The great summer of '17

What an amazing summer of fun, family, driving, and Janet. It was a very busy summer, with a lot of traveling, a lot of fun, and a lot of growing. We started the summer by doing some summer cleaning and getting rid of old clothes. It's been a common practice to go through clothes, find the clothes that don't fit anymore, and then move on. UNTIL, I came across one blue and white shirt. One little shirt that a 3 year old moved in with. The last of clothes that he could fit into as he started his life with us. I'm really surprised that he still fit into it all the way until 5, but didn't know it would be so sad to see it go. But apparently you can't keep kids small forever. BTW...i'm saving the shirt. :)

Camping

Starting out the summer camping was a great choice. I liked camping as a kid, and i'm excited that my kids are also as excited to go camping. We spent a weekend helping to setup the summer camp for the Girl Scouts of America. It was a great adventure where we did a lot of cleaning, fixed some platforms, and ate a lot. 

Almost Canada

The next family adventure was a very long car ride to visit with great-grandparents to almost Canada (aka Northern Idaho). For such a long car ride, the kids did surprisingly well. Only a few tantrums, but Jay just needed food, then the tantrums stopped. One of the joys our kids get is to interact with some of their great-grandparents. They got to play with them, cook with them, talk and just lay around and be lazy with them. It was also a great time to hang out with cousins. Not everyone keeps in touch with cousins all the time. With life, things happens, people move, but we will continue to strive to keep the cousin bond as they grow.

Summer Activities

A plethora of random activities this included a baby shower...and one that I enjoyed going to as it involved painting, food, and games. All of the kids have bikes now, and after some training, everyone is able to ride a 2 wheel bike. The first outing was a lot of fun. We have learned that although they may know how to peddle on the bike, stopping is not as easy for them. After a few runins with some pools and the ground, we are able to get around our neighborhood successful without any broken bones.

It was also great to have my team from work over for a nice BBQ. When you work with great people, it's nice to be able to just sit back and relax with them also. During some of the summer BBQs, we had a visitor in our backyard. Barry the Buck stayed in the backyard from June through September. I hope he comes back next year.

And sadly, the littlest Kolbet-Clausell has graduated from Pre-K and started K. He was happy to be able to be in the same school as his older siblings, but also sad to say goodbye to his favorite teacher. The next time I move on from one job to another, i'll have to remember to take a page out of his book and wear a superhero costume.

Utah Bound

With the school closing in on the kids, we slipped in one more road trip to see more cousins. This is the first summer where the kids have had the opportunity to see most of their cousins, not at the same time, but throughout the summer. Not sure if we will be able to do that again in the future, but it's nice to see how everyone has grown.

The city so nice they named it twice

Included in our summer adventure was a brief trip to NYC to be tourist, and hang out with some of our favorite people. Since we didn't have kids with us, some people decided to be like kids and run through the water. At least it was a beautiful day in New York. While in New York, we took some time to see all that we could, including the play Wicked. It was a lot funnier than I anticipated. I recommend seeing it to those that have not yet.

Fantastic Summer!

It truly was a great summer. Although it technically happened in the Fall, our summer ended with seeing Ms. Jackson live on stage at the GSR. What a great entertainer. Can't wait to see what next summer brings.