Of course...

Adree with her choir group and "conga town" drummers in the Rodeo parade

How cute is this?

Seth the skateboarder!

Of course if Adree was in the Rodeo parade that means Mom and the boys we standing through all most all of it because Adree's float was one of the last ones to go by. Yep, standing there and sweating and being peppered with questions from Drake about all aspects of the parade. Of course we were standing on the wrong side of the street from where Adree was, that's why I drew a little arrow to show you where she was...even though you can't see her! Of course as well, Lee got out of all of this by having to work! Oh well, she had a good time and that's what counts, right? ;0)
I took Sethee with me to Wal-Mart this week and they and skateboards on clearance for 5 bucks a piece and excitedly wanted one, telling me, "Momma, I will leawn how to wide the skateboawd so I can take it to school and not have to leawn how to wide my bike!" Stinker has still been to much of a chicken to master the bike yet. I haven't decided why the skateboard is less scary, but hey, whatever! He looks so cute standing on the back of it and pushing off to go and he has been super excited about learning to "wide it" too! He has gone out before school to practice several days this week and after as well! Adree wants me to go and get her one too now of course, that girl never met a sport she wasn't eager to master!
Of course this how life goes and we along with, following the sun to change as we live. With each passing year they grow as you give, of course we go forth like sand through a sieve. ;0)

As the summer winds down

We painted our house...

and sealed all our concrete...

and Lee built a new gate...

and reused the planks...

and got the pad all ready for the pool, just in time for the summer to be over! ;0)

As jobs go and time diminishes and money refuses to stay in your pocket book, we find that our shortened version of summer is nearing it's end. Several things have been accomplished and the kids are back into the swing of the school year. Our summer was short and hot, as it is in the desert, and some things got accomplished and some things did not. We got the pad ready for the pool just in time for the summer to be over, but hey that means we can get it up early for the season next year! I imagine our Fall type season will be spent in the yard in the attempts to beautify the back yard to match the front and make it enjoyable. We repaired stucco and painted the exterior of the house (Jutland) the pictures don't do it justice, it is green even if it looks more yellow!;0) We also sealed all of our concrete in attempts to make it as watertight as possible and it freshened up the look of the entire house. This is where you'll find us as the summer winds down, in the backyard enjoying a BBQ and enjoying our beloved home! ;0)

Ain't life Grand?

We walked all the way out to Bright Angel Pt. and then Adree refused to go to the edge...

I did finally get her out there a little further...;0)

Lee took lots of pictures with his new camera...

and all the kids wanted to sit in the window below the lodge!

We had a very clear view, as you can see! ;0)

As you can see, we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon yesterday! I'll have you know that not working every single holiday has it's perks, like being able to go and visit and do things together! I know we didn't go very far, but the kids have never been (well, to their remembering) and we decided it was about time! Actually Lee has only been a couple of times himself, so he quite enjoyed it as well.
We amused ourselves by picnicking at Jacob Lake and teaching the kids to smell the trees...hmmm...chocolate, vanilla, strawberry? Strawberry, definitely! ;0) If you want to see more pics (sorry I am to lazy to post anymore) click here.
The kids were quite impressed, although I couldn't get Adree to go all the way to the railings...which is weird considering she loves all the scary roller coasters at Lagoon! The boys thought it was very neat and even Drake thought it was "very beautiful and an awful long way down..." ;0) Of course we had to ban the use of video games once we got into the park...sheesh! children! ;0) Adree complained most to of the way out to Bright Angel Pt. that she was going to fall and Sethee shouted loudly on the trail that you would definitely die on the way down if you did fall, which wasn't helpful! It was a chore trying to keep Drake out of the way of other people and not walk teetering along the edge of the trail. Adree kept a death grip on him on the way out but, I made her walk ahead on the way back and I shadowed Drake on the way back, pulling him out of the way when necessary. Yes, thankfully it wasn't that crowded. ;0)
At the end of the day Sethee said on the way back to the car, "No wondew I was so excited to go to the Gwand Canyon, it was vewy beautiful!" We really did have a good time and it was fun to show the kids where I went as a kid!