Queen Anne's Lace and Lilacs

Busy, Busy, Busy

Last week began the busiest part of the summer.  Bethany spent several days camping at Lake Camanche with a friend and her friend's family.  She came home on Thursday in time to pack for church camp.  They left Saturday morning and will be home this Thursday evening.

                           

Evan was officially made an assistant coach on Bethany's summer league basketball team recently.  In addition to the regular games and practices, Evan has conditioning for the three school teams several mornings during the week.  This week, he will also be going around to several area high schools for their band camps. 

Brett is always coming and going - I never know what his schedule will be.  We were able to keep him at home long enough the past couple of days to do the deck staining.  He is a very meticulous worker. There are no messes to clean up when he's in charge of that type of work.  Evan did help with the staining this afternoon.  Evan?  Not so meticulous.  Messes to clean up.  The main thing is, the deck is done. 

Tim has had his regular work, and since Tuesday, he's been on call.  Luckily, there haven't been many problems.  I hope I didn't just jinx everything.  He and Evan have been repairing and preparing for staining the deck.

In the evenings, we've been playing Easy Money.  It's fun.  It's a quicker game than Monopoly, you make millions of dollars, and everyone has a chance of winning.  Last night, I decided it would be fun to play Scrabble.  It's not so quick, and everyone doesn't have a chance of winning.  Just me.  Oh, well.

Ryder loves our nightly game playing sessions.  He is especially interested in laying in the game boxes and will do whatever he has to do to accomplish that.  We've been making it easier on him, as he tends to destroy my things in the process.  He knocked over a crystal bird that I had on the table.  It's now in a dozen pieces.  He has ruined quite a number of things around here:  Dried floral arrangements, draperies, mini blinds, screen doors, window screens, knitting projects....I'm sure there are more.  It's a good thing he's cute!  (He prefers that we play ping pong.  He will get on the table and try to play, but he prefers being given a ping pong ball of his own.  He can entertain himself for hours with those things.)

Evan will be leaving for Houston on August 9, so we have just under two weeks for the rest of our summer plans.  Evan and Brett want to get to an A's game and a Giant's game.  Evan would like to go with Tim to a River Cats game.  The dogs get their summer grooming on Thursday.  We're planning a trip to San Francisco for a tour of Alcatraz and Angel Island.  I try to get everyone over to Sunsplash each summer before Evan leaves.  School starts for Bethany on August 11, so we have all of the school shopping to get done.   Oh, and hair cuts for everybody.  Then, of course, there is still work to be done on the deck.  And, I think Bethany has to go to the orthodontist.

A bunch of things I hope to remember.  I do keep a calendar.  Several of them are scattered about the house.  The problem with that is, you have to remember to check the calendar. 

Yesterday

I was all set to write about yesterday AND include pictures.  As luck would have it, the computers aren't sharing....AGAIN....which makes the picture part a bit difficult.  This leaves me with just the writing part.  If things get fixed....AGAIN....I will then add the pictures.

Yesterday...was Tim's birthday.  The big 5-5.  He took the day off but neglected to inform me that he was doing so.  I don't know where he was until 2:30 p.m., but that's when I first saw him on his special day.  I managed to find the University of Houston basketball game on the internet, and so we were able to watch for Evan in the band.  We thought the Coogs would end up pulling a victory off at the end, but, alas, no.  In addition, the camera only went to the band twice - once on a trombone, once to the guitar player.  So, it was a disappointing game for us.

Tim then had to dash down to Folsom for Bethany's track meet.  We've missed her shot put/discus performances in the past, not ever knowing when her events will be up.  This time, Tim was able to see her in both events - and get pictures.  She came in second for the discus and second for the shot put.  These successes, coupled with it being Tim's birthday, meant that I had to hold off on the serious discussion I needed to have with her, which was going to result in things she would not like.  That had to wait for today.  I guess I can't get into that, as this posting is about yesterday.

We had Ruby Tuesday's for dinner (thanks, Mom and Dad!), coconut cream cake with ALL the candles for dessert, and then Tim opened his presents:  A shirt from the kids and "The History of Science:  1700 to the Present" on cd.  Many people would not consider science a suitable gift, but Tim loves that sort of thing.  Oh, I can't mention tomorrow, either.  That's unfortunate, as tomorrow he is getting his final present:  A paint sprayer.  Woo-hoo!  (Click on photos for a larger view)