August 2019

Hazel went to a volleyball camp at the high school for a week. She is really enjoying the sport and looking forward to fall season. She's been recruiting friends to play with her. 

While she was there, I took Gemma and Jack up to Tilden Little Farm in Berkeley to feed the cows, goats, and sheep. It was hot in Livermore, but foggy and pretty chilly there. We wished we had brought hoodies! I'd been meaning to take the kids all summer, but Hazel wasn't interested, so this turned out to be a good time to try it out.  We needed something fun to fill the morning with before our afternoon flight out to Utah, and everyone ended up happy. 

We made a quick trip (Thursday evening to Sunday night) to Utah for my family reunion. Our first stop Friday morning was to visit my Grandpa Bingham. It was nice to see him and feel of his peaceful spirit. 

The kids' favorite part of visiting Grandpa is always seeing the barn kitties that are in his backyard. It's hard to even get the kids to come inside and see Grandpa for a few minutes. All they want to do is hold these fuzzy little babies that seem to be there every summer. They all seemed so cute and happy and the kids somehow tricked Todd and me, because it didn't take long for them to convince us that we ought to have a kitty, too. We didn't even tie it in with pushup goals or anything - they just begged and we said sure. Not sure how that happened... We spent the rest of the month researching outdoor cats and planning for our new arrival.

We toured some old pioneer town, which meant riding around on a tractor wagon and stopping to look at old houses, in the 100 degree heat. I feel like we're the only ones in my family who don't love to do this, but we were good sports about it. We stopped at an old church and the kids were allowed to play on the organ. They whipped out their Armies of Helaman duet.

Then we went to Lava Hot Springs and played our hearts out at the water park. I think we love that stuff more than anyone else in my family, too. We Bonners could have easily spent the entire day rocking it on the water slides, but the rest of the crew seemed bushed after a couple of hours.

My dad set up their tent in the backyard and had a sleepover with all the 5-and-up grandkids. Evidently he snored a lot and Hazel rolled around a lot. It made nice memories.

Saturday we did odd jobs around the house and yard for my mom and dad. We washed windows and shutters, pulled weeds and trimmed flower beds, changed light bulbs, polished wood, sorted through boxes in the garage, and more. It was very satisfying to see how much our big group could accomplish in under two hours.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the house. We had plans to go up to the canyon, but my dad pulled his back out weeding and we didn't want to leave him out of the party, so it all ended up based from home.

Todd got restless, so he and I and the kids took off for a couple of hours in the afternoon, exploring used book stores and game shops in downtown Logan.

We needed another escape in the evening, so we pulled Isaac and Doug out with us and went for ice cream at Sonic. It was late, and the kids were wild. It was fun cousin time.

We brought Isaac along in our car as much as we could. The cousins bond a lot during drive time. He calls our car the "Bonner Shuttle." Todd always makes sure to turn it into a party with music and swervy moves on the road. Even still, sometimes the kids in the shuttle tank out.

Sunday after church we visited Grandma Holley. She is such a natural hostess, it's always easy to get comfortable at her place. We brought a big dinner with us to share, and set up tables to eat at. Everyone talked a lot, and several people played the piano. Doug taught Hazel a little about jazzy improv playing, and they jammed out together.

After Grandma's, we had just an hour before we needed to be at the airport. We stopped and saw Todd's old roommate, Tim Lundell, and his family. We had a great visit, and are kicking ourselves for not thinking to take a picture until after we'd left. Old friends are the best friends.

We were home between trips for half a week. The kids had a swim lesson, Jack went to chess camp for the last time this summer, we hit the movies for dollar days and were pleasantly entertained by Penguins of Madagascar, we had some play dates with friends, and Hazel was invited to hang some of her art work at the library with a friend's class gallery. She felt so cool. Check out her still life top left and her self-portrait top right.

I don't know what Todd and I were thinking when we booked our Alaska tickets, but we ended up with a seven hour layover in Seattle. We decided to venture out and take the train to Pike's Place. The kids thought the market was cool, and we found a cheese shop that sold perfect cheese slicers. Ours has been on its last leg for, like, a year, and we thought we would never find an adequate replacement. Todd stole our original from his sister Beany, who got hers in Switzerland, and we've thought for a long time we would have to take a trip to Europe to replace it when it gave out. We still might have to, actually, because this Seattle cheese slicer is a little sub-par, but at least it's better than anything else we've found so far. Anyway...

