I love summer

The month of June has quickly lead to the start of summer. Every year I am amazed how refreshing the start of summer is. My schedule doesn't change much at all, but somehow it is still a break for me to have Josh and the children off from school. We've had a great month so far. Our project for the summer is building a second story for our treehouse. We've been envisioning for the past year so it is fun for us to be putting it together. Josh started working on the platform when his sister and brother in law were visiting at the beginning of May. He put Joel to work (I think he was willing) to help him build the platform for the house.


Memorial day I helped to frame in the house. I'm not a fan of heights, so this was a stretch for me.


Now Josh is working on the paneling. We've stalled for a couple weeks, but hope to finish the sides so we can paint it on July 4. Then will come the roof, windows and inside carpet. More pictures will follow as we make progress throughout the summer.


My neighbor invited me and the children to come along with her and her 2 children to Legoland soon after school let out. We spent a fun morning there with the children.


A couple weeks ago we had our good friends, the Fesko's and Keele's, over for a pizza night. And we decided to also celebrate Beor Keele's 5th birthday while we were together. I offered to make the cake and on a spur of the moment decided to make an animal shaped cake. I guess I was inspired by my sister-in-law's fun cakes she makes for her children. So I make a crocodile cake. I was surprised how well it turned out. Unfortunately (or not) now I'm afraid these kind of cakes will be expected for my children's birthdays. Anyone have a good (and simple) one to recommend?



Last weekend we drove to Visalia to meet up with Josh's parents. The real reason was to transfer Eliyana and Caleb to them for the week and Visalia is somewhat half way between our homes. The other reason was so that the men could go wild pig hunting again. Well, they didn't get a pig, but they did see 5 blackbears and caught 2 bullfrogs. So instead of wild pig meat, we had ourselves some fried frog legs. I can't say I'm a fan and I don't think they taste like chicken! After Visalia, Josh, Gideon and I drove up to Hume Lake (in the Sierras/Sequoia National Park) with our good friends, the Frese's. They have a cabin by the lake. We spent 1 day/1 night at their cabin and enjoyed the smell of the pines and mountain air. We got in a couple holes of frisbee golf and a little walk by the lake before heading home.



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On the way out, we stopped to see the big sequoias in Grants Grove. I'm always amazed how big those trees are, even though I've seen them previously. Pictures don't even capture it.