Appalachian Trail

This was a summer of many big adventures, all right in a row! The first one began the same day school wrapped up: Grandpa & Grandma came to visit! 

Visiting the pool on a day that was really too cool to be swimming.

Especially for people used to Arizona heat.

Grandpa gets introduced to the enthusiasm of Catherine hugs:

It's like hugging limp spaghetti.

So fulfilling.

Good thing Elise is there to give warm hugs and sweet notes!

Our big adventure with the grandparents was hiking the Appalachian Trail! Originally the plan was to actually hike with our gear (with someone in vehicles to move bigger stuff/children), but when it ended up just being our family we went with a simpler method. We camped at the same site every night and just hiked different sections of the trail around the area (Greenbrier). Very nice to not have to pack up/set up tents every day!

It was extra fun because Mom Blood got to join us as well! I love that our parents are up for camping and hiking with this batch of crazies. 

Ready for our initial hike (group 1)

(group 2)

(group 3--Jon and Elijah didn't stick around/show up for pictures)

Bridge over the interstate!

So cool!

Walking over the interstate.

Elijah and I even got some trucks to honk at us!

The short connecting trail between our campsite and the Appalachian Trail ended up being the most intense part of the hike. Pretty steep, plus lots of loose shale. Mom Blood went down and cut up her knee pretty good (she probably needed stitches, but she was "fine" and just kept bleeding through her BandAids). 

But even that was not enough to defeat us! The next day we were off to see Annapolis Rock Vista! I missed most of the hike because I got to do the grocery run (worth it because they had COCONUT DR. PEPPER). But apparently Catherine made it to the rock:

A picture with Grandpa!

And she's SMILING!

Harassing Grandpa was Catherine's favorite activity.

Back at camp enjoying a relaxing afternoon:

Aaron even removes the shoes.

It's serious relaxation:

We camped at Greenbrier and would absolutely do it again. Nice sites, quite neighbors, warm showers, and a lake to play in! Even though we had a heat wave while we were there, it was still cool at the site because of the trees. Our only complaint was this:

Poison ivy.

EVERYWHERE.

Somehow none of us got a rash, though.

Happy Catherine, driving off on another camping adventure:

We also got to meet up with Mom Blood's cousin, Jim, who lives nearby. He took us to a really cool area with a waterfall and a beach with sand. Perfect for a super hot day!

Elise by the falls

Hanging out at the beach area

Look at us all keeping our hats on!

We do not need sunburn while we're camping.

For our last day we hiked to Washington Monument State Park (not the one in DC).

Got to start off with the bridge crossing again!

It was definitely a long haul. And the last stretch was all uphill.

Some people with small legs needed lots of breaks and orange Lifesavers to keep going:

This is where I would post the group picture we took at the monument, 

but apparently I don't have it.

There were wild raspberries growing all around it. 

Delicious.

This is not from wild raspberries.

This is from cherry clafoutis.

Camping with my dad is the best--gourmet camp food!

Funny story from our trip: there was a little lake area we could walk to by our campsite. We swam there a couple of times in the evenings after our hikes. Catherine went Black Friday shopping with Wendy and her girls and bought a really cute little ring. Apparently she didn't think about wearing it in the lake and it slipped off at some point. Jon spent the next hour scouring the water, searching for glints in the sand underneath. He was quite pleased with himself when he found this:

Turns out it was not the ring Catherine lost, but she was pleased with this replacement!

I'm still amazed Jon managed to find anything at all.

This ended up being such a fun trip. I loved getting to spend time with my parents and Mom Blood. I loved the time spent outdoors as a family. And I love camping in sites with power so Jon can plug in his AC unit and our newly-acquired mini fridge. I may have made fun of him when the fridge had to come, but it was SO nice to not have to buy ice every night. We're not quite to glamping levels, but it's getting kinda close...

LAST DAY

Catherine's jazz band always performs on the last Wednesday of the school year as all the students are walking in. Catherine said it was super awkward and everyone stared at her. She's in the second row, second from right

Seth got to ride with Emily and the bros every morning this year:

Emily got them last-day-of-school treats.

Seth is so lucky!

Catherine decided she needed to dye her hair again for the last day of school:

This time we went red with purple ends.

Elise couldn't be left out of the hair fun!

