Summer Vacation - Week 3

Here are highlights of week 3 of our summer vacation...

With the boys in California for the 4th, we decided to cancel all reservations we had in Long Beach and stick close to home. Gordon and Michelle invited us to spend the holiday with them. We had a lovely BBQ dinner at their parents house (which they happened to be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary!!), then at dusk we headed over to Ron's (Michelle's dad) house to shoot off/watch fireworks. I actually shot off my very first firework ever! By midnight Peter and I were spent. We crashed at Gordon and Michelle's to avoid all the craziness that could be on our drive home. Michelle whipped up a scrumptious breakfast for us the following morning. It was a good holiday. I decided though that we will go back to the beach for next years.

Kristjan and Clifford on the 4th

Quick selfie of me :)

 Grubbin' on some all-american food

 Caleb playing around

 Gordon's bro-in-law Mose and his parents opening birthday and anniversary gifts

 Another quick selfie with the two of us

 Gordon and Caleb, who is prepared for the fireworks!

We said Good Bye to Jax last Saturday. He had great potential to be a great dog, but we just didn't have the extra time to train him. Plus, Kristjan was allergic to him. That meant we could never take the dog with us anywhere we go. The point for us having a dog (besides it being a playmate for Sheeba) was to be able to take it camping with us. So we made the decision to find him a new home.

With Jax gone, we decided to bring Sheeba back in the house (the last four months she's been a full outside dog). It's nice having her back.

Sheeba in the tub for her bath. Lots of dirt to scrub off of her

 Sheeba getting lots of loves from Peter one evening

These next two pics are of Sheeba after we picked up from the doggy salon!! We were in Petco looking for some doggy items when we decided to stop in their salon to inquire the cost for teeth cleaning. Next thing I know Peter is scheduling her to be washed and groomed!....and this was two days after he had just given her a bath. She is one spoiled dog. But I admit, it was nice...she was so soft afterwards. 

 Kristjan giving loves

Peter and I camped out one evening in the back yard. We had some teriyaki take-out for dinner by the fire and roasted marshmallows for dessert. Peter even rigged up his cell phone to our computer speakers and we watched a movie while laying under the stars. It was awesome!

So....Clifford now knows how to text. First, to clarify, the boys each have a cell phone. They're our old ones we gave them to be able to listen to music or watch netflix/youtube. We programmed a few phone numbers for them, but it was strictly for emergency, such as if they go to a sleepover. Well, Clifford took his cell phone with him on the trip to California and I guess Mickey taught him how to use it. Which is fine, as he's only texting family members. But now it seems like he's on it all the time. All I ever see is him with that phone in his hands. That we're not fine with. Peter and I will have to set up some rules with this in regards to use of texts. I guess I was just hoping we wouldn't have to deal with this until he was a teen.....what happened to kids his age still playing make-believe?!

The boys had a blast on their trip to California! I'm so happy they had the chance to spend time with their other set of cousins. Roxcy will be sending me a link to her copy of pictures she took sometime soon, so once I have those I'll share those in a separate post. In the meantime, the pics below are ones that Kristjan took with our camera.

 Kristjan and Alice

 One of my favorite pics from their trip...

 Another favorite pic of mine!

 Boys with Ezuire

 This is a good pic...

 Boys with their sister