Dry, Dead and Brown...

The hills here in California are normally pretty dry this time of year.  By this point is has been a good six or seven months since rain last fell.  All the grass has been burnt to a golden hue and everyone is on the look out for the real burning of wild fires.  

This year we are slogging through our fourth year of drought conditions.  There hasn't been enough rain in years.  The hills have moved well past golden and are down right crispy.  We sure miss the look of anything green and lush.  Hopefully, scientist will be proven right this winter and we will have a real soaker.  Rain, rain, please don't go away.  

Bam! A sixth grader and a freshman

School started yesterday.  That whole plan we had last year of doing a home school year for Lorien to combine 7th and 8th grade and have her start High School this year...worked.  We went ahead and sent our oldest, biggest baby off to High School.  

Crazy.

Not to be forgotten, Wyatt also started Middle School.  Last week the oldest kids had an orientation at their new schools.  They met up with all of the kids in their grades from church for breakfast then went to orientation.  A friend posted this on instagram the day of their orientation.  I am so glad they both have so many good friends to go to school with.                                                      

                                                             

And of course, every one else started school too.  All of the kids were up at 5:45 am they were so excited for the day?  Maybe it was just Adell and Clare who were excited and they woke up the big kids?  

First day down, 179 more to go...and early morning seminary starts next week.  Ugh.

                                                 

Lorien's summer

We planned most of our summer around two big events for Lorien.  Girl's camp and Trek.  Girl's camp happened at the beginning of the summer.  Lorien was packed off with all of the other girls from church up into the mountains to sleep in the great out doors and bond with the other girls.

For part of her experience this year, Lorien and the other girls her age went out on a one night backpacking trip.  They had to load all of their supplies up and back.  Luckily, Lorien shared a tent with the girl in neon green so she only had to carry half of it up and back.  

Lorien said the overnight hike was her favorite part. 

They hiked up to a lake and got floaties to swim with--and then use as a pillow at night.  If you cannot tell from the pictures she loved her time because of the girls she was with.  Two of these girls were homeschoolers with Lorien last year.  They are fast friends and I am thankful for all of them.

The last event we worked around was Trek.  In our church (sometimes) the youth go off and reenact the daily lives of the Pioneers who traveled across the plains to reestablish their community in Utah.  I have mixed feeling about this whole reenactment.  Mostly, I worry that the reenactment will come across as mockery.  Pioneers fled their homes in the east under severe persecution.  They suffered illness, injury, hunger and death getting to Utah.  I have a hard time imagining how these pampered teens from modern days can reenact such a thing without coming across as whiny or insincere.  That being said, I have heard from many people who have participated in these Trek activities (I never have).  These people are full of positive stories and uplifting experiences.  So, I was excited to send Lorien off...and boy, was she ever excited to go.  

She was placed in a "family" the Hand-Carters.  She and her family pulled a hand cart loaded with their supplies all around the "wilderness" of a small forest in Northern California.  They slept under the stars and spent time with out electronics of any kind.  When she returned home she was filthy and so happy.  Will and I took her out for dinner to get the minute by minute break down of her Trek.  First and foremost, she wanted us to know she had "the best family".  Those were her parents down there "Ma and Pa Carter".  Will and I actually knew Josh Carter back in our single days in Boston.  It was a fun coincidence that Lorien was assigned to their family.  

She was glowing with pride in her self and her family while she told us about Trek.  She made great friends and had a powerful experience.  It might not have correlated with Pioneers but it did teach her about hard work and personal accomplishment.  She worked so hard and really bonded with the other kids.  I really think it was a great experience for her.  I am so glad she went (and even happier that she returned safely).

Getting out and about

While I prefer to stay  home and do quiet things, I do haul my kids out of the house every once in a while.  Summer is a great time to do this kind of hauling. 

One Sunday we took the kids back over to Stanford for the afternoon (it had almost nothing to do with the fact that Will left his phone in his office on Friday and couldn't do without it for 12 more hours).