We met up with my mom and my brother Chris shortly before our flight from Seattle to Sitka took off - just enough time to compare seat numbers and rearrange things so the kids could sit by Nana and Chris on the way over. I was a few rows up from Chris and Gemma and couldn't believe how many miles a minute Gemma chatted the entire two hour flight. It was adorable.

We had fun showing off Sitka to Mom and Chris, mostly doing a Favorites Highlight trip. We snagged pizza from the Mean Queen.

We drove up Harbor Mountain to enjoy the panoramic views.

We drove up the secret road behind the bear sanctuary and peeked at the bears for free. 

We visited the Totem Park museum and learned about the Tlinget and Russian histories of the area. Jack found a sample piece of otter fur and stood there stroking it, hand over hand, hypnotically, for a good ten minutes. And then I saw him go back and do it again at last once more, maybe twice. He's got such a thing for soft stuff. 

We walked the trail and picked red huckleberries. Most of them went straight in our mouths, but Hazel had a goal to pick enough to make pie, so she was pretty focused.

At the middle of the trail, we veered off to a spot along the Indian River and just hung out and watched bald eagles soar around. I took a bunch of video, but sadly don't have any good pictures.

Jack, of course, helped Todd drive the boat.

Gemma was sassy and cute and playful everywhere we went.

Hazel read everywhere we went.

Todd hooked us up with this cool opportunity to watch Nick (a local guy) catch salmon with a net. It was crazy cool.

It was also a little intimidating, as there were bear warning signs everywhere. I didn't let the kids wander out of my sight and couldn't quite relax.

The kids enjoyed telling stories and playing games with Nana and Chris.

 

We bought souvenirs and ice cream in town.

We kept our eyes peeled for marine life. We found lots of starfish and jellyfish, and once saw a group of otters floating on their backs out in the middle of the ocean. Todd spotted a whale while he was driving the boat, but it only surfaced the one time, so no one else was lucky enough to see it this trip.

We enjoyed the beautiful views everywhere we went. This one is from the cabin's dock. I'm disappointed with most of my pictures. They just can't capture it.

Our last day in Sitka, we went on my favorite hike, to Salmon Lake. We have to drive the boat half an hour or so between the gorgeous mountains to get there, then anchor the boat and take the dingy to shore. 

We went in small groups. Gemma rowed us the whole way there. She is one determined lady!

Jack studied up on the local plants and had a favorite he liked to spot - Devil's club. It's got huge leaves and is very spiky, so it's best not to touch it.

Hazel found a mossy tree to lean against. She said it was comfortable enough to sleep on. The way the light was filtering through the trees, it seemed like we were in some magical fairy world.

The trail is so beautiful, rugged and mossy and green and ... magical. There's no way around it. I love it.

We reached our usual spot a mile in and the kids were ready to wade in the water and eat our picnic, but we couldn't do it. The water is super low this year, which means the bears have been having a hey day with the salmon. The area smelled like rotten meat. It was totally nasty. We were disappointed to come all that way and have build up such anticipation, for a complete letdown.

Luckily, we decided to continue on the trail for a little longer and try to find a better spot to have our picnic. And boy, did we ever find it!

There was a camping cabin along the lake, with a dock and a boat and a fishing pole. It was one thousand percent heaven on earth. We spent hours there, just sitting on the dock, basking in the beauty of the place.

The kids collected minnows and even named them. 

It was sunny and ~kind of~ warm and the kids stripped down to swimsuits. The girls even jumped out of the boat and swam around a bit. Jack cast that fishing pole over and over and over again.

Todd even got in the water for a quick minute, just to say he did.

Guys, it was paradise and I never wanted to leave. It's my happy place. I love Sitka's Salmon Lake.

We got stuck in the Seattle airport again on the way home, this time with a flight that kept getting delayed. It was super lame.

When we got home, we only had a few days left until school was starting. All those summer trips packed so close together really made time rush by. None of us felt ready for school to begin.

