The REST of our summer

I realize that it is September 1st and the last time I updated was July 18th. And that post only got us through the end of June. But here is the reality, it was a fairly boring summer, picture wise. After moving across the country in Dec/Jan, there really isn't money and time to take another "vacation". Setting up a home in a new part of the country takes funds and Jason doesn't have a lot of vacation time built up yet. So our summer days were spent in the wonderful pace of doing what we wanted around home. Rachel worked as a nanny for a family with three girls, ages 1,3 and 7. Oftentimes she would take Sarah with her because she played well with the girls and was great entertainment. Some weeks she worked 4 days and other weeks one or two, depending on the needs of the family.

Nathan attended high adventure from July 8th to July 13th. He had a great time in the hill country of Texas. Rachel left July 15th, and Anna the 16th, for Girls Camp in the lovely state of Louisiana. Rae left earlier because she was a Junior Counselor and they had to be up there earlier. Then Rachel, and Sarah, worked the 22nd-25th. Jason took the 26th off and we spent the 26th at Galveston and the 27th at the zoo. But July 29th arrived and with it 2-a-day practices for band. Rachel and Nathan had to be at the school by 7:20, practiced til 11:30, home about 11:50. Then they had to be back to the school by 3:50 and returned home around 8:20. For three weeks this continued until the 19th. That week they only had evening rehearsals from 4-8. On the 23rd they held a preview night for families to come see what they had accomplished in 4 weeks of band camp.

I was off my crutches by the 4th of July but the brace remained on for another week. When I was allowed to go sans brace I was grateful but the ankle still wasn't fully healed and had to be favored a bit until it got stronger. I am pleased to say that I'm about back to normal. I can walk quickly, which wasn't an option in July, and it only feels a little funky occasionally, when I step wrong. My ankle slowed me down this summer and so the family slowed down a bit too.

We spent many days swimming, reading, playing on the computer, quilting, running errands, attending the dollar theater, and enjoying being a family. I'm including some pictures in this post of the highlights. We love living so close to the ocean. We really like our zoo. These are both great activities for just hanging out together. There have been some awesome thunderstorms that we have thoroughly enjoyed and Sonic is less than 1 mile from our home where we have taken advantage of half-price shakes after 8pm. Gotta love sitting at a picnic table, drinking shakes at 9 at night when it finally cools down to 90 degrees.



Nathan before heading off to camp (at 3:30AM!).
Rachel on her way off to camp (at a respectable 7AM).
Anna on her way off to camp (at a compromising 5:30AM).

Slide show of beach pictures and zoo pictures for the month of July.(There may be a few extra pics in there too.) On the 4th when we got done at the zoo we traveled home a different way and stopped at the Bass Pro Shop. We also had lunch at TGIFriday's.



Seeing Epic at the Dollar Theater.

AUGUST
I had a birthday on the 3rd, we celebrated our 19th on the 6th and I cut off my hair for Locks of Love on the 9th.

Before shots.

And after.

To celebrate my birthday and our anniversary Jason and I had a date down in Galveston. We toured the Moody Mansion and had lunch at The Spot. It was so great to spend a few hours being together, with no interruptions. I forgot to take any pictures though. We both love history and so the tour of this very old mansion was a lot of fun. And the food was delicious at a really cool restaurant right on the sea-wall overlooking the Gulf. We did cake and ice cream on Sunday to split the difference as Anna wasn't able to be home Saturday night.

The ward had a Luau party on the 10th and Rachel and Anna participated in a hula dance for it.


Nathan got his permit! We opted for a parent-taught driver's ed course because it allows for the most flexibility for teaching. We have enough on our schedule that having to conform to a specific driving school's schedule was going to be difficult. He can't get a license until his 16th birthday so we have plenty of time to work on this at our leisure.


After an eye doctor's appointment for Darik on the 20th we did a Costco run (both of these are in the city, about 30 miles away), some school shopping and topped it off with a visit to my Grandmother.


Preview night for the Chargers Marching Band. Thank you to all who donated to the kids' fundraiser. We really appreciate it. Band is much bigger here in Texas and the fees for it are bigger too! And with two in the program we really appreciate the help you each were, thank you!