Dads & Dinosaurs (not related)

Brian's stressful week at work coincided w/ our last unscheduled week of the summer, and when we put that with it being his Dad's birthday last Sunday, we decided pretty last minute to go up to Idaho and surprise him.  Kathy was so gracious to have us, after her busy week hosting a lot of other family, all while Brian's dad was gone to Woodbadge.  He wasn't getting home until Saturday night himself, so we left Saturday morning, stopping at the Dinosaur Park (which was having a free day)

and then to G&G Mildenhall's to say hi

We had a nice, relaxing weekend with them--playing cards Saturday night, going to church w/ them Sunday (where we enjoyed him teaching the Gospel Essentials class), and then having a great birthday feast over at Eric and Analisa's home (Brian's stepsister), where we were also able to meet our newest nephew (and 3rd this summer!!)--Landon, only 6 days old. Maddie got so excited about holding him, I nearly didn't recognize her (if you know how hard it is to excite Maddie about anything!).  Eric & Analisa have recently bought their home, and worked tirelessly the last year or so renovating it--they really bought the house for the yard, then adjusted the house to be what they'd like.  After a lovely Sunday afternoon there, we ALL wanted to move into their yard!  With a full basketball court, a hammock, a garden, and a firepit, we're pretty sure we could manage. The children played a little "h-o-r-s-e" and then baseball, which seemed quite authentic w/ Bren'ts attempt to preserve his Sunday pants:

Anne and her 3 yr old cousin Aiden had fun getting re-acquainted, and we all had fun watching 3-yr old socialities.  They were pretty hilarious in their seriousnesses.  For instance, Anne always says, "Last Week" to refer to ANY time in the past... Aiden has the same code word, but his is "Last Saturday."  They were very good to demonstrate good manners for each other, like sharing bikes or reminding the other that it is very nice to share.  Aiden was shocked when Anne told him she was three, "I free too!!! I just had a birthday at Blast Off!!! " (it was in November--we were even there, though he doesn't remember that too well anymore!).

It was a good weekend, and perfect timing for a break.  Stress at work too (big clients not paying their bills), has brought good things as we've restructured our personal finances again, and as Brian has arranged with the other partner to set some more reserve up to better be prepared for these ups and downs.  It was very encouraging, after his praying and fasting, to find this other partner having just the same feelings and directions so that they were able to work so well together.  Such a blessing to have good coworkers! Also, business has turned out to be sufficient this month, even WITH those bad dealings, so we are relieved, and so grateful for the prayers and support of family.  We are REALLY blessed.  Even as we've gone over our budget in more detail lately, trying not to be discouraged in our obedience to save for the future and be wise, that we find we have a surplus here that we didn't know about, or a forgotten credit there to be redeemed--things really do work out with the Lord involved--I just wish my patience would allow me to remember that more in times of stress!

Father & Sons Outing

I grew up LIVING for the Father and Son's Campouts, because at our house, that meant GIRL time (a VERY rare thing!), so I still get a bit giddy when that time rolls around, but this year, I was almost overwhelmed with what to do!--4 GIRLS!!!--and such an age range!! We couldn't really justify eating out (esp. w/ all of our budget ramifications), there were no great movies at the dollar theater (plus Anne and Lucy are abominable right now in theaters--as was proven at our GREAT Syracuse Community production of Music Man this past Monday, and again at the kids summer morning movie on Tues), so we settled w/ a shopping trip to Kohl's--Maddie's at such a tricky stage to find fitting pants for right now--(will she ever outgrow adjustable waists???)---though it's torture for Emily who doesn't get NEAR the amount of new clothes, since she has SO many handmedowns to choose from.  We got some dessert and nail polish at Wal-Mart on the way home though, picked up a Little Caesar's pizza, and came to enjoy a meal of pizza (I did make our special garlic butter dipping sauce--Emily's and Mom's favorite), strawberries, and chocolate milk.  We ate on the floor of the hallway, so Anne could be in the bathtub, then the older girls painted their nails with the new colors, and after the younger two were in bed, we older three watched the first half of Mansfield Park on our Netflix, and had choco-tacos for dessert.  It turned out to be such fun--and I realized WHAT we did mattered a lot less then WHO we were with.  Since the weather was good for the boys this year (it snowed in May last year), they didn't rush home, so we girls took off in the morning to check out the free day at Fort Buenaventura (a restored fort for mountain man Miles Goodyear, later bought by the Brownings).  It's mainly a nice campground w/ the fort you can go and see, and a small lake with canoe rides.  Of course we rode in a canoe for a while, but the lake was so small, that 15 minutes was about plenty to see all of it shore to shore.  Still, it was a nice outing, and the boys were home when we got back for lunch!  Besides loving Music Man this last week, we had fun watching the 3rd Narnia film together this weekend.  The children were pretty fascinated about this good C.S. Lewis, who not even being a member of the church, had so much understanding of good and evil and God.  I was getting a little worried about missing jam from the first crop of strawberries this season (we go through ours!), but then I learned they come on twice a year.  So I bought some strawberries, and even a few raspberries from a fresh stand, and then we were given LOTS of apricots, so we now have shelves and a freezer FULL of jam, as well as having tried a little delicious apricot fruit leather! We're now to our last week of summer, and I hate to see it end!! It will be good to have a routine and a little more calm, but this summer has been such a good and timely reminder for me of the importance of relaxing and being flexible--I usually don't even get thrilled about summer since I'm NOT so much a fun or party person, or a beach person, or a tanned person, or anything else very summery, but it HAS been fun having so much fun this year.  Hopefully, our "routine" will allow for a little more of that now as we get back into it.  We still have the county fair and a 3 day camping trip up at Willow Flats this week, so we'll go out w/ a big hurrah, but it's still hard to be counting the days down already!