Come What May: I give up - I'm posting it anyway.

Our Summer was H.O.T.

And dry.
I'm usually still mowing at this time -twice a week.
This year, I haven't cut grass since June,
not even once.

Other than that, our summer was really 'swell'.
(I'd like to do my part in bringing that word back.)

Here's a sketchy recap of our highlights-

First on the list - My nephew Ty's graduation from the Air Force Academy.
It.

Was.

Awesome!

(tucked inside all of those hats, to celebrate the graduates
of 2011, were $20.11 for kids under the age of ten)
Here is Ty (at the top of his class).
What an honor to see.
What an example.
What a stud.

We want to be just- like -him.

Tucked in between all that excitement
(Get it? We're tucked in...)

we got to spend time with some of our favorite people

And some of our new favorite people:

Because not only did Ty graduate,
he squeezed in a wedding to boot.
(Get it? Squeezed in? Ok, ok, I'll stop.)

On our way home, we took a swing by Manhattan, Kansas.
The cabbage patch of the three older kids.
This is Justin's.
Smoker Annie occupied the top two windows,
and she and her newborn baby would flick their butts down to my front porch.
Wife/kid beating neighbor shared the second story windows
with approximately 15 others.
While Justin had the bottom left,
and Bert and I, the bottom right.
...I spent a lot of time crying at these windows.

Here we have Jesse's.
(Hers was in the same area as Justin's)
It was an old trailer, that apparently had an electrical fire
a few years back. All that's left are these two strips of concrete,
that were magically supposed to anchor our little tin can
when random tornado's touched down.
I do hope everybody got out safely,
but I'm kind of glad she's gone.
She'd had a hard life.

And here we have Cache's. It was our favorite.
Even if her bathroom was a fifty year afterthought.
Even if, Howard, our 75 year old friend, felt the need
to visit three hours a day and force a daily
dose of horseradish down our throats..
And, even if the police had to come tell us to quit
growing the illegal, wild marijuana in the back yard.
Why?
Because she had a porch swing, and good neighbors -
three miles away.
It was a good home.

And a good trip.

Next on the calendar was the local play.
Pal was a 'Mongol' in the children's theater production of Mulan.
Sadly, we have no pictures of this.
But, he was glad he got the cool, bad guy part.
He was also very pleased that nobody had
to explain to him who Mongols were.
Hmmm.
I think my sister, Jane, is right.
I've somewhat neglected Pal in pictures and news this summer.
I will rectify this soon.

I'm thinking Maddie's been neglected too.
But isn't this picture fantastic? (Thanks, Joe.)
This is Maddie's hobby, and she took pictures all summer.
She'd like to begin framing and selling them.
She also got to go to 'girl's camp' for the first time this year,
and was in both Mulan (as an anscestor),
and Grease (as..... a cute, sweet girl?)

Jesse had a lot going on this summer.
She had to take the ACT
(Cache left this message for her when she woke up.)

She painted.

She got to go to ride out to California with her grandparents
and go to EFY, where she met new friends,
and got to see old favorites:

She celebrated her 17th birthday, and finally got a phone.

And after 7 LONG YEARS the magical date finally arrived!

She definitely enjoyed her summer.

Justin got his first three baptisms in the same week.
He loved Reggio -'lil Africa'.
Now he is in Sanremo; a city on
the coast, by France. And he loves it too.

Calder also got his braces off.
It aged him-
at least a good six months. ;)

He also celebrated a birthday - his fifteenth.

His summer has been a mix of marathon reading, and
keeping the younger kids entertained.

Cache worked, and did some marathon reading/studying of his own.
He had a month to prepare himself to teach and live in China.
On his last day he took the whole day to play games with his favorite people.