And so it begins...: THiS is how we DO...

I love Summer!
Although my favorite season is FALL (*ahhh deep sigh), this summer has been neck and neck with fall...it may win me over.

Even with the heat being slightly higher than normal (especially at night) we have been having an amazing time.

My sister CArlEen came to visit for a few days. We went all around and had a blast.

I got to be a host and make some of our favorites...

Morning tea, with fruit and German pancakes

Kale chips

...and of course the bacon

Brent decided that we needed a better way to cool down with the week forecast of 106+...so this happened!

We had already owned one of these before...when Mitch was around 7 and Bray 4.

This one well...It is worth every penny.

Had we a bigger space we would have gotten a bigger one (slightly taller), but the areas in our yard that are accommodating (size-wise), are in the SHADE. Our open areas are under trees that lose a lot of vegetation frequently. I am constantly sweeping off the trampoline of leaves and apples.

We have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Every day at dusk the deer have been coming into the yard. Helping keep the trees trim :)

I've been trying to decided when to pick these cherries...
We have so many. Last year I waited too long and the birds enjoyed them all.

The weekend of the fourth of July we were going to be home, but then my sister called and said my niece wanted her traditional/annual birthday BBQ (since she was born on the fourth of July)...
So we made plans to go to Portland. My mom kept Cosmo and the boys and I went to Corvallis and stayed the night with Brent.
We were going to hang around there the next day and check out some of the swimming pools, etc..
but we ended up in Tigard at Sky High instead! Deciding that we would try to go to Oaks Park for a skating session that night...but the heat won out and we stayed in and watched movies.

August was adorable.
He kept jumping into the foam pit, very uneasy at first, but getting bolder by the minute.

attempting a 180 spin into the pit

Then he decided he would try the rope swing. He pretty much just jumped off the block while holding the rope. It was hillarious.
He loved it.

Bray showing his wall running skills

Taking a quick break

Backwards-meditation-stance

Like usual, the boys ended up in the Dodge ball area.
Surprisingly August joined them.
He did really well.
Mitch had no problem pegging him with a ball.

After leaving Sky High we went to the boys favorite Buffalo Wild Wings.
It was Thursday which is some kind of boneless wing special day...
We enjoyed our wings. Unfortunately they got strawberry lemonade which comes with unlimited refills...before the food came they had about 3-4. So none of them felt very good by the end of the meal.
Lesson learned!

We kept passing the firework stands building up the boys excitement.

We stayed the night at Jen's house in Tigard.
One of her pipes burst and her downstairs ceiling was leaking. After a small adventurous expedition around her house looking for the main water line, we found it! Luckily we were able to stop the leaking, but that meant no water. NO SHOWERS. So my sweaty boys got to stay filthy.

Her landlord got someone out there right away Friday morning. So we vacated and went to Bannings for breakfast.
We sat out on the patio, but as the morning crept on it was getting hotter and hotter...

The boys were playing a round with the table and Ty ended up making these small *hickey marks on his head...
They were there for days.

Brent left us to go to work, and we decided we needed to find a water source.
We ended up going to James' suggested place...Sandy river at Lewis and Clark state park right out of Troutdale.
It was lovely. We were the first to arrive so the boys and I found a good spot and got in the WATER!

Right away Mitch caught a little fish...
needless to say the rest of my time there was spent trying to help August catch another one!

Finally people started showing up.
Breanna and Cam took Shelia out into the river. It was her first time next to a river.
She was not a fan.

One of my towers...

Uncle James and Tyler came.
My mom came with Popeyes.

August was not happy to get out of the water and eat.

Breanna took him out without his life jacket. He was pretty happy after that. Thank you Nana!

The next day was the Fourth of July!
We were getting everything ready to go to Carleen and Eric's house for Ely's birthday party.
Brent was saddened that Mitch has passed him up now!

Handsome boys

After prepping all the food for the pot luck, we were hungry.
We again ATE OUT! This time at Red Robin.
*we tried going to the Mazatlan or Si Senior, but they were closed :(
So RED ROBIN it was...

After our meal we went back to Jen's took Cosmo for some exercise and then loaded the car for the trek over to Carleen's.
Brent took the boys to each pick out their own fireworks, and I rode over to Newberg with Jen.
We got to Carleen's and started helping prep stuff.

After everything was looking good I went a head and got IN THE POOL!
All the kids followed me and it suddenly became a lot smaller. It was still fun. I tried to get them to make a whirlpool, but the concept was lost on them.
We had a great time while all the hot sweaty adults looked on.

