Kinderfest

Remember I said there has been so much going on that I have been too busy and tired to blog about it?  Well, now that things are slowing down a little bit I will try to bring you up to speed.

In Leavenworth, the 4th of July is celebrated with Kinderfest.  Kinderfest is a free children's carnival.  There is a giant slip-n-slide, cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn, balloons, bouncy houses, carnival games, face painting, clowns, and more.  The Chamber of Commerce puts it on with our church and another local church organizing all the activities and providing a majority of the volunteers.

 We had about 28 volunteers from our church to man our booths.  This is the second year our church has participated in Kinderfest.  We have had shirts made for all of volunteers to let everyone know who we are.  If you are wondering about the letters on the front, they stand for By Grace Through Faith In Christ Alone.  It comes from Ephesians 2:8,9 which tells us that salvation is offered to us by God's grace because we all sin (do wrong) and deserve everlasting punishment (death) but if we believe in Christ and place our trust in Him we will be saved.  We don't need to do anything - like works or behave a certain way or dress a certain way.  Belief in Christ alone is all we need.

 So many people from church came out to work. We had booths like the ring toss and the bean bag throw.

 Others worked at face painting but the big booth was the craft booth. Our craft this year was another crazy hat for the kids to make and wear.  It involved duct tape, straws, pipe cleaners, and star garland.  It was a lot of work but well worth it.

 These gals worked for four hours and helped kids make over 250 hats.  I got to fill in every now and then while they took a short break but other than that they worked hard.

 One of our gals brought several of her students to help us out.  They were the best workers. 

Todd and I went downtown at 8:30 in the morning to set up canopies and didn't leave til 4 pm.  It was a long day but fun.  I had the best job of all.  I got to float around and make sure everyone had prizes, water, and snacks.  I rotated workers around or found relief for those who needed to leave.  Of course, I have been involved in the planning of this event out since March.  Now we have to figure out how to make it even better for next year. 

Where to begin?

I told my friend, Sue, that I wish I could have a device to talk into as I am driving.  I always think of things to blog about but at the end of the day when I have some time, I am too tired to put it all into words.  Not only that, but there has been so much going on that my head hurts and I can't seem to focus on what I want to say. 

Once again there is so much to report that I don't know where to begin.  I guess I will start with our latest adventure.  This summer we have been letting the kids go to the city pool by themselves.  They are all good swimmers and we know and trust the lifeguards so I feel that they are safe.   Tonight while we were having our Monday night Bible study, the boys had gone to the pool to swim.  Everyone was gathering at our house when we got a phone call from the pool.  Bryce had slipped off the diving board and hit his head on the concrete.  The life guard didn't think there was anything wrong but as a precaution had called the EMTs.  Todd and I rushed down there to find Bryce laying down on the concrete with Chance holding his head still.   The EMTs arrived shortly after us and checked him out.  He was fine.  Poor Bryce was embarrassed more than anything.  We had him come home although he was ready to get back in the pool.  I guess I just wanted to monitor him a little more.  Our Bible study group decided to call off the study for the night.  I guess they figured we needed some time to ourselves.  I am glad for the break.

Like I said there has been so much lately, and our schedule won't let up til after Vacation Bible School which is next week.  Once it is over, we are going to the ocean for a week for some rest and relaxation.

Summer Camp

Brian is the first of our crew to head off for summer camp.  All three kids go to Camas Meadows Bible Camp which is situated on top of one of mountain ridges up Blewett Pass just twenty minutes from home.
Yesterday was family day at camp, so we went up to visit Brian, eat, and watch the different cabins perform skits.

Dinner was served out in the meadow.  While the hamburgers were grilling the kids and their counselors played a few games. Bonnie was at camp during staff training week so she immediately jumped right in to help the kitchen crew and play along with the campers.  During the 4th -6th graders week of camp, she will be a CIT (Counselor in Training).

Brian's counselors are Thing (orange shirt) and Ike.  Of course, those aren't their real names.  All the counselors have camp names, for example  Bonnie's name is Ohara.  The kids are forbidden to use their counselors real names unless they want to do lots of push-ups. 

I had to get this picture, when I saw Bonnie and Brian holding hands.  They really do like each other.

Nadine or Sweet Tea, the camp cook, makes the best meals.  I know this because she cooks for us at the ladies' retreats.

Shamu, the camp director's dog, is a massive beast.  He has often been mistaken as a bear.  The campers can earn extra team points if they give Shamu a bath.

After dinner, we all moved back up the lodge to see each of the cabins put on their skits.  Stephen, Legit, is one of our youths from  our church.  Stephen graduated from high school earilier this month.  He has been working at Camas Meadows for several years now.  This year he is the camp leader working in conjunction with the director. 

Brian's cabin acted out Psalm 23.  Brian and Quinn were sheep.  Below you can see Goodness and Mercy following them everywhere they go. lol

Brian's loves camp, but he looked very tired when we saw him.  I am eager for him to come home and get some rest.

