Summer Fun

It's hard to believe that the summer is going by so fast already. It started so late here that it feels like it just got warm a week ago, but it's already the middle of July. As excited as we all are for the Delta trip to be coming up, we're a little dismayed that the 1st half of the summer has blown by so fast.

We have been packing as much a possible (to an exhausting degree, actually) into each week to take advantage of the weather. So here's a short rundown of how we have been spending the 1st half of our summer:

The Merc Campout - The Merc held it's first annual campout on the green a few weekends ago. Everyone pitched tents on the grass across from our house and spent the night. One of Jake's friends won a prize in the auction and was able to sleep in a ten on the Merc roof with a friend. So Jake spent the night in a tent on the roof, and Marisa and I slept with the little kids down on the ground. It was a lot of fun, even if it wasn't a lot of sleep. There were movies and a band, with smores and a pancake breakfast the next morning. Add to this the fact that we could just walk home and use our own bathroom and it was a really fun way to spend a night.

YMCA Flag Football - Last year when Jake did the YMCA flag football camp, the counselors asked me why he wasn't playing in the league since he was so good for his age. I didn't know there even was a league, so this year Jake is playing. It's a pretty wide age range of kids and Jake is by far the smallest kid on the team, but the coach has him playing quarterback again and he's having a great year. It's a short season, only six weeks with five games, but they got actual football jerseys, which Jake loves, and the games are really well run. Jake has a wide receiver on the team who is really good (tall and fast) and they've hooked up on a couple of touchdowns so far. Both of them are really into it and have brought plays to their coach together that they have been able to run in games.

The Crebars Visit Boise - Lisa, Clark and all the kids came thru Boise the week before last and

stayed for a couple of days. It was great to see them all again and was the 1st time Clark has been out since we moved. They stayed with us and it was a lot of fun to have kids everywhere in the house. The boys all slept in the big room and Faith and Kylie got to have a sleepover together each night (which Faith thought was the greatest thing ever). We went to the pool, out to dinner one night and just hung out. It was a great visit and we're looking forward to seeing them again next summer for another Daufel family trip to Lake Shasta.

The Pool - We have been living at the pool this year (we're heading out there again in a few minutes). It's gotten a lot better for Marisa and I the more water safe the kids have gotten. Jake is fine on his own and always runs into a friend or seven there to play with. There's a basketball hoop up this year and we bring a football so he's always off on his own. The little kids stay in the shallow end, but as long as they are there, they're fine on their own as well. They are both so good in the water that we don't have to watch them like hawks the entire time. We can read, listen to music or just visit with friends.

Marisa heads out to Pittsburgh for work this entire next week so I'm single dadding it for a week. The next week she's gone for two nights in Eastern Idaho, so I'm on my own again. After she gets back we leave for CA pretty quickly, which I have a sneaking suspicion I'll desparately need by then.

In the words of one of my favorite modern philosophers, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

(That link always makes my day....) Enjoy your summer, I know we're enjoying ours.