End of June

We made it through June. Perhaps the most blustery of Junes on record for us with seemingly endless windy days and nights. Bryan and I even woke up one night this past week to a powerful windstorm and were relieved no trees or limbs fell. Whew! Both Jayme and Alisa came to visit in this final week of June and we enjoyed spending time with them and their kiddos.

 We also went up to Wenatchee for an afternoon out with the Greats. We watched the ospreys along the river, played catch, blew bubbles, and loved seeing Grama and Grampa enjoy being outside. Their new home is a good place but they do so miss having outdoor space of their own.

 We went to the Olive Garden, where we saw Gordon and Leigh. Mitch taught Great Papa how to play tic-tac-toe. He is so patient and kind with Grampa and I love to see them together. I've talked with Mitch about how Grampa was when I was young. Mitch is sad he didn't know him in his prime but he is wonderful with him now.

And he fell asleep, one again, listening to the Mariners. He'll tell you they're only .5 game back from Houston and he's the ultimate super fan. Bryan's done with work and July begins tomorrow. Huzzah for impending vacation!

Camp-iversary

We went up the Icicle Creek for 3 nights of camping to celebrate the official start of summer and our 12th year of wedded bliss. Because camping makes everyone "blissful"...

 We found a spot at Rock Island Campground, evidently in a mosquito hatchery. Never has the tent taken so long to set up. Never have the mosquitoes been so thick! On our first night, at 11pm, Bryan awoke to his backside on the ground. Seems the duct tape didn't pass muster as a plug for our mattress...

 However, we were near the creek and had fun without sleep! The water, as one would expect in the Icicle, was really cold!

 Mitch has his father's sensitive feet and could not bear the water temperature.

 Shan was able to keep her feet in much longer. In fact, she and Bryan did fully submerse themselves on our final night.

 There were lots of pretty vistas along the Icicle gorge. On Friday we went on a hike. We set out innocently enough, not knowing it was a 4+ mile roundtrip jaunt.

 Away from the campsite, though, the skeeters weren't nearly as troublesome.

 Mitch loved having his knife along. This was his first camping trip with it and there were several pure panic moments when he though he'd lost it. However, it made the trip home!

 Ever the naturalist, Shannon packed the binoculars on the hike! She also did the whole thing in flipflops.

 The views of the river (creek, really) were phenomenal. We saw fairy gardens along the way, wildflowers galore, soaring mountain vistas, and lots of pretty foliage. 

 The kids learned to recognize wild roses, lupines, lilies, Ponderosa pines, vine Maples, and Douglas fir cones.

Still some snow at the highest points.

 We passed other hikers for awhile...and then there were none. We knew we had to cross the creek eventually but the lightness in our steps was gone.

 Until, at last, the bridge! 

 It was an impressive raging water scene below.

 We posed and then set out again.

 Going back up the other side of the creek was somewhat less enthusiastically undertaken, but the kids did not complain!

 It was a long hike for short legs and we enjoyed it!

 Almost home...

 Back at camp we had dinner and some reading to cap off the day.

 Saturday we thought it would be fun to take the kids swimming at Lake Wenatchee. Wrong. It was gale-storm winds and we were freezing. So we played on toys and had a picnic along the Wenatchee River on our way back to camp.

 Mitch folded himself up and enjoyed a final trip with his WoodyBuzz chair. He read 2 books while there! We stopped to see Grama and Grampa Pobst on our way home Sunday.

Then we cleaned up and went for an anniversary ice cream and Home Depot trip. A lovely 12 years with this man and our family!

Baseball Boys

 More baseball! UW ended up losing in pool play and being bumped by OSU. 

Nevertheless, Mitch persists in his devotion. He has drunk the purple kool-aid for sure!

 Brody and Dylan came to play in Ephrata on Tuesday and that made the sting of defeat less painful. Here they are on JO'B!

 Grogan on the mound.

 This coach was running on fumes after a marathon weekend of packing and cleaning and moving.

 This pipsqueak enjoyed lots of time with Cait while watching the game.

 Woods at the plate

 The batboy reunited with his larger than life players! See that hair on Brody? Definitely tempting Mitch to bring back the long locks!

A bit of good-natured mocking rounded out the evening. We enjoy still having the chance to watch these boys play!

Moving Day(s)

We kids (stupidly?) suggested in February that Bryan's folks should consider downsizing. Seems they were ready to hear that because they took the idea and ran with it. We have spent the past months packing, cleaning, sorting, packing, tossing, packing, and - at last - moving. Here are a few photos to document this massive change.

 Sometimes the kids were a big help with the moving.

Sometimes they weren't.

 I had the role of, well, Chief Bully. I tried to help Dave and Vicki part with some of their many possessions. I was not always gentle. In the end, I won sometimes and they won sometimes (can't we all be winners?), but we did a lot of work! Here they were tackling one of the store rooms and Dave had discovered the boxes of things from his classroom - put there 12 years prior. My favorite throw-out was a bottle of ibuprofen that he wanted to keep because surely it was still good. It had expired in 1996.

 Over Father's Day weekend, the family came en masse to finish the job and it was an all-hands-on-deck operation. Determined to leave the place in pristine condition, we had yard work to do, too! It was so much work. The garage at the new place was completely full of things, the dump and the donation station were frequent stops and we were all so tired. As such...

The in-laws (outlaws in this case!) were given a green light to open a bottle of wine Vicki had laying around. With no corkscrew in the house, it seemed almost cruel mockery! Nevertheless, we persisted (and sent a child to a neighbor to get the necessary tool!).

Saturday evening we roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and enjoyed reminiscing around the firepit once more.

There was a lot of laughter!

We went to church on Sunday and posed for a full family photo before resuming the work.

 A final game of catch before taking down the cages.

 Post church lunching on the porch.

Sunday evening there was a final kickball game on the lawn before everyone left. Dave and Vicki spent one final night in their home of 35 years.

 Monday came by and worked after school. Then on Tuesday, Bryan didn't go to work, but he did work! It was a day of finishing touches. Dave finished mowing the property.

 Moved the water once more

 and even cleaned the upper reaches of the garage. That place has NEVER been so clean.

Bryan had a couple friends come help take down the cages

and they drove them to our house along the canal bank!

And that was it for the house on C.4. While we reminisced around the fire, the memories people shared certainly involved their home, but more importantly they involved people. Those people will be at the new place, too, and we are excited to begin the next chapter of the Johnson family's story.