Climbing High

With all the craziness of the summer we never made it rock climbing as a family.  Although, it is a little trek from our house we all love climbing at The Feathers.  The Feathers has several routes that are more family friendly (a.k.a. easy) and also have some area around to play when it is not your turn.  Everyone really did awesome!  We had two ropes going at all times and the kids would have certainly loved a third route to lessen the wait.

 Tyler

Nate reminds me of a gecko -- he just scampers up the wall face with no fears.

Birch did the lead climbing on one route.

Alex didn't get to climb as much as he would have liked because of his needed help in belaying.

Coop

Chloe was incredible this year!

Chloe climbed the rock like it was nobody's business.

Then she got to the top and looked down.  Uh-oh, Chloe looks down and it is all over.  She freezes and we couldn't talk her back down for anything.

Birch ended up coming up over the top face of the route and hooked into the rope with her while I belayed them both down.  That was the end of Chloe's climbing for the day.

Nate coming down.

A cool shot of both Birch and I belaying the kids.

Alysee is on the left and Alex is climbing on the right face.

Alysee was awesome as well!

Coop

 

I'm not sure what it is about rock climbing that seems to bring on the need to poop with several of the kids.  We got smart and bought one of these...

 

Little sagebrush for your privacy is all one needs.

Tyler was super close to finishing his climbing merit badge.  He's had a fear of rappelling which has prohibited him from getting the merit badge.  Birch set up a route for him and really talked him through his mental issues.

BAM!  He did awesome and now loves rappelling.

I was super daring (or dumb) and let Tyler belay me.  This was also a requirement that he needed to complete to get the merit badge.

Go Alysee!

So thankful for the safety and fun we experienced as a family!

Back to the academic grind!

Alex struts his stuff as a sophomore this year!  He's excited to be a the high school this year as last year he was at the 9th grade campus.  Alex is amazing at getting up for early morning 6:20 am seminary each day.  I dream happy thoughts each morning as Birch gets up and drives him to seminary.

 Alysee is in 6th grade this year at the middle school.  It's going to be an intense year with advanced math, humanities, and science.  Yikes!  She is especially excited to be in choir again and around all her friends.  This is one social girl!

 Tyler hits the junior high campus as a 7th grader!  He was encouraged to try out a couple of advanced classes this year which he is a little nervous about but I think a little challenge would be good for him.  Tyler is going to be running x-country this fall.

 These two ride the morning bus together but come home at separate times with various afternoon activities.

 BIG NEWS!!!  Chloe is in all-day kindergarten this year!  We're all excited for this adventure.  Alysee has helped prepare Chloe with all her in-house school lessons she has given over the years.

 Cooper is off to second grade with a favorite teacher of our family's!  Coop's excited for recess and P.E.

Nate is in 4th grade and doing school patrol this year!  He's nervous and excited all at the same time.   

These two plan on keeping a good eye on their little sister!

This picture is from last year but perfectly fits this year too!  Feeling just a little giddy right now as today is the first time in fifteen years all of my kids are in school! Chloe actually only had school for 30 minutes this morning but she is at a friends house now just giving me a sliver of taste of what this year will be like. I'm at loss...do I do the dishes, scrub the toilets, update the blog or read a book, watch a movie, go shopping solo, or take a nap?

And if that wasn't enough...

Tired yet??  We bounced from activity to activity all summer long.  On our "down times" we threw in a few more activities.

 Alex and Birch coached Nate and Cooper's baseball team, the Pirates.

 Coop has some AWESOME hits!

 Birch was commenting all season how Nate just has this natural talent when it comes to sports.  He just knows where he is supposed to be and what to do.

 I was kind of a loser team mom.  The games were in the field below our house so often I would stay home and finish the dishes and Chloe to bed early and then pop down to watch the last fifteen minutes of the game.

 Alysee grew wheat!  She started her plants at the end of the school year and then transplanted them into a larger container where she nourished them all summer.  She harvested the wheat and now they are laying on our counter to some day grind into wheat flour.

 Lots of bike rides!

 Lots of soaking up the sun which I am starting to see is having an effect on my skin with some "sun spots."  I'm not sure I can ever give it up, though.

Swim lessons for Alysee, Nate, Coop, and Chloe early on in the summer!

