Summer was fun. We got a new pool, went camping, and checked off many things from our summer "bucket list."
BUILDING OUR NEW POOL (May-June)
We are looking forward to our new pool soon! We ordered a semi-permanent above ground pool 15' x 18' round x 4' deep, the largest thing we can make fit. In order to make it fit better, we are lowering the ground level ~12" so it won't be so high to look over and so we can build a deck into the hill over the brick wall at the pool's edge. Chris enjoyed the mental challenge of the project and driving the bobcat. The kids helped vacuum the dirt out before filling with water. The water was chilly for the first few days but they couldn't wait to enjoy the pool. Chris enjoyed the fruits of his labor. The deck was phase two and pretty important because momma won't let the kids swim very much if she has to keep standing to supervise their pool time. I get in occasionally, but small for what I like to do in a pool. We built the deck ourselves with Trex so we won't have to worry about splinters. Marissa is getting great opportunity to work on her swimming skills now that we can swim more regularly.
Synchro masters competition in June. Maybe I'm the one on the left?
Synchro masters ocean swim--end of summer--burr
Addisyn and Piper both earned free summer camp for selling cookies this year. Piper went to "Camp Out Loud" at Winaka with some girls in her troop. Addisyn did "Art Punks" camp at Whispering Oaks. They went different weeks so we had just two kids at home for two different weeks of summer.
Visited Lions Tigers & Bears in Alpine for our first time. Our friends the Torres family met us there.
VBS week at church was colorful. All three girls could go this year.
Synchro banquet -- Karen drove the Jeep home to go to the banquet and recover our bikes that fell off the motorhome. We are missing a few people in the pictures, but our team did shrink this year. Amber and Cloie are the only age-group girls who stayed on all season. Cloie is graduating HS and off to do synchro in college next year. Kirsten is back from graduating college and is coaching now.
The first weekend of August we tried camping at Pechanga to try someplace new. We got "buddy" sites so we can face each other, enjoyed the resort pool, and the boys enjoyed the free casino shuttle. We did have a few hiccups, but that will just make it more memorable...
On Thursday afternoon I drove the motorhome from home and Chris drove the Jeep from work and we met half-way up to Temecula. I left early to hang-out with some old co-workers then swapped vehicles with Chris so I could get to my swim banquet later. About that same time, Chris got a call from the neighbors asking if we had our bicycles. I thought that was a funny question--why yes, I loaded our bikes on the rack on the motorhome. I thought Chris was teasing me, but I was shocked to realize that the bikes were missing!
I can't believe I had NO idea that the bikes FELL OFF the motorhome--apparently I wasn't checking the rear view camera. The whole rack with all 5 bikes fell off the hitch at the speed bump in front of our next door neighbor's house, and the neighbors later pulled the awkward load off to the side from the middle of the street. The weld job adapting the rack to the split hitch was not sufficient for the weight of the rack and all the bikes. Luckily it held on our trip last year and didn't break on the freeway or something--that would have been a disaster. We are upset that it broke, but fortunate it was on our private drive. The bikes even fared amazingly with only a few minor scratches.
So after my swim banquet, my parents came over to help me recover the bikes. In the darkness, we had to unlock and remove them from the rack, and re-rack them on our other bike rack for the Jeep. I love that our parents are always game for helping out in funny situations. I made it up to Pechanga very late but happy the weekend is not spoiled.
In the morning the kids rode bikes and we took the bike rack off the car and laid it on the ground so it wouldn't be sticking out for anyone to accidentally bump into. Plan fail. The kids were running around on Saturday night playing tag or hide-and-seek or something and Piper ran right into that bike rack laying on the ground in the dark. Her shin gouged one of the little knobs that hold the straps for securing the bikes on. She must have been going fast--ouch!! That's a deep hole. Is it too deep? Do we need to take her to the doctor? Even if so, none of us are in a condition to drive this late at night. Chris managed to assuage her with a distraction so we could tend to her wound. Good thing we always keep first aid supplies in the motorhome. Piper was in a LOT of pain but she is tough and we were able to clean it up enough. It was looking okay in the morning so she kept it clean and covered. This one took about 3 months to fully heal.
Chris making waves at LPL
Chris got his voice heard after a poor rating on a company survey earlier this year. When an executive followed up with him, she realized he was bringing an important problem to their attention and Chris worked with her and the CEO of LPL trying to brainstorm solutions. The CEO was so impressed with Chris, that he would refer to his meetings with Chris multiple times and even used him as an example in his speech at the company's annual conference this summer (pictured).
In part due to this experience and Chris' initiative in asking about it, Chris was later recommended and placed on an Advisor Council for LPL. This is an honor only 24 Advisors can partake in representing the over 16,000 Advisors in the company.
Summer Bucket List: We wrote in a mixture of activities to give us direction on how to use our free summer time. Beach, bonfires, bowling, Aquatica, and using our Sea World passes were on the list.
The girls joined our first Foothills Church family summer bonfire.
More random fun at home--
Addisyn got her own library card. She is anticipating using it after school in middle school this coming year since she can walk down the street to the library after school so mommy doesn't have to sit in after school traffic.
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