End of Summer Vacation

August is always a busy month for us. We try and finish up all the things we said we would do during the summer. Cross Country starts the middle of August and the kids start school the last day of August, so that leads to school shopping etc. And the garden is producing way too much, which leads to lots of canning and freezing. Amongst all the business it is HOT too. We hit 100 plus temperatures a few days in August.

Cousin Swap
My sister Shalean and her family live in Pocatello. They are the closest Judy family to us. She has daughters that are Hailey and Chloe's ages. Last year we met half way in Jerome and picked Strawberries for the day. It was so fun we decided to make it an annual event. This year the strawberry crop wasn't good, so we decided to make a cousin swap. Chloe went to their house for a few days while Makayla came here. They had so much fun. We took the boat out and Kayla got up on the water skis (for a few seconds). They went to Wahooz and played miniature golf and then to Roaring Springs for a day. We drove to Twin Falls and swapped them back and spent the afternoon shopping and eating at Target.





Cousin Campout
Joel's parents had the girls cousin campout at their house in Shelley this year. They have a boys and a girls campout each summer. All grand kids ages 8-12 get to go. Aunt Jill teaches home economics at the junior high. The girls got to go to the school and use the sewing machines while Grandma taught them how to make a pillow case.
When we swapped kids in Twin Falls, Shalean took Hailey and Maiya to Pocatello and Grandma Hammer picked the girls up there.

Garden Goodies
Our garden has produced lots of stuff for us this year. We froze lots of zucchini, green beans and corn. We canned some spaghetti sauce with our tomatoes.

snapping beans early in the morning



Hammer/Johnson Camp
We got together on Wednesdays for a fun "summer camp" with the Johnson's. Jordyn, Treven, Hailey and Chloe enjoyed making crafts and playing together. One day they made quite a bit of money doing a lemonade/Cookie stand.




Hike to Bogus
We had planned to finally take the boat to Owyhee, and woke up Saturday morning to cold tempratures and wind. So we drove to Bogus Basin and went for a hike to the top. We heard there was a cave up there so we wanted to find it. It was a beautiful (cold) day.





Boating on our own
We got tired of waiting for Joel to have time to take us boating! He is usually working out of town during the week, so I got brave and started taking the boat out on my own, (with the kids) Coelton is a great help and I couldn't do it without him. He helps hook it up then we drive it to lucky Peak. I back it down and he unhooks it and drives it off the trailer. I park the trailer and then he usually drives the boat. Caden has become a good boat driver too. We have a lot of fun, but I learned I will not ride the tube with coelton driving anymore;)
When we are ready to head out I get the trailer and back it down and he drives the boat on and hooks it up. The tricky part is getting it backed in the garage. There is only about 1 inch of space on each side. It takes me a while, but it eventually makes it back in:)




Eagle Scout Project
We set a goal to get this done during the summer. It was hard to find a good project but we finally did. Caden organized about 55 volunteers to paint fire hydrants for the city water dept. It was even better when we found out that the fire hydrants were located in our neighborhood. We ended up painting nearly 100! He logged 113 hours, and did a great job!

BEFORE


AFTER


Instruction on how to paint a fire hydrant


Cross Country


Both boys are running cross country this year. Coelton has earned a spot on Varsity. He ran a 4:50 mile and at his first meet he ran 17:39 in 100 degree temperatures. He came in 2nd for mountain view and 4th over all.
Caden has been training with the team and ran a 6:15 mile, but had a bad athsma attack and has been out for a week.


Varsity boys posing like Steve for year book.

Our awesome 1-2-3 punch! Agida, Coelton and Parker

It's a dangerous sport!



Back to School
This year we have a kindergartener and a Senior. (both ends of the spectrum) Hailey is in 5th grade and Caden is a Freshman. We have 2 in the Elementary school and 2 in the High School. Caden is happy to not have to ride the bus, since coelton drives the ranger to school most of the time. I'm happy that Chloe can ride the bus to school with Hailey and she can help her get to her class. I hope I don't get too lonely during the day without a little buddy around. For 17 and a half years I have always had little buddies with me. Now what do I do?