August A to Z

I got this idea from a dear friend of mine Jane who uses this format to summarize months. I don't get around to blogging often so I think the monthly summary will at least help. So here goes my first A to Z monthly summary post.

Alura - we got to spend the week of camp and a long weekend with our granddaughter Alura - we all enjoyed it a lot.

Busy month - I do not know how we got from August 1st to today (August 30th) as quickly as we have. We sure packed a lot into this month.

Camp - we had a fun week at camp to start off this month. Lots of fun memories and a great week for us all.

Dinner at Lakeview Drive-In - after a fire destroyed park of Lakeview Drive-in last month, we were happy to be able to have dinner from the drive-in on the 21st of this month when they opened. The Drive-In is definitely a summer staple in Chelan.

Eager kids - the kids are very excited to head back to school. Mommy is not quite sure how it happened that they grew up so quick as I have a 1st grader and a 2nd grader this year!

Fair - we made a trek up to Waterville to the NCW Fair last week. The kids loved the animals and seeing thier friends who had animals there to show. Now we have a new craving in our house - to have an animal for fair next year! We will see about that!

Grayson - we have started having a routine family time with Bobbie & Grayson as we prepare for the arrival of our newest grandchild Kyzaya in December

Horses - we have seen a lot of horses this month - Kenzie was sure that we made it to Omak Stampede and to the Lake Chelan Jr Rodeo and that I took pictures of many of the horses.

Ice - the kids enjoyed Tropical Sno shave ice after an afternoon at Kids Club on Tuesdays this month. They love the stuff and conveniently there is a stand on the way out of the park! Hmmm - good planning on someone's part!

Joint duties - My sister and I shared camp nurse duties and both found the joint efforts to be a much easier deal than the one person approach we both did at separate camps last year. We are looking forward to another joint effort next summer.

Kids Club - we spent Tuesdays at Lakeside for our summer Kids Club days to enjoy time with friends and swimming and sand fun

Loss - it has been a month of loss for many people that I know. A short list of the lost ones this month would include Clara, James, and Sharla. That added to the list of those with health challenges this month has made for a busy prayer month. We continue to pray for the families of those lost this month.

Ma's birthday - This month brought the first birthday for Ma (my mother-in-law whom I always called Ma) since her death. It was a hard day yesterday for Dave. He made the trek to Mount Vernon to put flowers on her grave yesterday. The kids (as all kids do) wanted to talk about her all day and didn't seem to understand the sadness for Daddy & I. If only we could all have the simplistic view of death that children do.

New laptop - after Dave dropped a full cup of coffee on his laptop (surprise, surprise - it was dead afterward), he got a new laptop. Not necessarily in the budget this month, but he started video stuff for GoLakeChelan for fall sprts this month so he had to have a working computer. I guess the good news is that prices are pretty good this time of year for laptops.

Omak Stampede - none of us had ever been to Stampeded and we had a great evening this year - I think we will make this an annual event!

Play dates - the kids had play dates with Rylee, Raiden, Bella, Teagan, Grayson, Seth & Soren this month - what a fun way to spend the summer!! Nice to have so many kids around that they can have playdates a lot.

Quite a few pictures taken - this was a busy month for my camera! I took over 800 pictures at camp alone. I don't even want to think about the total number of pictures taken this month as I am sure it is in excess of 1200!

Return of football - Anyone who knows us, knows that football is serious business in our house! Thie month brought the return of NFL football - preseason games several days a week on TV! We have a happy house!!

Slidewaters - had our second trip of the summer to the water slides this month. We usually only go once or twice a summer so we are on the mark and enjoyed this day with Alura at the waterslides. Mackenzie even braved Purple Haze!

Tie Dye - we tie dyed shirts at camp and enjoyed it so much that we did it at home with Daddy and then at Kids Club for an end of summer activity last week!

Unusual weather -We had every sort of weather imaginable this month. LOTS AND LOTS of rain in a short period of time leading to slides, 600+ lightning strikes in one evening, temperatures in excess of 100 degrees and mornings with temperatures under 50 degrees. Wow we have had it all!

Very fun times - I know that the memories of this summer will live in my mind for a long time. If someone had asked what summer I would like the most, I would have never guess with would be the summer they are 6 & 7 years old. They are old enough to have fun without me right there to make it happen but still young enough to want me to be part of it. Dave was dead-set on doing spring cleaning this summer and I said we can do it when they go back to school. The kids will never remember that we cleaned the house this summer but they will remember having a fun summer doing fun things.

Water - We spent a lot of time in the water this month. Our pool, the upper Chelan Hills pool, Lakeside, Chelan Falls, State Park, creek at camp, Waterslides, and Brewster Swimming Pool all this month!! The kids are fish and enjoy anything WATER!!

X-rays - Dave had follow-up on both knee replacements. Thankfully all seems to be doing well with both of them! It is nice to have a year without a knee issue for him - the first of that since 2002!

Young kids with board games - This summer the kids have gotten to an age that they LOVE board games. We have played a lot of Monopoly at any available moment. We have finally moved out of preschool games and can play games for readers!! Apples to Apples Jr, Blockus, Battleship, Monopoly, Hullabaloo, Rummikub, Twister, Pictionary are a few of our favorites!

Zebra Prints - we all enjoyed wearing bandanas including zebra print ones while at camp. It was an easy hair day on the days when a shower and a bandana sufficed!