Kickoff to Summer...

So, last week was the first week that both my kids were out of school. I was a little nervous because my kids tend to get bored pretty fast. So far, so good though. Here's what's going on in our neck of the woods.

Monday-Pretty boring day. The kids just had some friends over and I just kind of hung out. Elie still had dance, which ends next week with her recital, but other then that, we just hung out at home.

Tuesday-Pretty much the same as Monday except we decided to have and unexpected visitor. My kids came running up to my room screaming "snake, snake. There's a snake in the basement!" So I went to check it out and this is what I saw:

At first I thought it was a garden snake, but it didn't have the stripes going the length of it's body. Then when I tried to catch it, it lunged and hissed at my stick-so not a garden snake! So I called animal control. It turns out it's a Blow snake. Identical to a rattlesnake, but it actually eats them. The only difference is that they don't have the diamond at the end of it's tail. They actually eat Rattlers and mice and such, so they are pretty good to have around, although I'd still rather have it somewhere else then in my basement. Animal Control said that this was the littlest one they've seen and it was probably only about a week old. They also said they lay 25-30 eggs so to keep our eyes open for more.

Wednesday-Pretty casual also. Traeden was supposed to start his baseball playoffs but the game got cancelled because of the rain.

Thursday-We decided to go camping with some of our friends. We headed up the canyon even though there was rain forcasted for all weekend. It turned out to be a beautiful drive because of all the cloud cover and rain. The funniest thing was while I was driving up the long, curvy road with all the big pine trees, Traeden asked if this is where 'Twilight' was filmed. I had to laugh at that. Since it was raining AGAIN, baseball was cancelled again, so we just hung out at the campsite with our friends. It was a very good night. Chipmonk with a hotdog.

Jordan and Traeden

Elie in the rickshaw

Even Edward was there!

Friday-Trae had his first scout camp. It was just a day camp, but none-the-less it was his first scout camp. We had to run him to the site because we were still camping. Then we just spent the morning hanging out and talking over a morning fire. Because of all the rain, Trae had his playoffs tonight, so we picked him up from scout camp, went to baseball, and back up to camp. His games were really exciting. His team won both games, so they are moving up to the finals which are today. Keep your fingers crossed for the Reds' tonight! After the games we drove back up to the campground to finish off a good day with some of our closest friends.

Jordan, Traeden, Grandpa Ray, and Grandma Grace

Trae at catcher

Up to bat

Running into home

Trae at 1st base

Saturday-Last day camping =(. We had a great breakfast and had to pack up and leave. I had a great time with everyone. We had some fun times and good conversations. I hope that we do this again!

Sunday-We added a new member to our gang-meet Luke!

Our kids are so excited to have a puppy. Today is just day 1 and so far they are doing a great job with him. Trae and Elie take him outside all the time to go potty and are doing a great job with all the doggie duties that come with a new puppy. I hope this newness doesn't wear off. They are having a great time playing with him too. Elie won't let him sleep for more then 5 minutes though before she has to hold him again. Poor puppy! We are all pretty excited though. He is so cute.