Stuff

Today you get a hodgepodge of information and quotes since I won't have the time to put together a anything coherent until after the play. So in no particular order:

Frank turned 10 years old! We celebrated by bringing his friends and cousin, Gabby, to the ball pit in PK's. My sister and Elena joined us, which was nice for me so I didn't have to be the only adult! Oh yeah - Seth wasn't there because he went with his brother Craig to hunt elk in Colorado. No luck, unfortunately, but they had some good bonding time out in nature and brought our vehicle back in one piece (with only 1 flat tire on the way out). 

Sam was a jot dog for the 11th grade homecoming parade. His class won for best float. We're pretty sure the hot dog costume was the deciding factor in their win.

During their last visit, Maria mentioned to Charlie that both of Gabby's grandmas are named Helen (or Helen and Hellen to be exact). Charlie didn't skip a beat and immediately  responded with "What the Helen?"

Backtracking yet again, I don't believe I mentioned that Elena officially started at SDSU! She's doing great and adjusting well to college life. One thing she misses is having a place to clean. Keeping her dorm clean isn't satisfying enough so she's planning to come home this weekend just to do some "deep cleaning." I'm not going to complain! She must get it from my mom. When I told her, she said she used to defrost the freezer in the shared dorm fridge at college when she got the itch to clean.

Papi had a bumper crop of apples this year and the boys were happy to take them off his hands to sell. Between the two boys, I think they delivered well over 100 pounds if apples!

The weekend before Frank's birthday, I brought the kids to Brookings to visit Elena. We went to the children's museum in town while we were there. Charlie spent most of his time on the SDSU campus looking for his former baseball coach, Tate, who also happens to be a classmate of Elena's. He stopped just short of asking every person we passed if they knew Tate. We were not able to stop him from yelling "Tate! Are you there?" outside of open dorm windows as we walked by.
 

And lastly, here are a few pictures from Bug Days. First is Olivia pushing Captian Jack in a stroller (after Seth gave him yet another bottle of rum). At one point during the weekend I walked towards home through the back parking lot of the grocery store only to find Charlie eating fries by himself on a crate behind the dumpsters. I asked what he was doing there and he said, "I do this every year. There's always a few crates sitting here so I just use them for my table and chair." Well, ok then. I guess it's tradition. The last is Little Red Riding Hood in the kiddie parade. Sam escorted the bug days princess, Clare, but I can't seem to find a picture. 

And lastly a quote from Olivia!

Me: We really need to move all these bikes from in front of our house. It looks terrible. 

Olivia: Mom! It just adds character!!