goofing around in july

We got back from Vermont and summer vacation in Oregon kicked into full swing.  The boys spent the days with Lindsey, a teacher from Ben's school, who was ready to watch 2 kids during the day instead of the 20 at day care.  We filled a small pool in the back yard, Richard built a new sandbox, and with the monkey jungle and the garden the boys didn't have to leave the house to have fun.  Even still, Lindsey took them on lots of adventures around town, on quests to find "mighty machines" (Ben's current obsession), or to parks or for treats and to the movies on Thursday mornings.  The boys both took swimming lessons and by the end of the summer Owen graduated level 6 and Ben level 1.

The four of us had fun weekends enjoying Corvallis.  Ben got used to riding the third wheel on Richard's bike, and also still enjoys riding in the trailer, so the three guys were able to do some longer bike rides- to Philomath for ice cream is a favorite of Owen's.  We enjoyed the DaVinci days parade and the kid zone.  The garden prospered and we enjoyed all the raspberries that grew over the fence line from Owen and Ruth's house next door.  It's awesome to live next to master gardeners!

At the end of the month, Owen went to Cub Scouts day camp, held at the Cub Scout site near Avery Park.  Both the other boys, Cole and Evan, from his den went, along with a couple hundred scouts in the area.  Owen learned to shoot a bow and arrow, shot a bb gun, made a ton of cool wooden crafts, learned new songs, and had a wonderful time each day.  His favorite activity was a rope obstacle course- he went back to it each day and kept challenging himself.  I was able to volunteer for one day, and learned a lot about sheep.  Richard volunteered the last two days.  We were both impressed at how well run the event was and at how much fun Owen had.

The month ended with Owen's birthday celebration and him turning 7.  Most of the pictures and stories are previously posted, but I hadn't included this one of Owen's new fishing tackle box from Grandpa.