And the livin' is easy

We've been very busy doing important stuff this summer. This is the Riverfront Park Carousel in beautiful Spokane. As you can see, the girls hated it. They quickly discovered that a metal slide in 100 degree weather isn't as fun as it looks.

We also picked Jack up from camp. I'm glad he wears glasses, because it was the only way I could find him in the sea of filthy children. You can guess how he smells by the look on Henry's face. He said he ran out of clothes on the third day because he kept jumping in the lake in his clean clothes. Also. One shower. All week. And I had to drive home with him and the dog in the front seat for seven hours.

Picking huckleberries at the lake.

Another new development in the family: piercings!

Grace has been wanting to get her ears pierced for a long time, but every time we go to the piercing place, she changes her mind. Nana tried to convince her to do it by calling her a chicken. This pissed Henry off so much that he took his own money and convinced his dad (not easy) that he should be allowed to do it, and damn if he didn't get his ear pierced. Nobody puts baby in a corner or calls Grace a chicken. Apparently.

And the next day:

She didn't even flinch, either.


Next up, the Island County Fair:

Yep, we let them go on the death-traps they call rides this year, but my heart (and wallet) could only take a few rides before I put a stop to it.

We had five chickens in the fair and got four blue and one red ribbon. Jack did very well in his first show, getting first runner up. You can see how excited he is.

We've been doing other stuff, too, like swimming lessons. Grace and Olivia started out in the same class but by the time it was over, Olivia passed Henry. Grace may or may not have been hampered by the fact that when they told her to do the "crawl", she actually crawled like a baby in the water. Also, during water safety day they were teaching the kids to throw a towel to someone who was "drowning" and pull them to safety. Grace just threw the guy the towel.