Beginning of Summer

This summer has been a busy one. Zach was called to work in Tahoe for a month, and the girls and I couldn't just sit at the house alone all day. So we drove down south.

We picked up Aunt Paige from Las Vegas and continued down to San Diego for about five days, where Zach's parents had rented a condo a block from Imperial Beach. We were able to play with Grandma Barbie and Grandpa, Aunt Allison and Uncle Andy and Alexis. Yes, most of our time was spent at the beach either playing in the sand, the ocean or meandering the coast in search of sand dollars. It was hard work, but the girls were glad to do it.

We returned to Vegas to stay for a week. We didn't do too much outside considering it was 113 outside. Eleanor was finally able to get a hold on walking. We stayed with Grandma Nezzie and Grandpa, so she also was really able to practice her stair climb and descent. Aunt Paige was a saint during the day, being very patient playing with her younger nieces. And Uncle Travis was the hero who braved the burning temperatures after coming home from working all day to playing with them on the trampoline and swing set in the evenings. I really did a whole lot of nothing which was fabulous. And we would hear from Zach in the evenings about how much fun he was having trying to dig eight foot holes through granite. But it wouldn't be long until he joined us on the third of July.

I wanted to relive our Independence Day tradition of sleeping on the trampoline the night before. And Aunt Kristen suggested we do the parade in the morning as well. So those who were around- G&G Davis, Kristen, Paige, Travis, Zach, myself and Sydney slept in one big lump through the night on the tramp. Eleanor slept inside (lucky dog). It wasn't too bad, though I did get a little concerned when in the very early morning I literally had to dig Sydney out from under me and some blankets. She was breathing still so all was well. We all started creeping inside around 5am. That put us behind in our other festivities, but once I started making some real racket in the kitchen getting breakfast started we were on a roll again. Derik and Zach raised the flag while Travis played the national anthem with his trumpet. Then Travis and Derik lit thirteen fire crackers commemorating the thirteen colonies, which was a down-sized replacement of what my dad used to do with homemade bombs. After saying the pledge, led by Paige, we decorated or modes of transportation for the parade. Great-grandma Knell was our Grand Marshall, riding in style on the back of Derik's truck. The rest of us rode bike's, wagons or walked the block around the neighborhood. We had three strangers on bikes join our little parade, most onlookers would honk or wave. I think Sydeny would have fallen asleep had it lasted much longer. She was still recovering from a late night. But when all was said and done, it was a great way to start the day.