out with Doug:

All the swimmers, including the dogs:

Baylee & Ryan playing with his Halo guys:

Ryan, Melissa & Doug ready to watch some fireworks:

Baylee fell asleep on the way to fireworks and never woke up. Here's Ben, Baylee, Brittany and Payton:

The Fireworks:

Bowling League has begun

Let the summer bowling league begin! For like four years, we have done a summer bowling with our friends. The kids bowl and then we spend the rest of the day doing fun summer activities. We look forward to this every year.

This is the first year Ryan is bowling without bumpers. He does very well without them.

Shaylin & Keara waiting for their turn:
Ryan and Shaylin are about ready to be done. This year they bowl three games instead of two. That third game is VERY long!

Afterwards one day, we went to one of my favorite restaurants. I was craving Sweet Potato fries. We ate outside at one of the picnic tables. It was so beautiful out, and the kids climbed trees after their lunch was gone.

End of School Swim Party

Yes, yes we have already established that I am extremely behind in my posting. So, here is another Harper activity to get caught up on. This actually happened the same day as Brittany's baby shower. Every year since first grade, we host an End of School Year Swim Party. We invite Ryan's entire class to come over for some swimming fun. Because of our concrete project, we had to have the party much later than we normally do. It was a great time. It was probably a good thing that we had it later. It's been a very strange summer for us. The weather here has been pretty cool. We were not anywhere near the 100+ temperatures that we normally have during June. So, the pool was actually cold. I know those of you that live elsewhere in the world will find it very hard to believe that with our temperatures in the mid 90's that our pool was cold, but it was! By the end of June, I had only been in the pool once - it lasted 5 minutes and caused me physical pain to be in there. Of course, Ryan's friends found that to be funny. So, for the pool party, the kids swam for about 45 minutes before they had to get out and warm up. They did have a great time.

Playing the favorite Marco Polo:

Glad school is over!

Ranger actually got in a couple times with the kids and did a couple laps. One time he went in and swam to each kid before getting out to lay in the sun:
Warming up and getting snacks:
Of course Sam was never very far away from all those good snacks. He did go in the pool also - not by his choice:

Ryan out of the pool, snacking and warming up. I didn't notice Sam watching him eat until I put the pic on my computer. He is such a funny dog:

During a warm up break, the kids kicked the ball around and ate - what else - ice cream sandwiches. By the time the parents came to pick up, the kids had made it back in the pool and then didn't want to get out:

Ryan had a great class this year. We were hoping that maybe his teacher might come this year, at least for a little bit, since we kinda know her pretty well. We haven't had one come yet. Maybe next year. I had to put in a little jab because I know she reads this blog! We will miss having her as a teacher next year but are looking forward to 5th grade!

Concrete All Done

Okay...Okay...Okay...I know the concrete has actually been finished for like a month. I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from the final and completed project. The concrete came out beautifully. Doug then textured the whole area. He patched up the sections of our pools deck that needed a little TLC (c'mon the pool is almost 12 years old - it was in need of a little love). He then textured those spots as well. Then a fresh coat of Cool Deck paint for the whole pool. It looks wonderful and fresh.

Picture of the pool area:

The new sitting area complete with chairs that were purchases last year. These are my "great find" last year. I ran to Michael's for some thread and had two boys with me in my not very big car. There they were two Adirondack chairs with ottomans for $30. I bought two and then had the fun of trying to figure out how to get them in my car and bring all the passengers at the same time. One of them fit perfectly in my truck area. The other one had to go in the back seat. It was a tight fit but we made it home. They sat in our garage for a year. As soon as the concrete was done, we pulled out the chairs and the stain (that was also bought last year) and got to work. They came out great and are so comfortable to sit in by the pool reading a book (which I have already done several times this swimming season!)

Add a few speakers, some snacks and a cold drink and you are set to enjoy some time by the pool:

Starry Safari at the Zoo

Our friends invited us to join them for the first night of Starry Safari at the Zoo. They are zoo members and were able to get in free along with a few guests. This is something new that the zoo is offering weekend evenings thru the summer. It was fun. There were water slides, bounce houses, a rock climbing wall, the safari train ride, horse drawn carriage rides and of course food. The weather was perfect for getting wet & not too hot for the adults who did a lot of standing in line. We didn't get to go on the rides because the kids wanted to do the slides, bounce houses and rock wall. Thanks for inviting us Jill, Keara & Shaylin!

Doug & Ryan waiting in line for a water slide:Ryan is all hair as he flies down the water slides:

Shaylin & Keara after the first water slide - all smiles:

Gotta love that BIG grin on Ryan's face after going down a water slide:
Ryan on rock climbing wall:

Great Summer

Well, I know it's almost fall. Although it doesn't feel like it here - yesterday was 99 degrees! Anyway, we had a great summer and I wanted to share some of the pics. After a great trip to California, we had a great time here enjoying swimming, diving, movies and bowling. It was nice to have school start and get into the groove of a schedule again.