Birch and I did ten photosessions over the summer months.  We opened up a limited number of sessions for the summer months as we were out-of-town so much.  With Birch's new calling and our limited family time we have gone into retirement for the time being.  Don't worry our personal photography will not go into hibernation!

  All of the kids took tennis lessons for one week during the summer.  They had a great time and learned some great techniques.  Their instructors were full of praise!

 The day after Alex turned fifteen year's old he stared Driver's Ed.  Talk about expensive (like $400 bucks) and time intensive (3 weeks of 3 day/week 2 hour classes PLUS 8 hours of instructor driving behind the wheel).  Upon completing the class Alex passed with flying colors his written and driving test.  The final step to his license will be turning sixteen years old and proving he has logged in 50 hours of driving (8 being night driving).  As posted from my facebook account on my first drive with Alex, "I'd like to shout from the rooftops -- I JUST SURVIVED MY FIRST CAR RIDE WITH MY CHILD DRIVING!!! Chloe was begging to go with us. Once she got in the car she said, "I don't think I want to die today." Alex did a pretty good job and I only hyperventilated a couple of times."

This was our fifth year (I think) taking part in the the national program called First Tee Golf.  Alex, Tyler, and Nate all participated this year.  It involves weekly golf lessons and learning nine core values.  Alex assisted in coaching Nate's golf class.  Due to all of our fun trips this summer Tyler and Nate ended up missing quite a few of their lessons. (Hopefully they don't kick us out of the program.)

 B.R.A.C.E.S. Alysee has LOTS of orthodontic appointments throughout the summer in preparation for our oral surgery in the fall.  She had her bottom braces put on in mid July -- ouch!!!  Lots of soft foods for Alysee this summer.

 And more bike riding.  The boys made this jump that got a lot of use with bikes and scooters.

Coop loved all the time to bike to the school with his brothers and learn cool tricks!

And we survived the summer of 2013!  It was awesome...it was tiring...it was fun...it was filled with unforgettable fun family adventures!

Livin' High...Alex's High Adventure Scout Trip

While Alex was sad that his Scout High Adventure trip landed on the same week as our Lake Cavanaugh trip he was still super excited to spend the week with a great group of guys.  The boys all decided to go to Park Lake near Grand Coulee Dam for a week of intense water sports.  Alex was tutored under his scout leader that is a super intense and proficient skier.

 The Troops

 

These boys played and ate all day long.  And let me tell you...they ate good (I know because I bought all the food).  They planned elaborate meals ranging from potstickers, fried rice, grilled chicken sandwiches, breakfast burritos, brats, sugar snap peas, nectarines, etc...  They were fat and happy!  Alex had such a great time!

Wish you were fifteen and could go on a ManVenture?  Alex made this sweet video, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7sUjRgKu-Q&feature=share&list=UUJNS04EBDgXey9WL-P75KgA

Alysee turns 11!

Alysee is a one of the kind girl! I'm sure our family would not roll like it does if we didn't have girl right smack in the middle of the craziness. 

For Alysee's birthday she chose to go walk a dog at the Human Society Animal Shelter.  If we were really good parents she would already have a pet by now but since we aren't this was as close as she could get.

 I know Alysee will never appreciate what a gift this was from me.  Going into the stinky shelter and then having the kids man-handle the little squirly dogs was truly a test of love for me.  Alysee assures me regularly that when she has her own house it will be full of dogs to sniff my crotch and get dog hair all over me.  Oh boy, I can hardly wait...

 Chloe was in doggy heaven too!

For dinner Alysee requested lettuce wraps, a new found love for our family.  Grandma Gina and Rudy arrived for the evening just in time for Alysee's birthday dinner and dessert.

 So fun to share the day with great-grandparents!  Alysee choose angel food cake for dessert.

My mom made this beautiful skirt for Alysee's birthday.

Alysee has so many talents.  She is a great writer and if she ever has some down time she is usually working on a book.  This summer she wrote an amazing book on "Caring for your Fish."  She loves animals and creepy crawling things.  Alysee is very caring not only to animals but also children.  She has a natural gift for teaching and loves to put on school or church when she can convince a sibling to participate.  Alysee loves most healthy foods but definitely has a sweet tooth too.  She is a smarty pants and loves to work on large projects.  Alysee is a social bug and has probably ten pen pals that she faithfully writes.  

LOVE THIS GIRL!!!