I have a vague memory that I just might have mentioned trying to wring every drop of summer fun out of the last week of August. We tried, my friends, we tried.
MONDAY
You may not think of pouring concrete as fun, but Grandpa Grasshopper has made a hobby of it for as long as I can remember. And now he's teaching the boys. What they're pouring are columns, so they can extend the roof of the porch out over the stairs (which get crazy slippery in the winter). The trick is, the top of the forms were higher than the mixer truck could pour, and a pumper truck is just a tad spendy.
Problem solved. Just build some scaffolding, pour the concrete into the bucket of the tractor, and pour it from the bucket into the forms. Grandpa Grasshopper will not be defeated by a concrete challenge!
Tate is on the other side of the column from Wyatt, sliding the wet concrete into the top of the form, and Gunnar is moving constantly around the forms with a hammer, knocking continually on the sides to get rid of any air bubbles.
Glad to be finished, and paid very generously :D
TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY
Next on the agenda, Gunnar was off to a friend's annual birthday campout. They always have a ball even though (it's August! this is crazy!) it seems to pour down rain on them every year.
Go figure. Good thing it's such a nice bunch of boys :D And look at those muddy shoes!
THURSDAY
In the less fun but glad-we-knocked-that-off-the-list category, the boys all had dental check-ups. No cavities! I'm always intrigued by this... house ? structure?? thing??? we drive by on the way to the dentist's office.
It has been like that for a couple of years - no visible progress. I suppose the zoning department shut it down. I mean, good heavens. Mr. Architect will probably explain patiently why this is a total disaster, but why can't somebody build something... original?
I have to admit, though, it does have a sort of Despicable Me quality to it. And yes, I'm aware I've made way too many references to a movie I've only seen twice. (Fluffy!!!)
OOPS, LAST FRIDAY, BUT I FOUND THE PICS, SO ANYWAY...
Moving on... Wyatt and Tate and some of their CAP buddies worked a small-ish Fly-In in the small-ish town of Lynden, nearby.
It's the kind of airport where you can taxi your own plane right from your own garage onto the runway.
You know, if you're in that financial strata ;D
SATURDAY
Back at the ranch, we were slightly in denial about what we were seeing...
It's summer, and it's sunny by golly, and that means it's time to go to the lake :D
Yes, we know we are very fortunate to have access to such clean, beautiful water! And we'll just pretend that fall isn't creeping in, thank you very much.
I have no photos of our BBQ that evening with Grandpa and Grandma Grasshopper, which is too bad. We forget to keep track of the ordinary things. We were celebrating our ten-year anniversary of living in this house...
SUNDAY
Time for the annual neighborhood cookout, conveniently held at... our neighbors'! ;D They have a great backyard for a big-ish group.
Yah, it's even better when it's filled with kids - twelve of them.
Just being kids...
Normally any hot food at this gathering is cooked on a stick over the fire, but Linda treated us to barbecued shrimp, for an appetizer.
Kids were everywhere... on stilts, in the hammock, playing croquet, up in the treehouse...
Grown-ups get the comfy chairs ;D
Not sure, but it looks like Tate has a story to tell.
And of course, the place to be is around the fire.
... cooking food on a stick. And if you haven't tried it, next time think about making your s'more with a peanut butter cup.
Dave and Wyatt regaled us their guitar stylings. Hope the neighbors appreciated our attempts to sing Johnny Cash hits ;D
MONDAY
The boys (finally! because it rained!) got to go to a three-buck movie at the mall theater. Since the movie was all about special effects, and the plot would've fit on a 3x5 index card (written in large letters) I managed to resist the temptation to go with them ;D Plus, we had more fun coming! Dinner with these fine folks :D
Our friends, Jim and Breanna, just got married in May. And guess what? They're a lot of fun to hang out with, and they too like cooking food on sticks ;D
And they're all about tromping out into the neighbor's field to see the clouds light up at sunset. I think Gunnar took some of these :D
And then came Tuesday, and we hit the ground running. But more about that another day :D
1 comment:
I can't believe how grown up your gorgeous boys are! You always seem to have a really fun packed life filled with lots of great people. What a blessing that is.
Hope you didn't hit the ground too hard :)
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