July 2009

4th of July 2009
We enjoyed another great 4th of July at the Balvanz’s house. There were 2 main themes to this year’s festivities. The first being “unplanned fashion coordination” and the second being the “deep philosophical ponderings of the difference between legal and illegal fireworks.”

It seems the oldest and the youngest of the girls were on the same brain wavelengths when planning what to wear on this holiday as we have the matching Grandmas (Kathy & Lois)…

…and the matching First Grade Divas (Reese and Jordana)

Our First Grade Divas provided some of the day’s entertainment. They had lots and lots of fun swimming.

Then a petty argument over a spied rabbit occurred and all of a sudden Jordana burst out “You ruined my vacation” followed by Reese answering “You ruined mine too.”

The majority of our day was dedicated to lighting off as many fireworks as possible and then debating why some fireworks are legal and why some are illegal.

Illegal fireworks....

Blowing things up or burning with illegal fireworks

The inebriated rationale behind this debate is that illegal fireworks are safer than legal fireworks as one takes more care where, when and how to light them off. Whereas with legal fireworks one seems to wave these sparklers all around throwing off sparks and ash which can burn anyone or anything.

Aaren making his final observations on the topic for the day.

The day and evening was topped off with another fabulous fireworks show at the UNIDOME

Ricky’s First Driving Lesson

Ricky got his very first driving lesson in the field at Uncle Larry’s farm behind the wheel of Grandma Lois’ mini van. (Sorry the video is so shaky, but I was running with the camera.)

Summer 2009

Crystal Lake Hatchery & Baum Lake

While we were in the Fall River Mills/Shasta County area we took some time to go and visit the Crystal Lake Hatchery. We got there right at feeding time and it was something to see all of these “growing” fish go crazy after the food.

We also spent some time feeding some of the more unusual fish at the hatchery.

Crystal Lake was much more peaceful. There were many pelicans fishing alongside the human fishermen. However, we saw neither land any fish.

The turtles sunning themselves on the rocks seemed to have the best seats in the house.

Father’s Day

Rick’s Father’s Day 2009 was a very low key one. He unfortunately spent the morning at urgent care dealing with a “swimmers” ear infection. But when he arrived at home the kids were ready to welcome him with presents and Ricky treated him to a movie that afternoon.

Iowa Vacation 2009 – Uncle Larry’s Farm

One of the highlights of every Iowa vacation is a visit to Uncle Larry’s farm and this year did not disappoint. He always has a menagerie of wonderful animals one of the latest additions of which is a peacock.

There were also lots of baby animals; a white calf, baby ducks waddling after their Mommy, and brand new quail and pheasants which fit into the palm of your hands.

We got to spend some of the afternoon at Uncle Larry’s and Aunt Linda’s camp site. It is very beautiful and peaceful. The horses came over to say hi while we cooked dinner.