Lookie Auntie Michelle

Ian slipped outside after dinner and in a few minutes he called for me to come see.  He found and caught the baby lizard, his first solo catch!  He was thrilled and wanted his Aunt to see.  The Cavan's headed back home to Oregon today.  We missed Seth today, though I think Ian relished the control of the T.V.  I wrangled ants from an interior invasion most of the day and cleaned house.

Fruit Thief 7-28

Look Larry who's stealing the ripening cherry tomatoes!!!

Michelle grazing on the tomatoes.

My pretty hibiscus.

 Michelle was wrangling lizards for the boys.

Crazy Boys 7-27

These boys are crazy and athletic.  Seth is pure muscle and so agile.  Ian is athletic too just in a different way...he's more a show man.  Landing on their bellies, shins and rears...I don't get how they aren't one giant bruise.  It is just a part of their day and I erroneously thought they might be tired and drop right off to sleep at night...

Seth is Michelle and Darel's, he's eight.

Ian is our eldest Andrea's oldest, he's nine and a half.

I've gotta go, I don't know what I did with the rest of Ian's, so more of him later.

Taking a Hike 7-26

A few times since the boys have been here Larry has gone on his morning hike and returned back home before the boys have gotten out of bed.  Last night he asked them if they wanted him to wake them up so they could go with him.  They both said yes.

It wasn't like it was at sun-up, it was around 7:30.  Seth roused and got dressed.  Ian was tougher.  Larry said he thought he was dead...Seth was rocking him back and forth and Ian  didn't move or even moan.  I have to laugh....Larry said Seth finally lifted one of Ian's eyelids and that is what finally woke the boy.


Then they start putting on sweat shirts!  I said they wouldn't need them, it was not cold (being so early I guess they figured it must be cold).  Next Seth decides that they need bottles of water, but doesn't want to carry them, so they both dump out their backpacks to put their drinks in.  They weren't having breakfast first (it would have been noon before they left), so then they had to decide on snacks.  Larry despaired of ever leaving. He kept telling them they would only be gone about an hour, they weren't hiking across the Serengeti.  Larry asked me if I wanted to go...I declined.  I wanted to do a little mucking out of the house while they were gone and I got the flowerbeds fertilized.  

They both had to take their i-pods.

As I half expected they took about twice as long as Larry thought, they didn't get back until 10:30.  But they were all still moving good and said they had a good time.


The boys brought me presents in their backpacks.  They know I love rocks and especially the white quartz so they picked them up along the trail and put them in their backpacks.  Of course they over loaded and Larry said they stopped a few times to toss out a few.  I still received a nice little collection.  They saw lizards and dragonflies, but Larry said he was shocked they even saw that much with all the noise they made. 

Heading out finally.

It was cooler today and the boys spent an hour or so on the slip n slide again.  I'll post more pictures of them sliding tomorrow...they are crazy!  I would have broken bones doing what they were doing!

Choosing the keepers.

Larry was taking a picture of the heron in the top
right dead part of the middle tree and all these
dragonflies were zooming about.

Naming "their" lizards.

Ian was in the lead.

Larry & Seth taking their time.

Seth's 

Ian's

Two Alpha-boys 7-23

Friday we were on the road to Yreka to meet Michelle and pick up Seth.  The boys struggled for supremacy the first day and have settled into a low level of challenge.  We have been working on compromise and negotiating solutions...ah the joy!

Breakfast in the garden.

Seth is Michelle's boy, he just turned 8.

They had been picking strawberries and Ian has
custody of the cup of berries.

The weather has been hot.  Last night after dark, about 11 p.m. nature's light show began.  The bright flashes and then the thunder drove the boys out of bed.  Larry was already on the deck so they sat out there for quite awhile watching and discussing whether they were in any danger.  It seemed to die down, but we could still see flashes and again around 3 a.m. another loud, bright batch came through with big wind and rain.  I had to close a few windows to keep out the rain.  It was still cloudy and dripping occasionally all morning, made for a steamy day.  It finally cleared out here, but we could see huge build-ups in the mountains.  There were quite a few lightning fires being chased by fire departments all afternoon.


This afternoon we pulled the boys away from their electronic entertainments with a double slip n slide.  They had a blast with that for a couple of hours.  Then it was pizza for dinner, a movie and mint chocolate chip ice cream...boy nirvana!