4th of July Weekend

Hello Everyone!

Hope you're having a wonderful summer so far.

Emily and Stephen celebrated their 1 year anniversary on June 24th

Awwww... so cute

They went to the same spot where he asked her to be his sweetie.

The 4th of July weekend found us doing several things over the course of a few days. 

We had a BBQ Friday night on the deck.

Caleb had a ball game Saturday morning then headed out to Harding Lake with a bunch of friends for an overnight. Stormy, here, has chosen her spot for the day :)

The flowers were pretty, so they got photographed.

This is called relationship "art"

Saturday afternoon we headed to Tanana Lake near town.

We didn't see many people we knew, but that was fine by me.  

The kids floated on rafts and I soaked in the sunshine!

And then the burying began...

Sunday was SOOOO smoky, but I wanted to go hike Grapefruit Rocks with Cooper.

We made it to the top!  Not the greatest view :(

We'll have to do it again when it's clear.

Selfie!

Selfie with Coop

On our drive out there I noticed this beautiful gem, so on the way back we stopped to check it out.

It's called Washington Creek and it's my new favorite "happy place" - SO PRETTY.

It's located only 7 miles north of where we used to live on Haystack Mountain and I never knew it existed. Definitely be traveling out there more often.

Monday was another clear, gorgeous day, so we set afloat on the Chena River.

(Laura and Morgan)

(Me, Laura and Morgan)

(Stephen, Laura, Emily Morgan)

This is the walking bridge near Pioneer Park that is a popular jumping off spot.

There's Em, Morgan and Stephen getting ready to plunge...

Off they go....

Laura and I went, too, of course.

 Emily got a great slo-mo film of it, but my technological incompetence deterred me from including it in this blog!

We had a great time, tho:)

19 days and counting!!

June Activities

I went to see Jurassic World. 

The jeep was there - perfect photo op!

Birch Lake cabin camping with the girls...

Jordan, Emily and Morgan

along with Jordan's mom, Tracy and Morgan's mom, Laura.

There were so many squirrels around and quite friendly.

I'm sure they are used to feasting from the humans.

This one we called Hammie

My selfie as I went for a trail walk part way around the lake.

View from my walk back towards the rental shop and lodge.

Our cabin was just a bit behind those.

Emily and Morgan on the "aqua cycle"

Emily completed her week of tennis camp.

It was from 2-4 each day of the hottest week we've had so far!

She melted!

She also tied for first place in the mini-tournament they had on the last day.

The group (there were 11) played match after match against different partners for 2 hours. Win games to earn points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the day wins. :) 

This shirt was her prize.

2015 Midnight Sun Run 10K

Starts at 10:00pm

Here is the starting line...

A friend snapped a pic of me as I was cruising along...

Here is the finish line...

My results...

I finished 4 seconds shy of an hour making it my second personal best time :)

Yay me :)

The kids bailed out on me so I ran alone.

Back home on my deck getting ready to drink my celebratory Bud Light :)

Lone Star concert on Father's Day

Outdoor show at the Blue Loon

What a GREAT show!

It was my idea, so I went along :)

We sat with our friends Tayllor (you will remember him from the graduation pictures) and his sweetie, Melissa.

The stage...

More stage and crowd...

Caleb and Tayllor's mom (Melissa) in a fan-mister battle.

Yes, Tayllor's mom and girlfriend have the same name.

Lone star - Richie McDonald

We spent the second half of the concert standing up front.

The music was pounding :)

Group selfie...

Emily already left to join her dad who never went up front.

Funny to me how Tayllor and Caleb have the same ridiculous face...

All over...

34 more days till our cruise people!!!!!!!

SOOOOO EXCITED!

Hello Family :)

This Memorial Day, Emily and I packed the car for an overnight on the banks of the Chena River. We knew Stephen was going to be there with his family already, so we stopped by and grabbed him for a hike at Angel Rocks.

Cooper came, too - he was hot, but LOVED it :)

Our campsite near the river - roasting marshmallows

Playing cards - Go Fish (I believe)

My first day of Freedom from School was spent at the new Tanana Lake!

Cooper finally has his steps to the doggie door and doesn't have to climb on a table and through shelves anymore! Reorganizing the garage gave me a lot more space - YAY!

West Valley Baseball - this picture was in our local paper. That's Caleb catching. It looks like the Lathrop kid was safe, but still a cool shot.

Then it was off to Anchorage for the State Tournament.

This is them celebrating after beating the team that was supposed to win it all.

They beat them 4-0

Happy boys!

Coach said if they won he'd buy them all a steak dinner!

He delivered - Thanks, Coach!

It was also Miss Terry's (student body advisor and the other driver on this trip) birthday. 

She got to sit on the saddle and swing the napkin over her head as we sang Happy Birthday!

The boys ended up taking 5th place overall :(

But spirits were high and we ended the weekend with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings.

Caleb has a job!!!

He is working the morning buffet shift at the Westmark Hotel as a busboy.

Loves the hours - 6:30-10:30am (comes home an goes back to sleep)

He gets an hourly wage, plus tips, plus a really delicious meal everyday when their shift is over.

Just wish he would smile like a normal person :)

That's it for now. 

 This weekend is a "girls" camping trip to Birch Lake.

Love you all!