Early July

Summer is half over, can you believe it?  Where did the time go?

Tuzi bunny enjoys knocking things over when the kids build them.  He also likes dried kiwi treats.  Unfortunately, bunnies have a well deserved reputation for chewing cords, and when he was out, he got the DSL cord.  I'm glad we had a spare on hand. 

Packing up the girls to spend a week in Nevada was a good excuse for me to use my handy packing cubes (affiliate link).  I seriously love these things.  They've been great for my China trips and my vacation to Hawaii.

This year was the first summer in quite a while that the whole family did not go to Nevada.  Paul drove Jack, Hannah, and Katie to meet up with family there, and they stayed without us.  He then continued on to visit a friend in Las Vegas for a few days, while Josiah, Eli, and I stayed home.

Since it was just the 3 of us, we took all the leaves out of the table and impersonated a small family.

One day, we decided we wanted pizza for lunch.  But not just any pizza.  Special pizza, only available in another city.  So we hopped in the van and drove and drove to get it.  When we got into Dixon, there were all these gorgeous sunflowers, and I couldn't resist getting a picture.

The pizza was amazing.  And we stopped at a little farm stand and got fresh saltwater taffy and alligator jerky before heading back home.  We got a little sidetracked on the way and ended up at Ikea.  I was shocked to discover that the last time my boys had been to Ikea they were still little enough for Play Care, and they'd never actually wandered the store before.  We had a blast together!  I always feel very safe when I walk between my two big, tall bodyguards boys.

Eli has taken up grilling.  For 4th of July, he made bacon wrapped hot dogs, and I threw on a couple of cute little steaks and some corn.

I think Paul was a little concerned about the boys and I being unsupervised on 4th of July, but we didn't burn anything down, so all's well that ends well.

Eli was really happy to not have to compete (much) to light off fireworks.

And we could even see some sky pyrotechnics from our house.

Josiah lit off a few things, but mostly he and I sat in the driveway and watched Eli enjoy himself. 

The fireworks didn't seem to bother the bunny, which was nice. 

Picking up the kids in Reno, after their week with the grandparents. 

The Donner Lake potty stop on the way home. 

Miss Hannah got her Summer Reading Program medal.  Not a lot in the way of prizes this year. 

Saw a dreadful video on Facebook showing people's total lack of geography skills.  Was horrified enough to pull out a map puzzle and spread it on the table, thinking I'd have the girls assemble it for some low key summer practice. 

Jack completed the world puzzle, and then went on to do the North America one, as well. 

School starts in like 5 weeks.  I recently went through Jack, Hannah, and Katie's school uniforms, pulling out anything too small for them.  Old Navy had polos on sale for $3 bucks, so I filled in some gaps there.  Primary is one of my favorite resources for Hannah & Katie, so I filled in a few more gaps there, and now the younger 3 kids are all ready for BTS.  Eli is in man sizes, so his stuff doesn't really go on sale.  ...I wonder if he can make it through the first 2 weeks of school on what he already has, so I can use my September Super Cash to get his uniforms? 


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