After the pool I was able to throw my dress back on and be party ready!

I can't believe how great of a gardener Eric is. His composted beds are doing great!

Soon everyone showed up and we got our BBQ ON!
We dished up and sat around enjoying each others company.

After eating the kids got back in the pool and my sister's and I went ahead and played some ping pong in the garage!

August falling off of the dolphin...

Ella was swim ready!

We gathered back together for presents and cupcakes.

Then we migrated to the garage for even more ping pong.

Eric's brother Joel made a waffle ball catcher-type-thing, so we headed to the park to test it out.
We noticed that nature was setting off her own fireworks of sorts...the sunset was amazing.

Carleen tries to hit the ball...then Eric tries...

Brent and everyone went to test out the waffle ball thing, while the younger kids and I stayed in the park area. Ely pushed Aug on the swing.
The neighbors all around were starting their fireworks. It was pretty cool.

James pulled out a few sparklers for the kids while at the park, but we decided it was getting dark enough after the sparklers we should walk back to do our own fireworks.

While I was sitting in the grass at the park taking pictures of the kids and their sparklers the sprinklers came on! I escaped with minimal wetness. Still, this made the kids want to get wet all over again!

Ty started the show off with his traditional Purple rain.
We usually have a bunch of illegal fireworks, but the heat was so bad this year we did not want to chance starting any fires...so we only had a few. The rest were good ol' fashion Oregon bought!

Each of my boys got to pick out their own fireworks. Brent let the older boys light theirs. August mainly picked out snap its and sparklers.
It was fun watching the boys so excited and delegating and planning the firework displays.

I stayed next to Jesse while James enjoyed lighting some fireworks with Ty.

The house behind Carleen's ALWAYS does huge fireworks all night long. We need only turn around in our seats and there were plenty of fireworks in the sky!

August with ear muffs and glow necklaces

Soon we started having "Snake WArs"! Started by Joel...

Followed by our "Tank WArs"

Then the boys started getting creative with their strobes and smokers.
It turned into a kind of mini dance party with special effects.

At some point we were trying to use the sparklers to spell things...Like "ELY" with a heart...
Jen took more time getting these shots.
I only walked over and opened my shutter a little.
It was cute!
But I had boys walking around with lighters so I was a little preoccupied.

By the time we were wrapping it up, her neighbors were going for their grand finale!

So we pulled out our last "Big ONE"!

Brent trying to draw stuff for me!
Haha...I think it's a heart?!

And then we ended the way we started with Purple Rain.

It was a great fourth of July. One of the best we've had in awhile. Perfect weather, perfect company.
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The next day while all my boys slept in I went over and visited Annette before I headed back home.
I have been especially worried about her because her daughter Katie just had a seizure while they were visiting her son Mike...
They still hadn't ran test to see what caused the seizure, and now Katie is home and okay, but Annette is still kind of maxed out in the stress department.

I stayed a good 3.5 hours and finished another puzzle.
PLUS dropped off 3 more puzzles I got from Goodwill.

When I got home it was starting to get ready to storm. Although still ridiculously hot out, the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up!
So...I took the boys for a walk!

*Random pics from my PHONE*

Deer came up and started eating the flowers from my planter...boo!

I parked next to Grandma's flowers and noticed they matched my car

Aug took Mitch's hat when picking Mitch up from Camp

Cosmo looked like this for a week solid

Aunt Jen helped Aug decorate a butterfly mask

Picking Mitch up from camp with Grandma

Waiting for the car's oil change at Toyota (took over 2 hrs)

Played an EPIC game of Kerplunk!

My lillies popped up and died all in one week.

Standing on our trampoline looking into the neighbors back yard where all the deer live.

Selfie of what taking a class during SUMMER looks like!

Breanna turned 18!
Cannot believe it.

Aug got bit OR stung by this thing that ended up in our pool.
It was the weirdest thing EVER!

He kept saying "I almost caught the fish" and I saw him cupping his hands in the water and then pulling them up, but he has a great imagination so I thought that was what he was doing. Until he actually "caught" the fish and it attacked him...oops! FAIL mom...

I looked it up and this is what I found:

The backswimmer Notonecta glauca underwater, showing its paddle-like hindleg adaptation.

Jen brought us some chocolate goodness from Hawaii... Plus we each got a bracelet.