Ryan's leg

Ryan had his cast taken off last Monday morning- just in time for the water ski trip. I think he enjoyed grossing everyone out who came to stare at his skinny calf and gnarly scar. (Warning: graphic pictures follow)

Grandpa Haslam

Ryan's Grandpa died last Monday. Kimball Haslam was 93 and had been declining in health for some time. The funeral was yesterday followed by a huge pancake feast (whole wheat pancakes with honey butter were a specialty of Grandpa's) attended by about 60 family members. As far as funerals go it was a happy one, an occaision to remember a good, long, well lived life instead of mourning a life ended too soon. In spite of this Ryan and I still managed to stand in front of the microphone and cry through our duet instead of singing. Oh well. I didn't know him as well or as long as most of the family, but I'll always have fond memories of the few horseback rides he took Ryan and I on, and I'll always be proud that he called me "Shorty."

Whew. This summer is going by fast and I have a lot to catch up on. On the 4th we had all the Haslams over to experience the 100+ degree heat. Here is the slip 'n slide: a photo essay.

That last one is Luke and Ben in the deflated bouncy castle.

Since I knew it would be so hot, I found a game that I thought might cool everyone off. I got a bunch of T shirts wet (there was some amazement at how many T shirts Ryan has), wrung them out, and then folded them up and froze them overnight. Everybody got a shirt and the first person to get their shirt unfolded and put it on was the winner.

And the winner is . . . . . Sam! Mandy was a close second. I guess some of the shirts were a little too frozen. Next year I'll know better.

A couple of weeks ago I visited Descanso Gardens near Pasadena. Charlie came with me. It was nice, but I'll definitely have to go back in the Spring when something is actually in bloom. We did see a lot of wildlife (a toad, dragonflies, butterflies, big huge fish, turtles).

Can you find the toad in that picture (above)?And the turtle in that one?

This one of Charlie walking across the grass reminded us of something from Calvin and Hobbes.

Cutest baby ever.

Weirdest picture of me ever. Charlie is still cute, though. This was in the parking lot right by our car, but the yellow flowers were the most colorful we saw the whole time. Ryan wants to make sure I explain why I look so uncomfortable. I wanted to make sure we got the flowers in the shot, and both of us, and I was trying to keep Charlie from grabbing the camera. This was my best attempt.

Mission Accomplished

Craigslist came through for me in the end. I was able to sell the Toby Keith tickets and I also found tickets to another concert I really wanted to go to (Coldplay, if you're curious). Has anyone else ever used Craigslist? It feels a little weird when you go meet the person. First of all, you have to be careful and meet in a public place and all of that. And it just feels kind of shady, handing over a wad of cash for whatever it is you're buying (or the other way around). It's just that both parties, the seller and the buyer, don't want to be the victim of a scam so both are probably extra suspicious (are these fake tickets? Is this counterfeit money?) I think most scams involve fake checks or requests for wiring money, so I wasn't too worried since I was dealing with cash. Luckily I don't think I look too intimidating and luckily both of my transactions were with nice young women. I had Charlie with me when I bought the Coldplay tickets so I looked extra safe. I guess we'll find out at the concert if my tickets are the real deal.

Magic Mountain

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to Magic Mountain. Alex got a free ticket from school, and we went with our neighbor who was nice enough to let us use some of her extra tickets. They just opened a little Thomas the Train area so we went to check it out. Of course we went on a day when it was 110 degrees. Luckily there was a lot of shade and the kids area wasn't too crowded, but I could only stand it for a couple of hours.

This was a tweety bird ride where the kids were all locked in cages.

The view from a ride on Thomas.

This was a little roller coaster. This ride is for kids only, no adults, and I was curious how Benjamin would do. He made it through the first lap around, but wasn't expecting it to go around again and he kind of lost it. Our neighbor Paul (riding behind Alex) wasn't expecting that second lap either, and he ducked his head way down in his seat. I couldn't get a good picture of the aftermath, but this is before it started.

We spent the most time (because it was shaded) in a little play area with lots of little foam balls that could be vacuumed up or shot out of air guns, etc. Charlie kept feeding balls into this tube for a about a half an hour. I was a little miserable from the heat, but the kids did great. They were trying to figure out where the actual "mountain" was and why it was "magic".