We took advantage of our last Saturday and went to Berkeley's Adventure Park. It's been on our bucket list for a good long while now. I'm so glad we finally made it! That place is awesome! It's full of structures made by kids. There's wood and hammers and nails and paint and they're told to go for it, so everywhere you look, there's ongoing projects - new stairs added, double slides, hideouts galore. There's a decent zip line and even a piano, and the kids can take home anything they build. They loved every minute of it. We'll be back for sure!

The kids started back at Croce on August 19th. Hazel is in 5th grade, Jack in 3rd, and Gemma in 1st. It's glorious having them all at the same school, on the same schedule. We scooter or bike or roller blade to school every day, and the kids are just about always happy during the journey. It's a great way to start the day. I'm thankful we live within biking distance to the school.

Jack comes home with happy reports about his class and friends and teacher every day. He's having a great start to the year. 

Gemma had quite the disappointment finding out that first grade would be full of new people and different routines than kindergarten. She had such high hopes for school, but isn't really loving it yet this year.

Hazel seems to be feeling some anxiety about next year's step into middle school, and hasn't been as excited about school yet as she usually is.

Since Hazel was feeling a little lack-luster about going back to school, we had her throw an impromptu back to school party to get the juices flowing. She made the invitations after school on Monday, passed them out on Tuesday, and had a big group of girls over on Wednesday. It was a blast! I love our awesome backyard. I"m grateful for it every day.

I glanced over at the kids during church and realized I wanted to document how they've been keeping quiet and happy during Sacrament Meeting lately. Hazel designed this 2D house, and they each have a dot to play with. They move them around the board and whisper and play quietly with it and it's actually really, really cute. Sure, I wish they were listening to the talks. But you have to admit, that's pretty creative!

My friend Katie and I have plans to attend the temple once a month while the kids are in school now that the temple is open again and Katie's youngest is in kindergarten. I'm excited to be able to attend more regularly. The last time it was open, Gemma was in preschool and I didn't have enough time to get there and back while she was at school. It's a new era!

We went to the Humane Society to pick out our kitty while they were still on Back to School sale and everyone was having a hard time choosing between two of the cats. We ended up getting both of them. (Look at those begging faces!)

We named them Ginger and Nutmeg.

We planned to keep them in the garage for a few weeks while they got used to their new territory, but we got home and it was, like, 200 degrees in the garage. We ended up putting them in the playroom, thinking it would be a short term solution. Todd was mad that night, and by Sunday afternoon, he was positively hostile, What were we thinking, going to get one outdoor cat and coming home with two indoor cats?! He was on the brink of feline murder, but I managed to keep him at bay for one more night. We spent Labor Day getting supplies at Home Depot and building a cat run in the backyard out of temporary fencing.

The plan was to keep the kitties in there for about a week, but then I took them to the vet for their shots and found out they need one more round at the end of September and was strongly advised to not let them roam free until they were finished with their vaccinations. So it's temporarily quite inconvenient, but the kids go in the cat run every day to feed and play with the cats, and we've started bringing them in to the playroom for the afternoons to stave off boredom/depression. Hopefully when we let them free in a few weeks, they'll still call this place home, and we'll have happy cats that wander around whenever they feel like it, but also come over and let the kids feed and pet them. And I wouldn't mind if they scared away all the rodents in the area, either.

July 2019

We had another awesome Fourth of July. Fruit pizza for breakfast. Playing outside all day. Went to see Aladdin at the theater downtown, then grabbed pizza and played games in the street with friends while we waited for it to get dark. The fireworks were awesome, of course.

We went to the County Fair this year because Hazel had some art work on display and we wanted to check it out.

The kids' favorite part was probably the petting area. Hazel stroked this llama for-e-ver. Gemma and Jack were mesmerized by the darling baby goats.

My favorite part was watching the Alaskan pig race. It was funny.

Todd thought he could beat the system and grab the $100 that was hanging at the top of the rock wall that no one else could climb all the way. He came close, but no, he didn't succeed.

Gemma is such a sparkling, funny person. She brings our family lots of laughter and I'm so grateful she's one of us.

Jack attended a week of Cub Scout day camp and totally loved it. He hiked and dug in the sand at the lakeshore and learned to tie knots and performed a goofy skit. 

