Summer Fun

We were gone from Livermore for almost 8 weeks this year!  The kids flew to with grandma and grandpa to Washington straight from New York and Ryan and I drove up a few days later.  The weather was not quite summer for a few weeks but it finally came around and we were able to enjoy the lake in all its glory!  We did tons of tubing, bonaire riding (looks like a big banana in the water), kneeboarding, Reggie did a little wakeboarding and Ainsley got up on a single ski this year, but didn't find it to be much fun.  We did lots of paddleboarding, jetskiing and beaver hunting (Khalif and I saw him down the outlet at a very close range and I was stalking him as he swam by several times a week, but somehow never was able to capture him on video, but my mom did after we left).  We also did a little hiking, exploring the log jam and further down the outlet (thank you mom for coming to guide us out of the forest by honking her car!  We would have eventually made it, but we were getting eaten by deer fly and happy to get out as quick as possible...thankfully I had my cell phone and good it was waterproof because we got very wet and dirty and lost a couple inner tubes!).  The girls did a volleyball camp at Sedro-Woolley high school, we horseback rode at Lang's pony farm, we jumped at Altitude in Marysville a couple times and went to Wild Waves and had a blast.  The boys had a sleepover at Grandma Peggy's, Easton came to the lake to visit a few times, we got to see Anthony and Emily's new house and Ryan tracked down his dad and visited him for the first time in years!  We celebrated Dad's, Khalif's, Ryan's and Ainsley's birthdays, had a couple family BBQ's, hosted Ryan's work party (and had a painting place come!).  We had an afternoon of flyboarding thanks to Mike Renstrom and everyone enjoyed that :).  We had our annual trip to Lummi Island, but Ryan and Dad joined us this year and that was fun to mix it up a little.  It was a good summer!!!!

Crossing the log jam

 Dad's 75th!

 Getting tricky on the kneeboard.  Reggie did it too and lots of 360's!

 Ryan won the height contest by far, but Reggie won for picking it up the easiest.  He even did a dive and came out and kept going!  Ainsley probably had the hardest time and was disappointed that she wasn't successful but thankfully, we had a very patient teacher who took her again and she left feeling much better about her efforts :).

I almost forgot....Ryan's brother went to Livermore for a boys weekend and they went to the comedy club, golfed, ate and drank a lot!

Ryan's work crew

 Mom and Ainsley dancing away....

 Interesting experience Khalif had on the horse...That night at prayer time, he told me his mind was so still on while riding.

 Adults drinking a little too much!

 And everyone started playing Donkey Kong.  Amazing how terrible these kids are at old fashioned video games!  I made it farther than I ever have and its been years since I played consistently.  I win!

Lummi

 Rock target game-this kept them busy for way too long

 We found a treehouse at the rock beach

Our special friend Ethan got my phone and took quite a lovely picture.

 Oh the laughing we did :)

The day before we drove home, I was getting a glass out of the cabinet and the top glass fell on the bottom one, broke and sliced the crack of my hand.  It was deep and painful and in a place where there's lots of movement, but I really didn't want to go and get stiches.  The kids were a bit freaked out, but hopefully, they learned if you remain calm and use logic it'll be o.k.  We ended up calling the local EMT and he stopped by and said I needed a couple stiches.  Ugh, we decided to go with superglue and a butterfly bandage surrounded by waterproof tape.  Thankfully, I had already done most of the packing, but it really made it difficult to do anything and it was pretty sore on the drive.  But, it healed up nicely several days later thanks to my mom's handy butterfly skills.  Never a dull moment!

First day of school

Reggie 10th, Ainsley 8th and Khalif 4th

Ainsley update

We learned a lot in this first year of trampoline and Ainsley improved quite a bit, moving up a level during the year.  The two routines below were new at state and regionals.  She finished 1st on double mini, 2nd on trampoline and 3rd on tumbling at state.  At regionals, she finished 3rd on tumbling and double mini and 11th on trampoline.  Not too bad for moving up a level and it being her first year.  She has really enjoyed her teammates and challenging herself.  She decided to do a new skill at state and she learned it the week before!  And she has been getting a bit braver which has been fun to watch...her coach is pretty good at knowing when to give her a nudge.

