July was a full summer month of fun. We celebrated 4th of July, the kids did a zoo camp, we went camping for two nights in our trailer. We celebrated Lydia’s 8th birthday with a family dinner back from camping. Then we went up to a cabin in the Sierras to do some hiking and fishing. The weather has certainly turned summer hot. Everyone is glad for the new blow-up pool and slip-n-slide. We also switched churches this month and have been working to get more connected.
Cordelia enjoyed zoo camp. Her favorite part was seeing the giraffes and pandas. For our camping trip she did a good job fishing and hiking. She enjoyed fishing and going to Bull lake, where she had gone two years ago backpacking. She did a volleyball and pickleball camp. And finished off the month with baking camp. Cordelia is still continuing in piano and played in the summer piano recital. We’re trying to get her clarinet lessons, but the place in town has a wait list. Cordelia is excited to get back to school and see her friends. She’s on the Student Ambassador Leadership Team (SALT) and is excited to start contributing to the school activities.
Anthony had a fun time at zoo camp. He enjoyed learning about the different plants and ways to support rain forests. He liked seeing the echidna. Anthony had a fun time on our camping trips. At our cabin there was a small stream with “Kid Island”. He really enjoyed playing there with Lydia and Natalie. He did a great job hiking and figured out how to fish too. He enjoyed doing archery camp again this summer as well as art camp and baking camp with Cordelia. His soccer team had another tournament this month. While they lost all three games again, they are starting to show some improvement. It’s still a bit sad to see them losing all the games. In piano Anthony is having a great time. He played some video game songs for the recital and seems to have a general love to play.
Lydia had a mixed experience at zoo camp. She enjoyed seeing the animals but seemed put-off by the large group of kids. Lydia’s now 8 years old. She’s continuing to grow and is almost as tall as Anthony. She had a fun time at the campsite, although is not a fan of the hiking part. At the cabin she enjoyed playing on Kid Island and walking to the river near the cabins. She was not very happy about the hiking portion, which made it a bit of a bummer for everyone. Back down the mountain she had her Camp Grandparent’s week. Then she finished the month with a basketball camp. Lydia participated in the piano recital and is continuing to make slow steady progress.
Natalie had a fun time walking around the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa. She had a fun time camping and enjoyed the independence of walking 50 ft down the trail by herself to use the bathroom. She had a fun time at the cabin too. She enjoyed Kid Island. She was a trooper on the hiking and walked the whole way for the two long hikes. She made up some fun hiking songs to keep us all moving along. Natalie is continuing in soccer. She’s still figuring out how to play at this new level and needs to get more engaged in the group play. Her individual skills moves are looking ok. She’s doing her second month of piano and is having a fun time. She participated in the recital too, with two small pieces. Her learning is picking up now that she’s back at Legacy. She’s starting to put longer words and sentences together. She’s also working on her numbers up to 100.
Alicia is staying more than busy. She’s back to full time but the workload is still high. The vacations were fun but unfortunately it causes a backlog at work. She has gotten a new coworker who is getting trained up. So hopefully in the next few months things will even out and be at a more manageable level. At home things have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Some days everyone is doing great and sometimes there’s fighting, yelling, and unhappiness. The vacation was semi-relaxing but also had some conflicts. It was also difficult for Alicia to take the burden of work items from coming to mind while on vacation. But the mountains were very beautiful and it is peaceful to look out at God’s creation. August will start to get busier with back-to-school preparations and AWANA preparations.
Tim’s work has been on the unfulfilling side this month. He’s been stepping into his role as chief engineer and it trying to get all the pieces together for the program’s next steps. Some parts are not coming together as easily as hoped. At home it has been a mixture of house maintenance, vacation pre- and post -organizing, and some relaxation on the vacation. The upgrades on the trailer were mostly all successful. There are still some areas that need fixing but it’s getting more weather ready, as evidenced by our surprise rain test on our camping trip. The garden produce has been fun to watch grow (and eat)!
August is expected to be hot and busy. We’re praying for more peace and understanding as the kids are growing and maturing. We’re hoping the school year gets off to a good start.