We finally got some raspberries in our garden! We're still not sure what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong; we've got two boxes and are only getting berries out of one of them. But we're sure enjoying what we are getting! Hopefully next year will be even more productive.

Our garden has kept us in constant supply of tomatoes and cucumbers. I've been enjoying delicious, fresh salads and sandwiches with them all summer long. 

Our plum trees had a bumper crop this year and we had to figure out what to do with all that tiny, tart fruit. We decided to try fruit leather, and I think it was a good choice. It's tasty! We were busy with the process for two weeks straight, though, so I'm glad it's behind us.

The plums are cherry-sized and cling to their pits, so they're a bit of a pain to work with. We must have picked at least 20 gallons of them over the course of the two weeks. I'm not kidding! Then we washed them, boiled them, used the hand mixer to knock the pits loose, strained all the pits out (this was seriously the worst part of it all), pureed them, added peaches to them to sweeten them up, and then poured the puree into the dehydrator, which would run for about 14 hours a batch.

 When they were done drying, we'd peel them off the trays, cut them into 8ths, roll them up, wrap them up, and bag them for the freezer. Then we'd pour more puree on the trays and set it running again. It was kind of insane! We all celebrated when we finished our final batch. Also, we're hoping the birds will eat more of our plums next year. 

The kids earned free passes to Six Flags through a reading challenge at school, so Todd took a day off work and we all played hard all day. Gemma wasn't tall enough to ride the truly crazy roller coasters, so Todd took one for the team and rode them with the big kids while I took Gemma on some tamer rides. But we spent a lot of time all together as well. There was plenty to ride and to see that everyone could take part in. We even watched a dolphin show and a tiger show.

We had our final weeks of swim season in July. All the kids swam well and made some great progress from their stats last year. Gemma never once rested on the lane line during a meet, and everyone shaved off time. Jack was invited to participate in the Championship meet swimming backstroke and breaststroke. We got smart and started setting up our shade tent next to friends, so every meet was a party. Our kids put down their books and started drawing, playing dolls, and playing games instead. It helped pass the time better for everyone. 

Todd planted 18 tomato plants this year. I don't know what we were thinking. It's been crazy. We had to add checking the garden to the kids' daily chores, and no one likes picking all the tomatoes. We've been giving them out to neighbors left and right, but we can't eat them fast enough. I've been making freezer spaghetti sauce with the insane surplus. It better be good!

We got together with the Hopes and Dixes for dinner and no one took pictures?!?! We had delicious tacos and loved our time together.

Jack, Adam, and Jonah had a summer reunion at Jonah's birthday party. I just love his good friends.

Jack has also been going to a weekly chess club. 20-30 kids meet and play different variations of chess for a couple of hours. He loves it. 

We spent a long weekend at Lake Tahoe for a Bonner family reunion. Everyone made it out except for Kelsi's family. 

There were so many of us that we had to rent two houses. We met up at one or the other for breakfast and dinner each day. Thursday night, a few of us made a reconnaissance trip to Pope Beach to see what we could expect for the next day. We lucked out and saw a lovely sunset while we were there.

My kids were thrilled to spend time with Luna. She remembered us and was sweet and fun to be with. 

We spent Friday at the beach. The water was beautiful and not as cold as I had expected. The kids all got in and played hard. We brought our body boards, even though there were no real waves to ride, because we knew the kids would love using them to float around on.

Kenley, Carli, and Jack made a sweet mini golf course.

Missy brought volleyball, and just about everyone played at some point. It was a fun day.

Saturday we went for a hike to Angora Lake, where we kayaked and cliff jumped.

Then we drove along a crazy narrow, windy, and crowded mountain road to see the beautiful Glen Alpine waterfall. Todd took the kids on a climb and then helped them slide down a section. All the kids loved it. I was a little bit stressed watching it all, hoping no one would get hurt. Thankfully, all was well. 

It was fun to be together with everyone. I'm thankful to have married into such a great family. 

Sunday morning we parted ways. We went to church in South Lake Tahoe before heading home, luxuriating in our four hour drive home. 

The last week of July, Hazel and her friend Kate participated in a volleyball clinic at the high school. They are looking forward to fall season. 

We celebrated Harry Potter's birthday with ice cream and a party for Todd's primary class. Everyone came over for pizza, zip lining, and some Hogwartian games.