More summer stuff!

We had a fantastic time at VBS last week! It was nice to have something to look forward to every morning. Sunday morning the kids sang a few songs in church. We took video in lots of little snippets. You can go to my youtube page to see all of them.

Our afternoons were spent out at the pool (the temperature is finally in the triple digits), and Audrey had her first swim meet on Thursday night. With state and city budgets in shambles right now, all of the city swim teams were cancelled this year. It cost us a bit more to sign Audrey up for a summer league through the Fresno Dolphins Swim Club, but since her other interests (running and piano) don't cost us anything, we paid the extra. Everyone in her age group (9-13 yrs) swam the 50 free and the 50 back. Being the first meet, they didn't even separate the heats according to time. It was a nice, "everyone participates" feel, which was good for Audrey. The Fresno Dolphins were the only non-Clovis team there, and you could see the difference between the year-round swimmers and, well, our team. She had a great time though, and at her age, that's all that matters!

Saturday we escaped the heat and headed up to the mountains for the day. We met up with the Wiens family that was camping for the weekend. Enjoying a hike to (and around) the Big Trees. Audrey taking her Jr. Ranger pledge. She picked up her booklet a couple weeks ago and finished all her pages and activities! Way to go Audrey! She got a new pin and patch. Now she's a Jr. Ranger from Rocky Mountain and Kings' Canyon. I wonder how many National Parks she can complete before she turns 18!

Randy's Father's Day wish was pretty simple...an evening at the ball park. So Saturday night we enjoyed the cool breeze while watching the Fresno Grizzlies' beat the Reno Aces 4-0. We had an wonderful, relaxing day on Sunday as well. Randy started his day with an early morning run (only 5 weeks 'til the marathon). We spent the morning with our church family, then spent our afternoon with some close friends, celebrating their daughters' baptism! I am so thankful for my husband, my dad, and my Heavenly Father! As well as so many other godly men that surround my children with love and leadership, teaching them how to love each other and love God!

Way to go dads!

Sierra Endangered Cat Haven

Summer is in full swing. Audrey has started swim TEAM this year (pictures to come, first meet this Thursday). We've already visited the library twice. VBS started this morning (post and pics on that next week). And we had our first outing with my Mom's Group. Last Wednesday we drove 45 minutes up into the foothills to visit the Sierra Endangered Cat Haven. It was a great place to visit, with the cats' enclosures quite close to you! We saw a cheetah, some Bengal tigers, some lions, a snow leopard, and a number of other cats. All of the cats are rescued animals that could not survive in the wild either because they were born in captivity or they were raised and rescued by humans after their parents were killed by poachers. We took a sack lunch and ate on their picnic tables after our morning tour to make a day out of it. If you are in the Central Valley and haven't visited before, I would highly recommend it! Watching the female lion relaxing. The male lion was hidden behind some bushes. The snow leopard. Most of the kids that came that day!

Last week of school

Finally, summer is here! We did a lot of fun things this past week. I got to join Audrey on her last field trip of the year to Cal Skate Clovis. We had a great time! She was very unsure of herself on her skates when we got there, near tears when she wobbled. By the end of the 2 hour session, she was out there by herself, skating happily with her friends! It was nice to see her so happy. Although Audrey's teacher was very capable (she learned a TON this year), she was very strict and grumpy most days. Audrey often came home frustrated, sometimes sad. Granted, every year is a learning experience. Part of school is learning to cope with different personalities (both classmates and teachers). This year was no exception. And I believe Audrey is a better person because of her classroom experiences this year. It was just nice to see her enjoying herself so much, celebrating her accomplishment of finishing the school year. She also enjoyed celebrating her last week with her Auntie Christa on a special outing to ice cream (Isaac too...on a separate day of course)!

On the last day of school I managed to slip into Isaac's classroom a couple minutes before the bell. His teacher was allowing him to be the last "guest reader" of the year. Sorry, it's quite shaky. Violet wanted to be in my lap as I was taping. I was very glad to see the teacher allow Isaac this privilege. Isaac has not been her easiest student. In fact, I'm positive she will remember his name for MANY years. He had a rough time at the beginning of the year, not feeling challenged enough. Couple his quick learning with his wiggliness and by the second half of the year you start to see some behavior problems. Needless to say, Randy and I have been praying about his next school year for a while already. We are still waiting on his end of the year test scores to see if he can qualify for the GATE school. But who wants to dwell on the past? We made it through! They are both moving up a grade! God walked with them last year; He will be faithful to follow them into their next classrooms!

