Lazy summer

This summer has been really laid back. I did have goals that I wanted the Crack Monkeys to focus on, but that hasn't panned out...as usual. So we've just been hanging out.

Ethan just returned from a trip to Ohio with my parents. He's becoming quite the traveller, and jumps at any chance to go anywhere. It was an adventure in an SUV with a broken AC, driving through cow country with the windows down. He can laugh about it now, but at the time, so not fun.

Ryan is keeping busy with sports camps. At the beginning of this month, he went to a lacrosse camp down in Provo at BYU. He was able to room there in the dorms with his best friend Isaac, and they had a ton of fun being on their own and playing lacrosse.

And this week, he's attending a 4-day day camp held by Tribal West, the local lacrosse equipment store. Today was just the first day and he had an off day, but there's still three days left, so here's hoping it'll spark his interest.

Vanessa and Jeff had been enjoying lazing around, swimming at the pool and playing with friends. They've also had to split their time between our house and Papa & Tutu's because they have friends in Copperton as well.

Oh, and we can't forget about the video games and hilarious videos on YouTube.

As someone who is an avid reader, I'm sort of disappointed they aren't reading more. Ethan seems to be the only one who enjoys it as a past time, but the other three won't touch a book unless necessary. But, they read during the school year, so I guess I can give them a pass during the summer.

I guess.

In the meantime, we'll just continue to enjoy our summer. :-)

Halloween Pictures 2008

Found some old Halloween pictures from 2008; made me smile.

Ryan and Ethan as Clone Troopers

Jeff as Yoda; trying to figure out what everyone's doing

Slightly grumpy and so done with all of this walking!

With their cousins Sydney & Collin

Vanessa as Belle

Just because

More recent pictures of the Crack Monkeys.....

Notice how Ethan can't be bothered to put down his video controller? ;-)

This sums these two up really well, lol.

Soccer!

Over the years, Jeff has shown a great interest in sports; I'm guessing it's because both Scott and Ryan are such fanatics to it that Jeff really doesn't know any better. He sits and watches football with Scott, and when Ryan badgers him enough, he'll pick up a lacrosse stick. But, recently, he's found his sport.

Soccer.

This kid is fast and he has some really good coordination. Maybe even better than Ryan. During this past soccer season, many of the parents from our team (as well as the other team) commented on how fast Jeff was and how he handled the ball. He had a really good coach, too; he was determined that the kids have fun while he taught them the basics. Jeff really enjoyed having him as a coach.

So now we have to wait until fall for the new season, and you can imagine the agony Jeff is in while waiting. He's outside almost everyday, kicking around his soccer ball, practicing and just waiting. And then, one of his friends comes along and they're off, and the agony of waiting is forgotten for a moment.

But, just for a moment.

Here's a video of his last game of the season: