Ah, here is a space to bring July to a restful end. You'll find photos of Gherkins out and about which I've not yet blogged. Random thoughts and tidbits from July.
Melia got acrylic nails before our trip to ID in June. She ended up getting them before Akemi's graduation in May....and they lasted much longer than expected! She paid for her nails as I didn't consider them essential and I'd already paid for a boat load of things in May/June (clothes, pedicures, plane tickets, braces, haircuts, eyebrow waxing....) They would have been about $100 to put on...but she decided she needed EACH nail to have a different bit of artwork...so that was another $22.50. I paid the tip as she'd forgotten to account for that expense. Actually, she has been raised you don't tip unless a really good job is performed. I asked if she thought the gal had done a really good job, I thought she'd done great. She had earned a big tip. All that to say - these nails cost but they lasted much longer than expected. They lasted through May and June. She wasn't doing a lot of dishes and such, but she was living life and still they lasted. Volleyball camp started. I suggested she may want to remove them as it would hurt to have such long nails....she didn't. It hurt. She was ready to remove them but refused to go back to pay to have them removed. ::snort:: We googled, borrowed Michael's cache of chemicals and figured out how to remove them ourselves. I was pretty proud of us.
The garden is struggling this year. From the start I knew Michael wouldn't be able to help, and I was determined to focus on the beds I planted and not worry about the mutant weeds in the rest of the "Garden plot." Then the free range chickens and moose decided to eat all the cauliflower and here they decimated all the cabbage. I was still limping along in the garden and then we had 10 days of rain in a row. . . in the end we've had the rainiest July recorded. I have lots of lettuce, a bit of kale and potatoes are doing well. The animals have eaten the rest or the rain and cold wheather.
 |
first zucchini |
OF COURSE, we went and saw Toy Story 5....Melia and I, Bre, Arielle and their kids and Nolan. Nostalgia.
Noah successfully completed his first year of soccer.
 |
| Jared and his team |
Michael and the boys used to hike out to a forestry cabin at Red Shirt and fish for pike. Cory and Jared carry the tradition forward with the next generation. It's a 3-mile hike, a canoe ride and then sleeping primitive for a couple of nights. They all had a blast!
 |
| Jared, Benny, Danny, Noah and Cory in the back |
 |
| Noah's first fish |
 |
| Benny, Danny, Cory |
A flaming marshmallow - so many memories of camping with the Bowers! LOL
This month brought the discovery that Charles is allergic to bumble bees, wasps and hornets.
Melia and I made it a goal to hike a bunch of new trails. This one - we didn't hike. There were many ways we felt this trail could kill us - to include recent bear maulings.
 |
| Preparing for upcoming travel |
 |
| Tuckered out |
CoRielle and all the kids made it for the last trail in the Trail challenge!
These girls are off for a July adventure...Mall of America, Forrest Frank Concert and NYC.
Ellie loves sunny days
Uncle Jamin came to town
 |
The girls first visit to the Great Lakes.
Cory took these boys dip netting
Bre & Arielle celebrated the end of the library summer reading program.
 |
| Bella stays cool with her personal purchase |
 |
| Yum! Traveling vicariously through the girls. |
Well, there are a few other photos I am trying to load that refuse to load....so we'll call this the end of July. LOL I recognize there are no pictures of Alex, Krista, Nolan or Stacia here - they were all busy working away the month.
As is often the case if the photo isn't watermarked it was sent or harvested from the elder Gherkins with much thanks!
.jpg)
