Goodbye June - Hello July!

Wow...time flies when you are having fun.  Seemed like just the other day the kids got out of school and we had the whole month of June in front of us.  Now we are past the 4th of July, summer has officially kicked into high gear and we are just a few weeks away from August!  Yikes!

June marked the end of a couple things.  First, another awesome school year.  Maddie finished the year with straight A's all 4 quarters.  Steph and I are thankful for both Maddie's desire to learn and for her awesome teachers at Hope.  We are also puzzled on where she gets it!!  Kenzie officially graduated from Pre-School and is ready as ever for Kindergarten.  She has a huge heart and love helping out whenever and whereever she can.  Prediction for Kenzie's profession was a teacher and we can believe it.  The other end, was Mike's 10 year long run with Daptiv.  He bloged about it on his new blog (http://mikejensen.posterous.com/) and is taking it all in stride. Daptiv was a great place for him to get a ton of experience and he is excited about finding that next challenge.  It couldnt have come at a better time with the summer in front of us and opportunity to be with all the girls a little more.  He is actively networking and meeting a lot of great people so we are excited about what might be next.

In June we also went on a group camping trip with a bunch of friends.  The same group where we have always had some kind of "run in" on our adventures.  One time it was a huge rainstorm the day we arrived...the next time it was an ER trip after a knife/carving incident.  This time, no major injuries, but the weather got us again.  First night was great...second night was OK...but the next morning..the morning we were packing up and heading home..DOWNPOUR!  Either way, it was a ton of fun with great friends.  Later in June we also had the chance to hang out with the Lakewood Jensens who were up for their annual NW visit.  We packed the days with fun times, and the kids loved every minute of it.  I think all the cousins were up early every morning asking what was next.  Our highlight was probably the Lincoln Park trip where the kids played on the ZIP line, worked on a little curve ball with Ben and enjoyed the swing set.  Always great to see and hang out with family and the cousins!

As we moved into July, we hit July 4th weekend.  Fingers were crossed that we would get some great weather for a change, but that was about 3 days late (just wrapped up some 90 degree heat).  Either way we made the best of our time.  Friday night we had dinner with Jenn and Tracy who were staying down at Hood Canal.  It was a great time to catch up and make some smores. Saturday was the big Tahuya Parade.  A parade where anyone that really wants to, can be in the parade.  Usually some great "floats" that make us all chuckle. 

There are hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, etc...An all American experience.  It was great to have the Doerrs and the Millers there with us...so along with all our family we had almost an entire block of chairs saved on the parade route. 

That night was a prelude to the Fireworks show for the 4th.  When the 4th came, it was GO TIME....The folks on Maggie Lake spare no expense and really do it right.  2 1/2 hours of non-stop fireworks...and BIG stuff..no roman candles and sparklers...big stuff like Lake Union stuff.  Anyway, it was a great show, and a great time.  The girls even got a chance to get in the water...Weather didnt stop them!

Whew...so here we are.  Post West Seattle Summer Fest (aka Sidewalk sale) and in mid-July.  More family coming to town in the next couple weeks and then we are on the home stretch for back to school in August.  Let's not get there too fast!