We visited the Cantor Museum which houses an amazing Rodin exhibit with lots of his sculptures like "The Thinker", "The Gates of Hell" and "Beyonce's Single Ladies"

We tried to get the kids to line up by their age, standing on the stone that marked their birth year in one of the arched hallways.  Colter insisted he was 14.  There is supposed to be a time capsule under each year stone.  We all wondered what was in the capsules and talked about what we would put in a time capsule.  We walked for hours.  Our feet hurt and it was hot but it was a pretty great family outing.  I packed snacks, which we devoured on the drive home (mom for the win).  

We only made one trip to the beach this summer.  I just didn't have my act together any other time.  Which is a shame because the kids and I love going to the beach so much.  They are entertained every second of the time we are at the beach.  It is awesome.  We made the trip and met up with our good friends, the Salisburys.  There was plenty of digging in the sand and splashing in the waves.

We brought along a friend for Lorien, as the Salisbury's match with Lorien was off visiting family.  In exchange for bringing Ava along we got to use her family's boogie and skim boards.  We've never done that before and the kids had a blast.  I am going to have to keep my eye out at yard sales or something.  We all want a boogie board now.

While we were at the beach there was a pod of dolphins, several sea lions or seals (I couldn't be sure), AND a couple of WHALES!  It was crazy cool.  The whales kept leaping out of the water as they snatched fish swimming at the surface.  We were in awe every time.  

Once the beach day was over (we left at sunset) we loaded up and made our way up to the car.  Lorien offered to take Colter.  I went one way and Lorien went another.  When I looked back to see why she wasn't following me I saw her hiking up these rocks with Colter on her shoulders, her canvas bag over her arm and in bare feet.  Oy.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  I seriously cannot believe the stuff my kids think they can do...and then end up doing perfectly!  

We had lunch at a pizza place near by.  As we were leaving the pizza place it started pouring rain.  I thought I saw lightning when we went inside but couldn't believe it.  The kids were as blown away by the rain as they were by seeing the whale.  It has been a long dry drought here...

Family Time...with the Davis side of things...

I'm pretty sure I've complained about my self inflicted exile from my side of the family before.  Long story short, we live far away from any of my relatives.  We don't see them very often.  We are very blessed to have two of Will's brothers and one of his sisters living near us.  We love the Anderson side of our family and are so grateful to have them close.

The Davis side...we could see more of them.  Sigh.

This summer was a Davis summer.  We drove down to Southern California to spend a week with the Davis side of our family.  It was quite the gathering.  My aunt lives in Southern California.  We had family gathered from Hawaii, Utah, Texas and Maine!  The kids got to see cousins, aunts and uncles we haven't seen in a while.  

We played games and took group pictures.

The kids swam in the pool every second they could--only being pried from the water for reapplications of sunscreen and to stuff food in their mouths.

AND WE WENT TO DISNEYLAND.  Yes, we hauled all the kids out to Disneyland and waited through crazy crowds in not-too-unpleasant heat.  It was the first time any of the cousins from Maine had ever been to a Disney park.  Florida is too far away and California is even further...forget about Paris. 

We let Lorien go off with a cousin from Utah, Genet, and I only saw her once at lunch time.  The other cousins stayed close by and had a blast waiting in lines--er--riding rides.  

We got there around 10 in the morning and stayed through fireworks.  We ended up leaving the park after midnight.  I think my fitbit said I walked over 20 thousand steps for the day.  It was exhausting fun.

One of the results of our day at Disney was all of the boy cousins getting light sabers.  Many-a-epic battle were waged in Aunt Colleen's back yard.  

Lorien taught the little girls how to dive...or fall into the pool face first.  

Grandpa Davis spent time with grandchildren he doesn't get to see very often.  He took some to the girls to the movies one day when the moms, dads and boys were out and he teased every grandchild as much as he could.  

It was a busy trip but wonderful seeing so much family.  I don't know why it has to be so much work to get together...but so it must.  

I think we have an unwritten family policy that no family vacations can be completely relaxing or easy.  Case in point--on this trip we stayed in an empty apartment Will's company has for traveling sales people.  It was awesome to have a free place to stay every night...it was not awesome to drive an hour back and forth every day to see our family.  We never made it home before 10 or 11 o'clock at night.  But we were grateful for the savings...because we did Disneyland and that was one heck of a chunk of change.  There were beds enough for all to sleep comfortably and we had the place to ourselves.  Thank you Complete Solar!