Eastside Group Camping - Labor Day Weekend

We were back at Dogtown Lake for another great camping trip.  This was our 2nd Eastside camping this summer - a new tradition.  It was a beautiful weekend and 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix.

Piano Lessons - Year 5 begins

Micah is continuing his piano lessons with Mrs. Amy Cline.  Today was his first day back, after the summer.  He is beginning year 5.  Lessons will be Tuesdays at 2pm.

New Gymnastics Season

Lilly continued her gymnastics classes through the summer, but now the fall season has begun (August 1st).  Class times, rosters, and schedules have changed.  At this time, Lilly will remain as a Petite Elite.  Her class days and times are:  Tuesday 9:30-11:30am and Saturday 9:30-11:30am.  The time frames were 1.5 hours and have increased to 2 hours.  Her Tuesday classmates have both moved out (another class and no gymnastics at all), so Lilly is the only one in the class.  This is a bittersweet situation - she has Coach Kristine all to herself (a private 2 hour lesson - wow!); but if no one else joins then they will eliminate the class from the schedule and we'll need to find an evening class.
During this month, Lilly and Coach are having a fabulous time!  Today, August 19th, Lilly got her first "rips" - she worked hard on the bars and when she was done had raw sores on her hands.  Coach got her cleaned up and wrapped up and then they moved on.

6th Annual Summer Camping with Gravel Family

This is our annual camping trip that began in 2006, when Micah turned 3 years old.  We've gone camping almost every summer since then during the month of August.  For 6 years of those years, the Gravel family has joined us.  The last two years we have camped at Dogtown Lake.  It's a beautiful place just west of Williams, Arizona.
Everything was terrific this year - company, weather, kayaking, biking, meals, and s'mores.  We were allowed to have campfires in the pit (which have been restricted the last few times we've camped).  All of the children have become quite independent.  Our family used our camping bunks and cots for the first time ... and were very comfortable sleeping.

DBacks Game

We got tickets for this game through the baseball camp Micah did in the spring.  We were on the first level in the foul zone.  One foul ball was caught by a man sitting three rows in front of us.  Our friends, Keith & Ryan Gravel, were also at this game and came down to visit with us for a little while.  Micah's sign was in honor of his birthday and Lilly lost her first tooth.  In the 9th inning, the game was tied 3 to 3.  The DBacks had bases loaded but we didn't pull it out.  We ended up losing in the 10th inning, but it was a fun game.

Lilly's 1st loose tooth

Lilly’s first loose tooth (front top left) started wiggling early June.  We thought it might come out while we were in TN  … but it didn’t.  Then she thought it might come out in Flagstaff … but it didn’t.  In the midst of all of that time, her 2^nd loose tooth started wiggling (front bottom left).  While we were at the Diamondbacks game on Sunday (8/10/14) the bottom one came out.

 

Flagstaff

Ahhhh, our weeks in Flagstaff are something we so look forward to.  Aunt Alice & Uncle Charlie have a timeshare through the Wyndham and invite us each year for a week with them.  We have such wonderful memories relaxing up there.
This year our neighbors, Dave, Max and Aracely drove up on Sunday and spent the day with us - hiking Walnut Canyon Ruins, swimming, grilling, and having some ice cream.
Matt was able to spend five of the seven nights with us (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday).  He was there for the weekend and then came up again to spend all of Wednesday with us - Micah's official birthday.
The week was spent swimming, playing miniature golf, playing pool, watching movies, doing crafts, playing games, and enjoying the Bear Paw's ice cream.

THANK YOU ALICE & CHARLIE!!

GRAND FINALE FUN - Kerish girls

Friday August 1st was our last day to watch the Kerish girls (our neighbors - Millie & Ollie) for the summer.  So, on Thursday we took them to McCormick Ranch Aquatic Center for a GRAND FINALE FUN DAY!  The center has a lap pool, high dives, waterslide, fountains, and a lazy river.  Our friends, the Kroenings, also joined us.  On one of our lazy river rides we had a string of nine linked together.

Summer Fun Bowling - AMF

We signed up for the AMF Summer Fun Bowling again this year.  The bowling is FREE, and it's $3.50 per pair of shoes.  We get to play 3 games.  We took the girls several times, met our friends the Heuser boys, and took the Powell boys when we were babysitting them.  Our neighbor, Dave, even joined us one afternoon.

Great Granny's House

Our final destination in Tennessee was Savannah.  There we stayed with Great Granny Rich and visited with aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was wonderfully relaxing!

• We spent time on the front porch just sitting and visiting
• We picked blackberries at the neighbor's house
• We went to the new park in town (slides, water works, and swings)
• We caught lightening bugs in the front yard
• Visited the Tennessee River Museum
• Visited Granddad's grave on their 71st anniversary (7/3/14)
• We played soccer, baseball, and football in the front yard
• We spent a morning at Shiloh (Civil War battle ground)
• We spent 4th of July at Dan & Carol's house - grilling out and setting off fireworks

Such a spectacular visit.

Mini Family Vacation

In between Gatlinburg and Savannah the four of us had a chance to vacation together - alone.  We drove to Alabama and then back to Tennessee.





During those 4 days we:

• spent one day at the Space Center, where Matt did a couple of summer camps as a kid
• spent one evening, after Matt worked at a local Honeywell plant, visiting the "world's largest chair".
• took a detour when we saw something "interesting" off the side of the road (hiking to Russell Cave)
• took a tour of the Talladega Race Track

Neihardt - 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

For a year we have been planning a 'family reunion'/50th wedding anniversary get-together with the Neihardt side of the family.  Jodie's parents and sisters (with their families) met in Gatlinburg, TN for a week.  It was a super time of playing, eating, catching up, and celebrating.  We had an amazing place to stay and lots of ways to have fun together.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY NANA & PAPA JOE!!