Countdown

It's 26 hours until we leave for vacation and I'm almost packed and ready. It will be new for us not having Erik but I hope that we can make the most of it and have a good year. This year we won't be mailing wedding invitations, or looking at bubbles, bows or catering options. We are both taking along homework and textbooks but I've got plans to do most of my reading on the dock, with my swimsuit.

Erik is all packed up for Philmont and Brian will be helping the crew drive back across Nebraska. It's kind of odd getting him ready to be gone for 2 solid weeks.

Hard to believe summer is halfway over already!

Ankles Are Stupid

On Friday I wrote about our super fun holiday weekend. Friday night we went to Brian's Aunt Patty's house to spend time with family. We played Rock Band and had a blast. Who knew Brian and Jeff should have had a garage band?

Saturday morning Erik and I met up with the scouts for a hike in Pioneers Park and on our way down the very last hill I twisted my ankle. Badly.... so badly that 5 days later I am still in love with the ice pack and the ACE bandage. Brian got the joy of doing Erik's mission trip laundry and we only made it to 2 of the 4 weekend parties that we had planned to attend.

This week we have stayed busy with band projects, work and getting the sprinklers repaired. Only 8 more days til vacation so I'm hoping to be healed up by then. Can't wait for Ely - time with family, the dock, the rocks, the boat, the cabin, the blueberries.....sometimes 8 days is a really long time!

Holiday Weekend

Last year for the 4th of July we were on call for our engagement pictures. It feels like it was just yesterday! Looks like this might be a rainy weekend too.

We're triple booked for the weekend and everything sounds like a lot of fun. Erik will get home from his first mission trip today so tonight I'll have some pretty stinky laundry to contend with. About 9 last night I realized that we sent Erik out for the week with plenty of clothes, things to shower with, swim trunks, flip flops, toys and games.... but not one single towel... We'll definitely have to remember that for next week's list!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

On a "Mission"

Erik is spending this week in Schuyler with vacation bible school and next week in Kansas City working on a Presbyteria Church Camp. We're getting a few texts from him each day with updates on how things are going and he seems to be enjoying himself.

All the mowing is caught up for another week, ok I lied, I'll be mowing again tomorrow but our house and my mom's house are both mowed =) Tonight Brian and I are having date night, we just have to convince Cache the basset hound that it's our date night and not his. I suspect we'll have to play with his rope, his tennis ball and his squeaky flip flop while we try to watch a movie. It's nice to have a little break though.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Last year we had the summer that wasn't, this year we're creeping up on July with staggering temperatures. We had our garage sale Friday and Saturday, and I learned that next time (the first weekend in August) we will be advertising in the paper. Craigslist and signs just weren't enough. Saturday we saw a heat index of 106, which makes you wonder how much you can possibly sweat!

Erik survived his week as a day camp counselor last week and is spending this week on a mission trip in Schuyler Nebraska providing a Vacation Bible School program. We told him to drink plenty of water and to liberally apply bug spray since Schuyler was one of the areas in Nebraska with significant flooding.

Brian and I are hoping to get some work done on our house "to-do" lists while Erik is away and we're on the vacation countdown since it is a short 18 days until we leave for Ely!

Prototype - Approved!

We met with the band staff last night and the prototype for this year's marching props was approved!!! We are getting together with the prop master and the engineer Friday night to start on the rest of our projects. We have 4 or 5 more things to build and we'll be spending lots of time at the hardware store!

This weekend we'll also be hosting the first of 2 or 3 garage sales for the year. We've got many contributors this time so it should be a good sale.... Erik is working at cub scout day camp again and it's very nice to have him drive himself. Sunday he'll leave for a week long mission trip so Brian and I are trying to figure out a couple date nights while he's gone. Too bad there's all that construction to get in the way.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button

Tonight is Band Button Night at our house =) We're having the people who used to do the buttons come over to teach Brian and I, AND the new people who are doing the photos and button making how this is all going to work! We will also get to do the first test on the cannon prototype. I'm SO excited!!! Last night the "team" got through all the gluing and I tried hard to serve as the runner. If this works we'll demo it for the band director and the program writer this weekend.

Friday afternoon, the three of us are going to go help the Nebraska Community Blood Bank in their attempt to be the worlds largest human blood drop. We're all going to wear red and get into formation!

We're really looking forward to our week in Ely, I've already set aside the books I want to take along and I'm continuing to dream about the dock and the blueberries! Can't wait for the lake!