Glad That's Over

This week Bryce did his end-of-year testing.  I conveniently forgot to do everyone's testing last year. (The first year in seven that we didn't test.)  However, with Bonnie going to public school next year, I knew that I couldn't conveniently forget it again.  I chose to do the survey testing for Bryce and Brian, and the full battery of testing for Bonnie.  This week, Bryce came to church with me and I proctored his test while he took them.  He did well, I think, except for spelling.  Again, that is our big weakness.  It is hard to keep your mouth shut when you see your child answer their test wrong, but I have to remember this test is to evaluate his knowledge not mine.  I have a better idea of what I need to work on with him.  The question is to see how he ranks with others his age. Next week, I will test Bonnie.  I probably won't test Brian until August or September.

While Bonnie has been gone at camp staff training, Brian has been busy helping Todd with firewood.  In the afternoons the boys have been at the pool.  I managed to make three of the exercises classes at the pool.  Tuesday I went to the aqua jogging class.  That was a great workout.  I put a floatation belt on and then in the deep water simulated running. We ran hard and fast.  Talk about a good cardio workout.  On Wednesday and Thursday, I went to the water aerobics class.  Bryce joined me for both days and Brian joined me the last day.  Both boys enjoyed the workout and want to keep going with me.  Over half the class are retired people, but many thought it was great to see two young boys working out with them.   

This summer feels so busy that I have yet to relax.  After Vacation Bible School we are going to the ocean for a week. I can't wait.  I am looking forward to a week of total relaxation.

It was such a quiet morning that I was almost late to work.  Bonnie went to Camas Meadows Bible Camp yesterday to start her training as a counselor.  She will be up there all week and comes back home on Friday.  Todd had the boys get up at 5 am so that they could eat breakfast and go up into the mountains to get firewood for this winter.  Before it was 6 this morning, I found myself all alone.  I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, put together some white chicken chili in the crockpot, started the laundry, purged my closet of clothes that I don't or ever will wear and before I knew it an hour and a half had gone by.  Talk about mad scramble to get myself out the door.  I knew I had a lady from the church stopping by the office to discuss our ladies' retreat this fall, and I wanted to have everything ready for her to critique before she showed up. I did manage to get the church ten minutes early and she was a half hour late, so all is well.

Nothing else on the agenda today.  Brian has drum lessons and I really want to go to the pool's aqua jogging class tonight.  I am trying to either walk the loop every day or hit one of the water exercise classes at the pool.  Brian is still sleeping in the garage, and Bryce has moved back into his room so he can listen to his books on tape without being disturbed.  All is well.

Summer Break

This week we kicked off our first week of summer break.  Todd took the week off to recoup from a long and busy school year. 

We started off the week with Bonnie giving playing her recital pieces at church Sunday morning for offertory.

Tuesday, Todd and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary by spending the afternoon in Wenatchee.  Over the past year, we have noticed that a new bridge was being built up near the top of a ridge.  We think it will eventually connect East Wenatchee to Waterville making it a easier access to  Pangborn Airport.  Todd decided that we would drive up to the bridge to check it out.

Wednesday, Todd and the boys went to Rocky Reach Dam which is located between Wenatchee and Chelan.  It is fun place to visit to see how a dam works and to watch the fish work their way up the fish ladder.

Thursday, Todd took the boys up to Lake Wenatchee to check out some campsites.  They ended up hiking up to White River Falls and found some huge trees.

When Todd and the boys weren't exploring around, they were up at the golf course improving their game.  Todd has worked it out with the club house manager for the boys to leave their clubs at the club house.  Now when ever they want to putt around or practice at the driving range they can hop on their bikes and cycle over to the golf course and practice.  In fact, Todd had the boys bike over last night.  He than drove over to meet them and the three of them played nine holes together. I need to head over there myself to work on my game. 

Of course,  Todd and the boys were the ones having all the fun.  I am still working in the church office, while Bonnie is still finishing up her studies.  She doesn't seem to mind.  She spends the mornings at church playing the piano, reading her history book (She is still reading Me My Country My God by Dr. Thomas Anderson and Don Enevoldsen.) finishing up her language and math.

Anniversary

Today my husband and I celebrate our 19th anniversary.  That means we have known each other for 23 years.  Wow!  That is a more than half of my life. 

We celebrated by ditching the kids and went to Wenatchee for movie and dinner.  We saw Snowwhite and the Huntsman.   I wouldn't recommend it for the kids.  It is pretty dark but it was a interesting take on the old childhood tale.  I really wanted to see Mirror Mirror,   that type of movie is more to my liking but it wasn't playing at our theater. (How do you spell theater??  I have always spelled it theatre, but spell check says it is wrong.  Did they change the spelling or am I just wrong?)   After the movie, we did some shopping.  I had told Todd earlier that I was interested in getting a Kindle, so he bought me one.  I have been playing with it all evening, but still wondering if it is something I am really going to use.  I did download the book Sense and Sensibility.    After shopping we went to the Cottage Inn for dinner.  Todd was wanting a good steak and friends recommended this restaurant.  We both decided next time we will go to Olive Garden.  I guess we are routine people and don't do well with trying out new places.  

On another note,  the boys have been sleeping in the garage lately.  Don't ask me why, they just think it is cool in there.  Bonnie heads off to camp next week for staff training.  She is going to work as a counselor in training for one week this summer.  Brian finished his school work today!!!  Yeah!! Bonnie is the only one still finishing up language and math.