I wish I could say that volleyball was a great year, but it was challenging and political in so many ways.  She played more at the Reno tournament and crushed it with her serves and setting and got some great feedback from another coach and her teammates which was much needed for her self confidence and enjoyment of the weekend.  It was a very humbling experience and she had to force herself to stand up for herself, so lots of life lessons (for us too!).  She was hoping her school season would be better and overall it was because she played the entire time, but the coach was not so appropriate for middle school girls...a little too honest and there were a lot of hurt feelings.  It was so busy with all the tournaments and trampoline competitions and we were so happy to be done!  Here's a couple videos:

School team

Why not?  A fellow gymnast on her team...

Ainsley had a great school year academically, she is right where she should be.  However, there was quite a bit of friend drama and I just don't understand why girls have to be that way.  So mean!  She would say this was the worst year of her life, but I'm hoping she'll look back someday and realize all the things she's learned.  She'll be a better person because of it!
Last school dance

Hanging with her buddy

Summer has not been kind to Ainsley.  Aunt Flow arrived in full force while we were in New York and it did a number on her body.  She got mastitis (which I didn't even know was possible and I still don't quite understand!) and just got over a stomach bug.  Hopefully, she'll be good for the rest of the summer and not have a repeat of last summer where she was sick for weeks with a sore throat. 

Reggie update

Spring was interesting for Reggie.  He had some abdominal pain that landed him in the ER.  He was vomiting and shaking, so thankfully, they took him back right away and gave him some morphine.  He was almost immediately better, but they couldn't find anything wrong with him.  Of course, it was just days before our Maui trip, so he was very concerned it would happen again, as were we.  I took him to my acupuncturist and his pulses were very stressed.  He seemed so confused...Reggie is the most chill kid, but there was some stuff going on inside of him that he wasn't aware of.  It was finals week, so I'm sure that was part of it but I don't think he liked not knowing what was happening to his body.  Thankfully, no more episodes!  However, the next trimester brought the class, Health.  He learned way more than he ever wanted to know and was getting anxiety pretty bad.  We had lots of things we threw at him, my rife machine, CBD, distraction, bible verses and he seemed to snap out of it pretty quickly, but is still very concerned when something isn't quite right in his body.  It was his first real trial and I'm glad we could help him through it and remind him where to go for help (God!).  It was perfect timing because our sermons were all on fear and they had a teen movie called angst that gave some helpful information.  Scary how common this is these days.

 He didn't want to do needles, but I kinda forced him and he said it wasn't a big deal.

Swim team was fun....maybe not so much for him or maybe he just doesn't want us to know he really enjoys it????  Let's go with the latter!  It was fun to see him in that setting and the gamers found each other and had all kinds of fun at the swim meets.  He was one of the fastest freshmen, so he was on all the relays and his teammates were happy to have him.  It was fun to see his buddies cheering for him and even more fun to watch him win.  He won almost every race he was in and had some times close to varsity.  I mentioned that they might move him up and he told me he didn't want them to do that because he liked winning!!!  Who knew :).

He had a very successful year of high school.  Finished with only 1 B all year and that was in Spanish.  We pretty much let go, but had to get after him a few times when his gaming got a little out of control.  He invited some friends over after school got out and now he wants it to be his Friday club...hmmm.  I have to say, it was a pretty cool set-up.

This stage of Reggie's life is so interesting....he is getting out of the kid stuff and more into adult stuff, but is still stuck somewhere in between and it makes it a little tricky to keep him busy.  He is starting to get more humor and be a little more funny himself which is enjoyable.  I've seen him do a few things this summer and it makes me happy inside to know he is such a kind, loving person who loves Jesus.  He listens to podcasts and helps us with our tech questions, so not all of the technology addiction is bad.  Unfortunately, left up to his own, he would do it all day and night. 
Reggie loved Jackson!

He sure can eat and he loves to do that!  This is a breaded and fried potato...a great combination and something we don't have on the West Coast.

Reggie took drivers-ed over the 3 day weekend and took the test at the DMV the day after school got out.  He got his permit and has been driving a lot this summer with Ryan and Grandpa.  It has been a little nerve wracking for his passengers, but he is getting it and there's been lots of improvement.  I'm still not quite ready to drive with him.  Its such a weird thing!  Today he drove in town, so watch out!