We had a wet mild spring and the grass is lush and amazing. The buttercups by the house were like a thick carpet. I was taking photos of the children and Ben got the rare photo of me.
The Smiths came for the 4th of July. Clyde and I made a flag pepperoni pizza - I decided to make Betsy Ross's original 13 star flag because there was no way I could cut out small enough stars to make the current flag. So a history lesson along with dinner!
We headed to the lake for fireworks. I thought we were late enough that we wouldn't be swimming... I was wrong. Here's Alice classing up the Donnelly Boat Docks in her underwear.
Mackenzie and Clyde had fun making silhouettes for me.
Lainey had fun making s'mores the next day at the house!
One hot July day the kids told me they had a surprise for me. It was a flower and rock fountain. I love it when they are so creative.
We signed up for swimming lessons with our Rowley cousins in Cascade. The first day I got a flat tire on the way. Luckily there were two lessons so I got the tire changed and made it in time for the second one! I've still got it! It was at Margaux's house in front of all the kids, good lesson in woman power and independence.
Our friend Simon came for a night before he moved to Chicago.
Danica stayed with us for a week just like she has the past two summers. She's a great help! I even got to go gather cows with Jack and Ben.
We visited Teresa and our cousins Dylan and Henry for a lot of fun beach days.
We got a new horse, Boots, from Mumsy. She got him from SHE, Inc. and Willa Rose. He was really skinny but great for kids.
Picking huckleberries with the Rowleys. The huckleberries were scarce this year. There was a late freeze (June 19) and that nipped most of them, but where there was good cover in the thick trees the berries were huge and plentiful and they came early. We found quite a few.
Clyde learned to ride without his training wheels!
One day coming from the Aikman on Pearl Rd., we spotted this stag under a trailer.
The spring conditions were apparently just exactly right for grasshopper reproduction/hatching so we had a crazy grasshopper year. They cleaned some people's pastures right out. So the farmers got together and the State organized a mass aerial spraying. Ben and I got to talk to a lot of neighbors and practice some politicking. Here's the spray plane. I didn't get a great photo, but believe me it looked like he was going to come right through our window.
