family: Missing my family

I love it when my sister and her family come from Virginia. It is a blast. Normally they stay for 3 weeks but this time it was only 2. The kids are getting older and are involved in sports camps during the summer so they had to make their visit a bit shorter. SNIFF SNIFF. I can't believe how fast 2 weeks go by when you are having fun. Why doesn't it go this fast when I am studying? Oh...studying? What is that anyway. I think I only got one assignment done the whole time my sis was here. OH well. Now I have to get a move on and get some crap done.

The 4th of July is our family reunion time. Such a busy time but fun too. LOTS AND LOTS of volleyball. I don't think I have ever played this much volleyball in a row. PHEW. My ankles were hurting A LOT. I think next time I better not go barefoot. I have always loved volleyball. I used to be good. I used to have power serves. But I am getting older, fatter and much slower. I look at my two nieces....Leila and Sara and want to play just like them.....one day. One day when I get this lazy body back in shape. Sara is only 13. And she can jump serve. THIRTEEN people. JUMP SERVE. Did you hear that? DANG she is good.

We BBQ'd pork for pulled pork sandwiches. We had a family talent show. We sang, danced and visited. We stayed up way too late. Did I say that we also played volleyball? I am about ready for some more. But all the players have gone home. Have to wait till next year.

Today was an awesome day. The kids and I went over to the canal so they could give the dog a bath. That black lab really stinks. They lathered her up with dish soap. She smells much better. Then the younger three told me they would clean the whole house if I took them to State Park. I know.....that isn't the name of it anymore but too bad. That was the name of the park when I was growing up. And I won't budge. I am not going to call it anything different. I don't care if the name has been changed. It will always be Stake Park to me. Who wouldn't take that deal. I get a clean house AND a chance to play with my kids in the water. DEAL.

We spent 3 hours there. I swam and played football with Ethan. The girls wanted me to play mermaids. UMMM how do you do that anyway? :) They told me we all had to make up a name for ourselves and it had to be a color. Mayah was Ruby and I was Lavender and Rachel.....I can't remember. Then we swam like mermaids. Have you ever tried to swim like a mermaid? It isn't easy. It didn't last long. It was super fun though. The kids took a snack to eat and also spent some time building a sand castle while I relaxed on my towel.

When we got home the kids were exhausted. After dinner they went to bed and I took a 5 mile bike ride. I love the cool evenings here. So beautiful and breezy. Not too hot....not too cold. PERFECT. It was awesome.

Caleb, Zachary and Don are working in their cousins orchard doing cherries. The boys are exhausted. They put in about 10 hours a day and sometimes even go out in the evening to do more work. I am so proud of them. They are getting some pretty good compliments. Such good experience for a 13 and 15 year old.

Well didn't get much homework done today and now I am too tired to think. I am just going to call it a night.

I love summer.....no getting on kids for homework, no early mornings. JUST SUMMER FUN.

Oh forgot....the neighbor hired the kids to feed their animals and water the flowers while they were gone for a week. We went down every day and fed the chickens, ducks and geese, rabbits, guinea hens, goat, birds, and fish. We also cleaned out the water containers and collected eggs.

I could not believe it when every day we went there...one fish had died. That was four fish. FOUR. I couldn't figure out what was going on so I went to Petco to buy some new goldfish to replace the ones that were dying. They couldn't sell any because they were under observation. When I talked to my brother about it he said NOT to buy any fish from there. Something to do with diseases and such and that people are having problems with their fish dying when purchased from Petco. And that is where she got them. I still felt bad and we did everything she asked.

Again perfect opportunity for my kids to have extra experiences. They loved it and looked forward to it each day. We love our neighbors too. They are amazing.