As we usually do, we celebrated the end of school by packing our bags and heading to our favorite National Park for a couple days! FANTASTIC!!! It was just what our family needed! We spent three wonderful days enjoying the cool weather (even a couple sprinkles on Friday afternoon), hiking, exploring, bird-watching, playing games, reading around the campfire (we started The Tale of Despereaux), making s'mores, and starting the work towards the kids' Jr. Ranger badges. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend! Click on any of the pictures to see them up closer. Starting our hike to Ella Falls. Our mini-Zoolander, stopped at this tree to pose for the camera (this is merely one of six shots). It was a good resting tree. Out on the boulders at Ella Falls. If not for his Spiderman hat, he'd blend into the nature! The fam in front of Ella Falls. Almost back to the campsite...looking rather pooped. Vi was a trouper! She made it the entire way, 5.5 miles round trip! Who loves a campfire? Vi loves working on her Jr. Ranger book! Audrey too! Randy brought a Swiss army knife for Isaac to practice whittling around the campfire. On our last morning we hiked from our campsite to the Big Trees, around the loop and back (2.5 miles round-trip). One of many birds that we saw and identified over the weekend, a Downy Woodpecker. We also spotted some Acorn Woodpeckers, a Piliated Woodpecker, some Western Tanagers (gorgeous birds), a California Quail, a bunch of Dark-eyed Junkos, some MacGillivray's Warblers, some American Robins, some White-breasted Nuthatches (we actually found their nest too, on the ground, with a couple tiny blue eggs), a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a bunch of crows (huge and loud) and... a duck (not sure what kind yet) that flew right into our campsite! Randy has always "spotted" wildlife while in the car, on a trail, wherever, and has recently become even more interested with the help of his Western iBird app. The kids had a great time keeping their eyes open for wildlife (luckily no raccoons or bears). We came down the mountain on Saturday afternoon ahead of the thundershowers! We unpacked and washed the van, did lots of laundry, and relaxed while watching 2 soccer games, Mexico vs. South Africa then U.S. vs. England. What a great weekend to start our summer!

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend... just enough relaxing, just enough adventure! The week was a bit busy with the last of the homework packets, Violet's last week of gymnastics (she's taking a summer break), Open House on Thursday night and piano lessons and karate, so we didn't leave until Saturday mid-morning. This also allowed Randy to get in a long (19 miles) weekend run before we left (only 7 weeks until his marathon). To start our "first weekend of summer" celebration I took the kids to Sonic on Friday after school. We sat on the small patch of grass in the sun to stay warm. Well, when we left on Saturday morning for Huntington Lake with our friends, the Co family, we weren't sure what to expect. Huntington Lake sits at 7000 feet in the Sierra National Forest and had received a bit of snow a few days before. Many family friends have cabins at the lake, including the Cos, that they usually open on or before Memorial Day; however, this year the road around the lake was still closed a couple days prior. So in preparation for any kind of conditions, we packed like we were backpacking and threw the snowshoes in the car in case we had to hike in to the cabin from the parking lot at the General Store. All the kids had their own clothes and toys in a backpack, Randy and I each packed our own bags and scaled down the food supplies to one small ice chest and a fabric bag. Luckily, the road was plowed a bit past the Co's cabin and we could park off the side of the road, making the hike a few hundred feet versus almost a mile, and no need for snow shoes. The weather was fantastic! The clear, sunny skies made for a perfect nap on the porch, while the cool breezes felt refreshing as you walked through crunchy snow around the lake! Sunday we hiked in towards Rancheria Falls with a picnic lunch and found a great little hill to let the kids play and slide. Who needs a sled? Wheee! Fun around the cabin...notice Isaac's knee is already bandaged up. We don't know how he gashed it, but he and Jackson were around the front of the cabin playing in the snow and he managed to get a good size gash just below his knee. We cleaned it, used some steri-strips to close it up, a big band-aid on top and a bandage so Isaac wouldn't mess with it...aah, boys! And evening walk, throwing rocks around the lake. Settling in for the night. Enjoying the view. Randy observed this osprey nest all weekend (unfortunately, there were none in it when he got out the camera). We did see some diving in for fish at the lake...pretty neat! Searching for more wildlife. Isaac's trying to sneak up on the lizard. He did manage to touch one, but not catch it.

After lots of eating, games, hiking, relaxing, reading, and exploring, we packed up and cleaned on Monday afternoon and headed down the hill. It felt so much like summer had begun, I didn't want to wake up and take the kids to school the next morning. Ah, summer, it will be here soon. Thank you, Co family, for spending the weekend with us, and sharing your family's cabin!