Here we are halfway through August and I have finally gotten around to downloading the photos off my camera, then uploading them to Picasa, so I can link them to my website. (Hmm no wonder I don't do it very often that's a lot of steps.) Here is a slide show of our month.
Anyway July was a busy month for us. Devon had play-class, t-ball, swimming classes and Zoo camp. Zoo camp was awesome! We got to go spend half a day at the zoo with his friend Zachary and a bunch of other 4-5 year olds for a week learning about animals and their senses. They got to pet animals in class, have zoo keeper talks, play games, and make art. His favorite was the Blue tongues Skink (?) its a lizard. and the Desert tortise - which he says he likes cause it has a little tiny bum. Silly boy.
Abi is a walking pro and is now moving onto perfecting her climbing skills. She is also figuring out how to empty all my cupboards, and is already working on outsmarting the baby-locks I do have on cupboards. She has discovered that toilet paper is fun to unroll and shred, and that bath toys can be played with in the toilet if no one see you. Her most favorite place to place is undoubtedly at Daddy's desk. She loves to bang on the keyboard while Darren is trying to type or empty all the batteries, mailing supplies, checkbooks, paper, etc. out of the drawers. She is a menace and an utter delight at the same time.
We also finally got the bark chips under the play-structure. We been trying to tame our yard - we are failing but we are at least trying. The sun finally started shining so we have been outside a bit more as a family also. We made it down to Sand in the City for the first time (the bring in something like 40,000 tons of sand and build sculptures in a city square). Not sure what we thought of it or if we'll ever go back.
I have been spending a bit of time on my sewing, and reading - just re-read Pride and Prejudice for our ward book club so much fun.
Darren has been working, trying to get little bits of house projects done, and spending as much time helping me with the kids as he can.
We also got a chance to see family as Darren's cousin Robyn, with family (Dave, Danielle and Timmy) came up to visit. Devon LOVED having the older kids to play with (and cater to him). Timmy is now his new idol and he is still constantly telling me about all the cool things Timmy can do and how he'll be able to do that too when he is 11 like Timmy. Danielle was great for hand holding and talking to non-stop. Abi loved all the attention too and was especially enamored with Dave and his watch. Cleo and Sadie loved having the kids there and jumped in the car to go with them when they were packing up to leave. Darren and I loved having all the extra help with the kids and getting to chat with such great people.
And lat but not least for the month, Darren gave a 1/2 hour keynote address at RTECC (Real Time and Embedded Computing Conference) here in Portland. Lots of stress and prep, but he felt it went well. 1/2 hour talk and then 1 hour of 1:1 questions afterwards. Great job Honey.