(Her hair was wet when we dyed it so it wasn't as vibrant)

Aaron had finished school the previous week because it seemed silly to do 1 1/2 days of school the next week. So off to junior year (Seth), 8th grade (Catherine), 5th (Aaron), 3rd (Elise) and kindergarten (Elijah) in the fall! Time can go ahead and slow down a bit now...

More Catherine

Life with Elise can be hard:

 

Catherine uses art therapy to work through her anger.

Catherine felt "cutesy" this day.

Not sure I've ever seen her with a hair clip before.

When Catherine's YW class announced that they wanted to have Worm Olympics for an activity, their leaders were...confused. But it turns out that a bunch of girls in sleeping bags competing in different events is amazingly hilarious. Well done, Catherine's class!

Eating brownies with no hands.

There were also races. 

I was sad I couldn't be there to watch.

But the best part of June?

Brianna got to come visit!!!

Apparently Brianna needed giant clippers one day?

Catherine was happy to oblige.

Catherine's YW class (and the missionaries)wishing a happy birthday to Malina:

So glad Catherine has this great group of girls to grow with!

June Projects

 Every single cabinet in our kitchen has these stupid half-shelves. Great idea if you need to store tall stuff, but we just don't have that much stuff that won't fit in a normal shelf. What we really needed was more storage. I persuaded Jon that we could just stick a piece of wood in front of the half-shelf to make a faux full shelf. Thankfully my idea worked and Jon got it installed really quickly!

Making sure everything is up to Jonny standards

Hooray for SO MUCH MORE STORAGE!

Mulberries grow wild around here, so every June we like to do some scavenging.

I always forget how well they dye your hands:

Or, somehow, your legs?

My goal was to make jam, but we ended up just making syrup to put over ice cream instead.

Not as good as raspberry, but still pretty good!

More Elise Fun

 

Did I mention the non-stop playdates?

I am constantly having to turn down Elise's friends because she's already playing with someone else.

So glad she has all these friends nearby (because she'd drive me INSANE being home).

For her bestie's birthday Elise gave her a trip to an indoor trampoline park.

These two had WAY too much fun and conned me into Chick-fil-a on the way home:

Elise conquers one of the climbing walls:

She made it this far and then gave up.

Twice.

They also got to do the big zipline, which was really cool:

Elise, zipping around the park

Elise (and Aaron and Elijah) also frequently get invited to hang out with our friends on Sundays:

I still remember talking with A about how cool it would be if we lived by each other and our kids could be friends. It's surreal to me that we ended up getting exactly that! 

If there is a giant mess to be made, Elijah will be there!

Glad our friends are on the same page when it comes to happy, messy kids.

Another Sunday, another playdate with B!

Different kind of playdate, but still SO fun:

Meeting Brie's new puppy, Daisy!

I am not a dog person, but Daisy is winning me over. 

The Seth

 

Love that the bros are still bros after all these years.

And they get to go to school together??

I don't think Seth realizes how lucky he is. 

All the winning with Jon's sunglasses.

Seth started Driver's Ed, which is crazy to me. For some reason he asked to do an in-person class instead of online (I was SURE he'd want to do online so he could game instead of listening). So off to HCC he went every evening for two weeks. Turns out he'd misunderstood and was very unhappy with his choice, but I think it was good for him to be in person. Probably paid way more attention. Now he just has to do the behind-the-wheel part (and wait until January) and then he can drive all by himself!

Birthdays

 For my birthday I took the boys on a bike ride to the Dollar Tree!

Jon's birthday was crazy, but we snuck in some time for a birthday milkshake!

Happy birthdays to us!

Catherine NJHS

Catherine was invited to join her school's NJHS!

We celebrated by apparently taking this random picture: 

Catherine receives her honor:

With besties Kate and Mira:

Kate and Mira present Catherine with the origami crown:

Kate and Catherine:

All the girls and moms after the induction:

After the ceremony the parking lot was pretty empty. 

Catherine hopped in the driver's seat as a joke.

I let her try to drive through the lot:

Turns out driving is harder than Catherine thought.

Pretty Catherine with her certificate and her wildflower garden:

I kind of assumed that everyone who was invited got into NJHS, but apparently that was not the case. I'm proud of Catherine for working so hard, being so kind, and wanting to do good things.