Lightning Strike

I am not sure what it means when your house gets hit with lightning, except that the deductible is lower then when it gets hit with hail.  What I do know is that it is never a good sign to come home from getting some margaritas with the ladies and seeing a) the step stool, b) a flashlight, and c) some string in the hallway.  Just FYI people.  However, I came home from going out and saw just that.  Mark says to me, "don't worry, I have an idea."  This is also not a good thing...

So, while I was gone, Mark was sitting watching some tv, when yes, there was a storm, and yes, there was some loud thunder and bright lightning, but it wasn't really anything remarkable.  But then the smoke detector went off.  That is also not a good thing.  So, Mark went up to investigate and found this:





Many of the phone jacks/cables were black and the modem had been"shot across the room".  Also, the desk top computer that we had plugged into that modem no longer turned on.

Mark then went into the attic and saw this:





The way Mark describes it was "I looked up and saw the sky." which if you are in your house, no, not a good thing.

He then went outside and saw this:



The siding was blow into the trees.  He also saw this:



Gilbert caught a rat.  Not a mouse, a rat.  Mark is usually a liberal hippie when it comes of the lives of vermin, but inasmuch as our house just got hit by lightning, he let Gilbert enjoy his toy.

The next day, we saw this:





Really, we can't say enough on how lucky we were.  Not only that no one was hurt, but we had roofers out the next day to put a tarp up, and AT&T out the day after to repair internet and phone lines.  PLUS, for some reason, this was the catalyst to do many upgrades and clean out rooms and closets, which was also needed. PLUS, now we can tell people, "yeah, we had a lightning strike."

Rainbow Falls

It has been really hot here.  So hot that I had this idea we should go hiking in the mountains.  I knew it was going to be hot there too, but I was just hoping it would be less so.  The boys aren't really into that, but we talked them into it, by allowing them to bring their camera and/or leap pad.  They were cool with that:



But eventually for safety reasons, we had to put them away:



They took to running down the trail instead.  I don't know it you are thinking what I was thinking at the time, but it was something like they sure aren't running back up here!



We had some water and snacks:





Crossed a stream:



Eventually realized we shouldn't be there at all:



There was one last push uphill to get to the falls.  Andy just took over.  He did awesome.  "Mom, look how good I am doing!"



He was excited to reach the falls, although you can't tell by this picture.  This picture is really a tribute to this being Andy's day because he was so amazing.  Also, to prove he really can't take a good picture.



Yes, at the bottom of the falls was an area to swim, but it wasn't really kid friendly.  There are collage aged kids jumping off cliffs down there!  We saw them on the hike back and I  told them how cool it was that they did that, but then I told my kids to NEVER do that.  I think that made them feel bad:



We did find another little swimming hole on the way back.  It still wasn't kid friendly, but a little better:





The hike back was tough, but  we did it.  All in all, a fun day, but I don't think we will get James hiking again any time soon!

Reserving Judgement

Even though I work at a university, no, I do not get summer off!  Because of this, I had to find something for the kids to do since their school was out.  Unfortunately, there really aren't many options for kids who are not in elementary school yet, so we signed the kids up for the YMCA camp.  I have heard from other parents that they do use this camp as their summer day care so I figured, no big deal.  However, if you have been around me/talked to me at all this past month, you have probably heard me complain about this camp!  They are unorganized, they make the kids play outside in the rain, they make the kids play outside in the 100 degree heat, their bathing suits are destroyed, their clothes are ruined, James got sunburned, Andy had a tick, I don't like the drop off girl, blah, blah, blah, blah.  I am sure it has been very annoying.  However, we did go to the first Family Fun night, and it was....nice.  It was nice to see the kids being involved in their camp and doing camp things.  First of all, there was the pizza dinner.  This is James eating pizza!



It was a pretty nice spot.  It was at "The Waterfront".



After eating, the kids ran off to be crazy:



They eventually gathered in their groups.  That is their counselor, Magenta.  They all have funny names:



All the kids lined up to sing some songs.  I believe they were actually doing the "YMCA" here:



"This is a repeat-after-me song"



Then each group did a chant and a skit.  Both kids started off in "kinder camp".



It was really cute and it made me think that maybe this camp thing wasn't so bad.  James and Andy each got a special award.  James got the "Big Brother" award for helping out with Andy.  Andy got "Mr Smiles".  What?!?!  Andy Mr Smiles?!?  Well, hopefully it will still be ok!