The rest of summer

We still had a good chunk of summer to enjoy when we returned from our travels. The three older boys did a great job during two weeks of swimming lessons. Joseph's class turned out to have only two people in it, so it was almost like private lessons. We attended the Rifle Air Show one weekend, a great, friendly small-town event with some good acts. No Blue Angels like San Diego, but it also doesn't take two hours to get out of the parking lot. At her invitation, we picked most of the sour cherries from our neighbor's very productive tree.

I spent a few days pitting, peeling, and preparing fruit and put up quite a bit - cherry jam, mango jam, peach jam, peach butter, and peaches. One thing that I seem to always forget is that canning really doesn't scale. I often think that if I'm going to do some, I might as well get a lot of fruit. But it takes about twice as much time to peel and pit two boxes of peaches as one. By the end of processing all that fruit I feel grumpy and irritated and calculate (yet again) that I really didn't save much money, if any at all. But the little popping noises as the jars seal are so rewarding, and the jars just look so pretty.

The boys rode bikes.

Benjamin looked cute.

Nephi and I spent a night (with Benjamin) at Vail while my parents stopped by on their way back home from their time in New York and graciously watched the older boys. We got in a nice hike, a baby-friendly outdoor performance at the Vail Dance Festival, and some good sushi. We celebrated his birthday at his parents' house.

The three older boys all participated in a BMX bike race in our neighboring town. They had a great time and were all fierce, determined competitors. They just missed out on the $10 Walmart gift certificates in the final rounds. It was fun to watch them compete.

Finally, summer was over and Joseph and Caleb headed off to third and first grades. Isaac started preschool two mornings a week a few weeks later.

I, for one, was ready to settle back into a routine.