Camping!

It's summer so what better thing to do than go camping? We are off to a local lake - Lake Casitas for a week starting the Monday after the 4th. In addition to the regular camping facilities they have a waterpark, fishing, bicycle rentals and ranger talks. Now I'm more of a bed and breakfast sort of vacationer but when you have 4 kids you sometimes have to economize a bit. So it's tents and cooking over the open flame for a week. I think Eli and Corey will enjoy themselves- Eli because he's such a little heathen and Corey because she's adventurous.

In other news Kim's basketball team has won another game making them 3-1 and in 2nd place in the standings! Looks like we'll make it to the playoffs in August.

New Window

We have a new window in the van! A very nice friend from church generously fixed it for us tonight and we are now secure again. Although having had a window smashed in I'm not as convinced that cars are all that secure! Regardless I'm thrilled to have the window and very grateful to know someone talented enough to fix it for us!

Summer Fun

We were at Big Lots the other day picking up some bargains on snacks and came across a hair highlighting kit for dark brown / black hair. So now we all have highlights! Even Eli. Just some fun for the summer. It came out best on Alia.

School's Out!

So we headed to Golf N Stuff with the passes Jean sent us for Christmas and a friend of Kim's. Of course the go cart /race cars HAD to be the first stop! There was no way Eli was going to wander around a golf course when there were race cars right there! No pictures from that because I was driving and those things do not have power steering! Here are some photos of the other events.

Moving!

The time has come to move (again - sigh). Our house in Colorado sold - with the bank's help- but after paying the bank, realtor, and closing costs we were left with a small debt rather than any profit. We won't be purchasing the house we are leasing and the owners would like to be able to sell it so we are packing up.

We are still looking at options for our next abode and hoping to raise some money for the move through yard sales and my Ebay listings. I'm making a big push there- lots of electic things to be listed! We are drastically reducing our belongings (again). This no longer bothers me because I know how easy it is to acquire more and more stuff regardless of one's resolution to simplify!

Stay tuned for the next chapter in our roller coaster life!

Movie

Clip from Kim's latest Wildcat Basketball game. Appologies for the quality- I need a better camera! Kim is #4 in the blue uniform.

More Bball

Kim finished the YMCA spring basketball league last night. Now we'll just concentrate on Wildcat ball! Here's her YMCA photo.

Families

Clearly I'm not in the position to provide a home for any more kids (unless I win the lottery). But maybe some of you reading this are in that position! I suspect the current economic situation may lead to more broken families and kids who need a family. At Kim's recent basketball game I met one of her team mate's parents- and found out that they had adopted 3 kids - all domestically. If you are interested in learning more about domestic adoption check out Wednesday's Child Website -
http://adopt.org/servlet/page?_pageid=289&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30
there are lots of kids who will thank you!

Air Conditioning

Went out to take the kids to school this morning and discovered we no longer need to worry about the non-functioning AC in the car! Someone has ensured that we'll have plenty of fresh air!

They pried open a back window spraying glass everywhere (even on top of the car) and ransacked the car, stealing my GPS unit and gas money ($20 I keep in the glove compartment for emergencies). They popped open the part of the dash with the radio and ripped it out but only took the faceplate and left the body behind! They didn't get the DVD player- not sure if they didn't see it or couldn't get it out (it's below the temp controls in this photo).

It's the smallest of straws some times that just flatten you.