More of a Sunny July

(Second post of 8/21...first is below)

July 11...

The retaining wall looks so much better. I'll show you a better comparison later on. Now if only the siding was on the house....

My son took me out to lunch at a little tiny place called The Red Couch. Great sandwiches!!

July 12...

Nick really enjoys playing pool and talks me into it in the middle of the day now and then. (He's not 21 yet so he needs me to go along).

The girls flew in this evening. I held Olivia and we both cried for 5 minutes on the floor of the airport. It was really hard to be apart that long!

We took her to Pike's on the river for dinner and miniature golf before going home.

July 13...

Started out innocently enough swimming in the pool with the kids.

Then we ended up going with them down to Angry, Young & Poor... a free, all-day concert at the park with lots of bands.

We knew the drummer. He played hockey with our boys. By the lead singer you can tell this is screaming heavy metal and not quite my thing, but wanted to be supportive so I tried head banging. Think I hurt my neck... lol.

Ended with some of Nick's friends coming back to the house and this is 1:00 am swimming. Time of day means nothing in an Alaskan summer. I ended up visiting by the fire until 5:30 in the morning!! Oh my... I am entirely too old for that!

July 14...

Sunday Tisha came up with the kids and the makings for BBQ. Very lazy day after such a rowdy night! Well.. lazy for me. My husband hauled gravel the first half of the day.

We've been playing a lot of obstacle croquet. It's a lot of fun.

I'm Back!!

Today is the kids' first day back to school. You just may see a flurry of blogging from me followed by me catching up on my favorite blogs. I'll be posting in between cleaning blueberries, freezing rhubarb, cleaning house and working outside if it doesn't rain. :)

July 5th....

Homer does not wear shorts and he does not get in the pool. Lucas talked him into his once-every-other-year swim. 

Olivia left for 21 days (I think) this summer with her grandparents. I'll make a post of her trip. She was returning soon so I wanted to have her greenhouse planted even if it was a late start.

Funny to look at the changes. This bed is now 2 feet tall and you can barely see any wood chips.

July 6th....

Can you see the three juvenile ravens sitting in the tree? Every morning the mother raven would drop them off while she went looking for food. They would sit right there and scream at me working in the yard. Could not shoo them away. Every half hour she would fly by and talk raven telling them to stay put. Finally on one of her trips she'll tell them to follow and off they'd go. Truly an annoying several weeks. 

I'm wondering if I got a good photo of these petunias as they grew to completely hide the rocks... until last week when the moose smashed them getting a drink. (She's destroying all my beds eating them and there's nothing I can do to stop her). :(

I love the dragonflies... they keep my yard mosquito free.

Determined to fill up the far end of the pool (see it in the photo) I began washing rocks. I got the end completed and just need to finish the far side. (I kind of lost interest and moved on to other projects).

Taking the rubber off a 20-year old 4-wheeler tire Redneck style.

Seems like I made very few good meals this summer.... not sure where all my time goes. (I love breaded baked tomatoes).

My friend Loretta stopped by for a quick visit. She works entirely too much as a bush pilot and we're always so busy. Hardly see her.

Two neighbor girls came over to swim with Emily.

July 7, 8, 9, 10....

We did our best to make soccer fun since I was short on players and without talent. Lucas was a real trooper dealing with the "special" kids on his team.

I started on the pile of wood left from winter splitting and stacking it by the house. I was determined to take over the "Boy Side" of the yard. I am about through with piles of mess. Needless to say I was unsuccessful.

I helped Lucas build rock castles for knights, dragons and dinosaurs.

Half a cord finished.

In front of the doors was a low spot so when you come out you step in a puddle of water on rainy days. Eventually we will build a patio, but I decided that's too far away and hauled a bunch of the tailings over. Puddle problem solved.

Got the plastic on Olivia's greenhouse and it's all ready for her to come home.

One of two times that I got in the pool and floated around. It was so hot all summer and I should have been in there every day! I think we had 35 days of 85* or higher. Unbelievable! I'll take -40* below all winter if I can have another summer like this one.

Around the Pool

We had a bit of sunshine yesterday and Olivia had a great time in the pool.

Two days ago the boys even took a plunge.
See that? Yellow leaves. They are changing too quickly.
Every leaf except these four have fallen in the pool. What a pain!

Homer has brought home three loads of rocks over the last week.

I finally got them all washed and placed in the pool. It's more work than it looks...they all have to be cleaned and some are really heavy. Only smashed my fingers three times!

Only another 40 truckloads to go!

Our Saturday

Olivia and Lucas had so much fun splashing in this little bit of water. Having this for the kids rather than the ducks will be so much better.
Look at that temperature! Okay, now I know some people will say, "That's in the sun". Well, I say...that's where I was standing! I don't really care about the "official" temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska on this date because that reading comes from the airport, down the hill, in the shade. I'm on the hill, I'm standing in the sun and that sun was cooking me at 98 degrees! Love it!

Of course, I can't go without mentioning that besides being the longest day of the year, June 21st is also National Skateboarding Day. These two hit the streets and spent about eight hours skating. They would have gone longer had I not made them come home. I think Nick is already counting down until next year. Guess we'll have to make better plans next time so it can be more of an "event" for him.

Back in the Water

Look who got back in the pool after refusing to for three weeks! For no apparent reason she thought today would be a good day to swim. Olivia was all smiles the whole class.

This, on the other hand, is a two-foot tall, blue-eyed, blonde that is currently possessed by a demon force. First we went in to watch swimming. He ran from me, slipped and fell. Luckily he didn't get hurt. Then we went to the Play Center. He willingly walked through the door then immediately started crying. We went back to the pool where he cried for 15 minutes while I tried to take photos of his sister. We went up to the cafe for fruit snacks. That happiness lasted as long as the fruit snacks did and then he went back to crying. It was pretty much one of those kick and scream scenes all the way to the van. Why is it at the magical age of two (we are seven days away from the blessed event) something takes over their little minds and they become Evil? Personally, I wouldn't mind having that sweet little boy back. The new guy in the house...he's a lot of work! Still cute, but exhausting!

Here's Mommy's Little Helpers. We weren't out too long...about thirty minutes. It is 36 degrees and windy. Really rather cold. Frozen pond, lawn of snow, ick.