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week 30 in pictures

sunday:2011-07-24    our neighbors, who live on the lake, invited us for dinner. we had a lovely salmon dinner on the deck on a lovely summer evening. the kids enjoyed their hot tub, we had an amazing fly-by by two hot air balloons, and then we took a little paddle on the lake in one of their canoes. it was a very fun evening. we are blessed with a lot really wonderful neighbors.

monday:031     looked out the front window in the morning to see this pair feasting on my neighbor’s huckleberry bushes. we watched quietly and took pictures until they made their way across the street and toward my garden… then there was much shouting, window banging, and shane chasing them out of the yard!

tuesday:2011-07-241   well, not really. this was actually sunday, but I don’t have a picture for tuesday, but had 2 from sunday. the weather was FINALLY nice enough for shane (and micah and layla) to try out the slip & slide he got for his birthday. it was VERY entertaining to watch. shane was probably a little too big for it, given that he slid off the end every time. micah was probably a little to small and couldn’t figure out how to dive onto his belly. he kept doing these knee land/belly splats which were hilarious. layla decided she was feeling well enough to try it out a few times too.

wednesday:001    I was making a blenderful of smoothies in the morning, when I heard a ‘rattling’ sound. then the contents of the blender stopped mixing. I lifted up the pitcher and saw this! crazy!

thursday:001     I decided to try my hand at making some beef jerky. used angie’s recipe and a roast I had in the freezer and put it in my dehydrator. turned out pretty good!

friday:003    I posted this before. the kids playing restaurant after team-cleaning the table and stools.

saturday:010     after several days of rain and cold weather, it finally got warm enough to swim again. layla, in her stack of tubes.

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