Week of Summer

After our rainy weekend of camping we woke Monday morning to beautiful blue skies and a hint of warmth in the air...could summer finally be here? It appeared so as each day the temperature rose to above 60! (gotta love Alaska as we think a 70 degree day is a scorcher!) So we spent many hours in our yard this week just enjoying the sunshine.

When we left Hidden Lake the Germains continued on to Seward to visit with friends and speak at the church, then they spent a day in Anchorage with family, and caught a flight to Juneau with Joe's mom to spend several weeks with family and friends. They will be back next week for their last two weeks in Alaska before they head back to their home in the Philippines. We have so enjoyed our time with them...spending time enjoying summer in Alaska together...letting the kids and run and play in our yard...and enjoying many adventures together.

My sister, Kristen, came this direction following camping and so we got to enjoy her company for a few days. She came over several times and the kids sufficiently wore her out with games of freeze tag and kick ball. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch on the lawn and just laying on the lawn soaking in the Alaskan sun!

Since the sun was out and we could actually sit outside in the evening we enjoyed several picnics in our yard this week...gotta take advantage of summer when it is here! Steve's birthday was on Tuesday(he's getting awfully close to 40!!) and his mom and dad came to celebrate with us...we had fresh red salmon on the grill.

We had a busy weekend in the sun...Saturday we made our way out to the Jones' ranch for a family rodeo and fundraiser for Bill and Stephanie who are attending school in California. We didn't participate, but had so much fun watching the horses and riders. We have been out there several times this summer and the kids love getting to ride the horses and watch the other people practice their skills of barrels and pole bending. Sunday morning Steve and I were both teaching in Kid's church...Steve was teaching on the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost...Ann Marie was his helper by talking to the kids in a different language. Steve always has so much fun teaching the Bible to the kids and making it come alive in a whole new way! I was doing crafts with the kids and Ethan performed his skit and led his crew of kids through each classroom. Our Sunday mornings in the summer are always busy, but so much fun.

After church we participated in the Walk for Life for the Pregnancy Care Center. We had gotten a few pledges for the 2mile walk, but more than anything just wanted to show our support for Life. There was about 130 walkers from various churches around Homer.

We came home and rested briefly before friends and family arrived for our Sunday evening BBQ. It was a nice evening even though the sun was not shining. We love our Sunday evening time with family and friends and are always sad when the summer comes to an end.

Monday morning seemed to be the end of our week of summer...it was raining, but was actually a nice break and we felt like we could relax and get other needed things done! We are off and running though with several dentist appointments this week, piano lessons, grocery shopping, and finishing ordering school curriculum...school starts soon!!