Aubrey and Joel spent a week down in Corvallis at the CIYmove conference with others from the youth group. It was a great experience for them both--very impactful. It was so good to have all our kids home again, though, when they got back late Friday night. It makes my heart so happy to be reunited. The kids have been so busy with activities, work, friends, and trips (all good things), so it makes time together that much more special. Time is flying by.
Kari has been cleaning out her room, in preparation for leaving for college, and she came across two bottles of dish soap. She had no idea why she had those in her room. I reminded her of when she soaped up the trampoline with her friend, Katelin, many years ago, and she decided she needed to do that again. She, Maggie, and Grant put on their goggles, turned on the sprinklers, and had fun session of soapy trampoline time. Too funny!
Grant had a U14 water polo tournament in Newberg one weekend in July, and we drove back and forth multiple times over those couple days. They did well--won 3 and lost 1. You don't notice the age/size difference much when he's in the pool, but outside the pool, it is hilarious to see just how much taller and bigger the 8th grade boys are!
The last photo is from the last practice of the season. Grant was the only kid who showed up and was the only kid in the whole pool, since swim team didn't practice that day. He ended up getting a "private lesson." :)
We babysat Henry and Kopeland one morning so Shauna could have some time with just Camila. It was just Grant and I for a while, and then we got reinforcements when Kari and Aubrey came home from work and tennis. These boys are so cute!
Kari was supposed to go on this mission trip the summer of 2020, but of course, that did not happen. Covid prevented the trip from happening in 2021, too, but this year, they were able to go! They went to The Oakes, a Christian youth camp in Sheffield, England, and they did work projects all week. They started out with a layover in Iceland and then spend the next 11 days in England. The work was hard manual labor, and they were all very tired and sore, but it was a good trip. Kari did not enjoy all the train travel and trying to carry their luggage around, but she loved being over there and enjoyed the trip overall.
Joel had the opportunity to attend 2 weeks of tennis camps at the University of Portland this summer. He learned a ton and gained valuable experience and instruction from the head coach there. It was a bit of a pain to get him all the way there each day (45 minutes away) for those three hours, but we carpooled to make it more manageable. On my days to drive, I walked the campus and nearby neighborhoods and listened to audiobooks. It was forced relaxation time, which wasn't such a bad thing!
Joel is constantly with his friends these days (he has great friends). He asked G&G if he could have a pool party, just for fun, and they said yes. I think there were about 20-25 kids there that evening.
Kari left for her England trip on July 2nd, so she was gone on the 4th. I took this photo and texted it to her to say "hello" and "happy 4th." Ryan and Michelle were in town that week, so we had a big pool party and bbq potluck to celebrate and lit off our fireworks in the backyard. Brennan came back with us that evening to spend the night and was amazed at the large number of illegal fireworks our neighbors were lighting off. He said, "If I didn't know it was the 4th of July, I'd think we were in a war!" It was very loud into the wee hours of the morning. Pretty fun to watch, though!
