July's Joy

Another busy week in the Strawn home: The summer is getting hot now and we’ve had a tremendous amount of rain for our area, so an unusual humidity is sweeping the land. The rivers and cricks are up and the mosquitos are in full season. I have realized we don’t have enough frogs in this part of the nation.

On Friday, we hitched up the camper and headed 45 minutes to the west to camp on the south side of Scott’s Bluff for one night. It was an RV park that gave a spectacular view of the bluffs, complimented by the pink sky that evening. The place was clean and friendly, with nice grassy areas and a play ground to suit the kids.

Oregon Trail Days was celebrated in Gering was this weekend. Three full days of concerts, food, arts & craft fair, tasting bees, a chili cook off, a quilt show, hot rod show and a parade completed the weekend, though we didn’t see it all.

We arrived and set up camp in time to go downtown for the antique car/hot rod show. I felt somewhat odd seeing a 1978 Camero in the antique section of the car show, then was downright insulted when a 1983 something-or-other was two rows down. That just ain’t right.

That night, Pastor and Eden dressed in their ‘race pants’ and headed 10 minutes over to the race track. Eden got to hold a trophy of one of the winners, telling her daddy that she was going to race a go-cart someday and win a trophy. I hope she takes up sewing before then.

We were invited to a parishoner’s house for supper one evening. They live on a ranch and Eden & Lars love to pet the calves and talk to the horses. One of the young girls, who is a couple years older than Eden, took them into the barn to see whatever else was in store there. It was a nice cook out and friendly fellowship, complete with a few photos to show for it.

Eden is enjoying Kinder Camp on Tues & Thurs mornings. She loves the part where they go in ‘the big pool’. Tuesday afternoon was the last day of Summer reading program and they celebrated with a play day in the park. Eden had read to her 30 different books. I’m sure there were more, but those were the only ones that got written down. And I’m quite sure that many of them were read over and over and over again, just in case the ending changed at all.

I’m still teaching EMT class this summer and spending every ‘spare’ moment I have working on lesson plans. I keep thinking that my next class will have less prep work, but I’m not convinced. I’m really enjoying it, and learning along the way with my team teacher, who knows the books by memory, I think.

The preacher had meetings every night this week that I didn’t have class, so needless to say, we were ships passing in the night. At least we got to rotate bath night!

The week was completed today with the church picnic in the park, with food and more fellowship and lots of little babysitters to run with my kids so I could sit and visit.

Who could forget to mention, however, the mud. (See pics, below)

I went out to get the kids in the car yesterday, and found my kids, in their non-play clothes, head to toe dripping with mud.

The dog was also covered and had to dry and get a grooming before he could go anywhere. After stripping in the back yard and taking the garden hose to them, they hit the shower as I yelled for Daddy’s nap to finish and give me a hand. It was a mess, but the clothes came out clean and we made it to where we needed to be, so all was not lost.