Redding was HOT!

On Wednesday, we headed to Redding for our 4th annual summer family trip. We invite all the grandparents to come along. My dad has been fishing in Alaska the past three years so he didn't go. This year it was Andy, the kids, and I plus my mom, Pam and Charlie. Chet and Karen weren't able to join us this year.

We left Fortuna about 12:30 on Wednesday, at which time it was 63 degrees. It took us almost 4 hours to get there.... lots of road construction. The high temperature of the day was 110 degrees somewhere along Highway 299. When we arrived in Redding about 4:15, it was 104 degrees. Needless to say, we headed for the pool.

On Thursday we headed to the Waterworks Park. I think we all had fun, even though it was hot and more crowded than I had seen it. Here's a few pictures to show how much fun everyone had....

Here's a big wipe-out that Andy and Abigail had coming down the Raging River...

Go Mom!

Andy ended up backwards going down the Raging River....

J.T. spent some time in the regular pool because he couldn't go on some of the waterslides due to height restrictions. Next year....

Home...

We went to Redding for a few days this past week. We had a great trip but it was HOT! I will try to get some photos on here today or tomorrow....

Lots of media attention

Our story about the Children's Center has been covered quite well by the Media... first in the Times Standard this morning, then by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and finally by News Channel 3 tonight.

We declined to be interviewed on camera by News Channel 3, but I answered a few questions and gave them a quote that basically said, "We were thrilled with the sentencing and shocked by the jail time. At this point, we want to put this behind us and move forward positively with the Children's Center."

We are ready to close the chapter of this book...

Sentencing

Embezzling from a non-profit Children's Center is not a good idea! Sentencing was today for former Ferndale Children's Center director.... $19,500 in restitution to be paid, 5 years felony probation, 300 hours community service, apology letter to board and parents, and 30 days in jail (or SWAP).

As a board member, I am happy to say it is finally over and we can move on in a positive way with the Children's Center! We hired a new director, Nicole Farrow, that will start on August 3.

If you didn't know about all of this, feel free to read a previous blog post that gives more details.

Ridin' bikes

I had a dinner the other night so Andy was home with the kids. They spent some time outside riding their bikes. Before this night, J.T. still had training wheels on his John Deere bike.... but they took them off and he tried without.

Last night, I took a few shots of them riding. J.T. does pretty well, but he has trouble getting started on his own.

They love to ride up and down the hill on our road. Can you see Abigail out in the distance?

One year old!

I had the pleasure of taking photos of Miss S on Saturday morning. She is turning a year old later this week and isn't she cute! She is just starting to walk so she was a little unsure about walking on the uneven grass...

Fall is usually my busiest time for portraits and I am really looking forward to getting back into it....

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

Abigail decided she wanted to enter a scrapbook in the fair.... and she decided she wanted to make the scrapbook about our most recent Hawaii trip. We started organizing everything a couple days ago. Today was the first day that she actually was able to start putting the pages together. I will admit that it's hard for me to not tell her how to do it and make sure it's done perfectly. I think I may be a little bit of a control freak (ya think!)... I know that I need to let her do it her way, even if it's not the same way that I would do it.

Hopefully I can get through the process without trying to do it for her. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

One month from today...

school starts! It is so hard to believe how fast summer goes by. I guess it happens every year, though.

I have been doing a little school shopping for the kids, but they really don't need too much. They both need jeans.... theirs are just getting too short! Abigail is actually harder on jeans than J.T. is. The funny thing is that J.T. is much pickier about the clothes he wears than Abigail is.... I am sure that will change.

The thing that I am dreading the most is the whole brand-name thing. I have heard it's really bad... kids refusing to wear anything but the top brands. I think I am in trouble. Besides, we can only afford to have one female in this family need to buy designer jeans! :)

Future photographer

I think Abigail may be a future photographer.... this morning we had to come up with an idea for one of her fair photo entries. We decided to try this out....

She did an awesome job, didn't she? Now I can use this for some of my promo stuff too....

Is it really summer?

We had great weather this past weekend for Rodeo Weekend.... we always get nice weather for that. Now, however, we are back to the yuck-o weather. I don't know if it even broke 60 degrees yesterday! I had to put on jeans and a sweatshirt in the afternoon!

Today it's supposed to be a whopping 65 degrees here! I guess I should be somewhat thankful that it's not 108 degrees like it has been in the valley.... but a little sunshine would be nice. I like when it's about 80 degrees... that's my ideal temperature.

How has your weather been?