Summer Fun

I've been putting off posting for a while because I want to post PICTURES but the computer we use to store all our pictures is still toasted. Hopefully we'll get that taken care of soon.

So far, summer has treated us well. It seems the rain that usually plagues Portland in the spring followed us to Utah. The whole month of June was very wet and we had tons of lightning and thunder. Braden and Chris liked it, but they kept asking 'Mom, what happens if our house gets struck my lightning?". Stew didn't like it at all. One afternoon he had to go out and get his shoes before the rain soaked them. I've never seen him move so fast. The poor kid looked terrified as a huge clap of thunder struck just as he was running up the back steps, and I could tell he was fighting back the tears when he ran to me for a hug.

Man, window wells are awesome animal traps. I can't believe how much excitement we've missed out on in all the years we went without a basement! A month or so ago, Braden came upstairs after we had sent him to bed for the tenth time, complaining that he couldn't fall asleep because there was a rat in his window well. I rolled my eyes, told him to ignore it (thinking he was simply coming up with ONE MORE excuse to stay up), and go to bed. The conversation went about like this: "But mom, there's a rat in my window!" I replied "Oh, it's probably just a cat. Just go back to bed and it will jump out of the window eventually". "No, mom, it has TEETH (Braden held his hands up with his fingers bent in a claw-like position), and a REALLY long tail that has no fur on it!". I wanted to watch a movie with Dave and Daine, and I was tired of kids, so I continued to insist that he should just go back to bed. I was sure if there even was an animal in the window well, it must be just a cat and it would eventually jump out and go away. Braden finally slumped his shoulders and slowly went back to his room. A few minutes later, he came bounding up the stairs, hollering "there's a rat in the house!!!!". I ran downstairs and about jumped out of my skin as this HUGE, cat-sized animal ran at me at top speed! I ran back upstairs, grabbed my video camera for posterity's sake, and hurried back down to capture the excitement. My brother, Daine was visiting that night, so he helped us corner the R.O.U.S. (Rodent Of Unusual Size, for those of you who have never seen The Princess Bride). We have some pretty funny footage, but you'll have to tune in later to see it.

Just a couple weeks ago we ended up with a GINORMOUS bullfrog in another window well. The poor thing was nearly dead, so Braden and Chris attempted a rescue mission. Braden jumped in the window well, picked up the frog (with shopping bags over his hands), placed the frog in a bucket and darted for the pond, Chris by his side. They set the frog in the water, hoping for a miracle but unfortunately, the frog just sank to the bottom. Since then, we've discovered the ponds out here are FULL of frogs. A boy's paradise:).

This past Friday we took the boys to Lagoon. Ellie had to go play at Dallin's house (thanks, Em and Kev!) because, frankly, she would have had fun for about an hour, then spent the next 7 hours being a pain... not that she's a hard kid. Lagoon just isn't that fun for a 21-month-old (or her parents, if she's there). It was the best day I've ever spent at Lagoon. The weather was warm, but not unbearable, and the longest line we waited in was maybe 15 minutes. My kid are going to have such a skewed idea of what theme parks are like! When we took them to Disney World last fall, we had no lines and great weather there as well. I have a ton of pictures and video, but sorry, can't post 'em until we get the computer fixed! The boys were SO well behaved and they just loved every minute of it. It was one of those perfect days.

With school being on hold for the summer, we've found we have a lot more time to visit both sets of grandparents. Over the 4th of July we went to Gunnison and spent some time with Dave's parents. All 8 of us rode the 4-wheelers up the 'G Hill' and watched Gunnison's firework show. Ellie's voice was a little hoarse after a whole evening of screaming 'what's at?'! The next day we took the kids to the parade. It was so funny to watch them stand there and get hit with a whole handful of candy and not even notice it was there because they were too enamored with a tractor or horse going by. No worries, though. Somehow they did manage to come home with bags full of taffy and Tootsie Rolls.

The boys also love going over to Grandma Kathi's house. Between the sandbox, Tyler (my youngest brother, who is just older than Braden), and pickles, I think they'd be happy to just move in. We've been able to visit Grandma and Grandpa Eaton about once a week this summer. What a blessing to live near our family and to have TWO sets of grandparents that just adore our kids!