July 4th celebrations

Vern's brother John has a birthday on July 1. He decided he wanted his party on July 3 when the neighborhood was having their fireworks. I said sure why not go for it. So he planned his birthday party, invited people and got a lot of things set up.  Vern and Ann stopped by for a couple hours and fun was had by all. We had good food, drink and game playing.  Here are a couple photos of a type of volleyball game. The volleyball was missing so this huge pink ball was used in its place. I guess you would call it pinkball. You never knew quite where that ball was headed so it made for a very fun game. I had worked up a sweat by the end of play.

Look at this first shot, Vern looks like he is going to kick the ball. He has good height on that leg kick over his head!!! WOW he should be a kicker on his football team. I keep tell him but does he listen? NOOOOOO. John is the tall kid serving the ball and Ann is not in this photo.

Here is Ann. She is in black. It was guys against gals. Yes the guys won.

Finally we have a picture of one of my Gerber daisies on the deck. Isn't it beautiful?

The fireworks were spectacular and went well into the night. Everyone enjoyed the day - most of all John! 

Confirmation Camp!

Another Vern activity for the summer was church camp. This is a required camp when the kids are in confirmation. They spend a week there and are busy sun-up to sun-down.  Some of the things I gleaned from Vern are as follows.

The toilets are disgusting. He was glad he was a boy and didn't have to sit down. Let's just say he was pretty "backed-up" by the time he got home. ZOWIE

The showers were not much better but he did say he took quick showers daily. One day he washed his hair - one day his body. At least he ran some water over himself that week...

One painful event was during horse time. The horses stomp their feet when trying to keep the biting flies off themselves. Well Vern's horse decided to do this maneuver when Vern's foot was under the horse. Yes that hurt he told me. I bet. Luckily didn't break anything.

One thing Vern did enjoy at camp was learning to make "survival" bracelets. Below is a photo of the one he made for me. These are bracelets made out of para cord and the logic is if I get lost in the wilderness, I can use the bracelet to help me survive!  Great idea and Vern did a wonderful job of making this for me. I am going to take this on my vacation to the wilderness just in case.

One thing Vern did not enjoy to much were the high ropes. He said it would have been fine except his legs were to short to reach between the steps on the high ropes and his safety rope kept sticking.  Besides the high ropes they did do a zip-line. Here is a shot of Vern going down the zip-line. He did enjoy this part of the rope activities.

Here is Vern having some Bible study time.

I believe this is opening day and some group activities. His shoes still look clean which makes me believe it is the beginning of the week!

 

Here is Vern in front of his cabin for the week. I guess this is the last year these "cabins" are going to be used. They are building more of a bunk house to replace these as they all have seen much better days. 

 

Vern had a good week and very much enjoyed the soda as we left camp!

Four!

The older kids were busy so Superman and I had some quality time with Vern. It was great to just do stuff with him and his amazing personality.  We were driving around trying to figure out what to do for a special treat. I mentioned putt-putt golf and both jumped at the idea. Off we go to the local course.  Did I mention I didn't think that idea through to well as it was a very hot and humid 96 degrees?  I suppose it is summer and to be expected.  As we were walking in Superman says to me "Did you see that giant beer can?"

Me - "Oh yes I did. Looks good and I just got out of the car."

We keep walking and Vern is asking...."What beer can? What beer can?"

Me - "Oh its nothing but a beer can Vern. Let's go."

We grabbed our clubs, let Vern choose the course and off we went.

I love cell phone cameras of today. They really do take good photos.  Here is Vern getting ready to sink one.

Teeing off!

Here is Superman right before his water shot.  I think he thought he was really golfing instead of playing putt putt as he hit the ball so hard it hit the pavers at the other end, flew up over some bushes about 4 feet high and right into a huge water feature on the other side. Needless to say, he couldn't retrieve the ball and had to walk all the way back to the start to fetch a new ball. Vern and I had a good giggle over that.

 

 

Then we come to the 17th hole. I am the lucky one to first sink my putt. I go to reach into the cup to retrieve my ball and....

"OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (screeched) I am NOT getting my ball out of there!" Lots of jumping around and running away from the hole.

The boys of course run over to the hole to see what is inside.

It is a GINORMOUS freaking mama spider having her babies in the cup. She had already had around 150 babies and by the looks of her she had at least that many more L-I-V-E babies to birth.  The boys wouldn't put their hands into the cup either. Vern decided the mama spider HAD to die so he takes his putter and let me just say you are glad to not hear the squishy sound it made. (heebie jeebies typing this)  Vern wipes his putter off and Superman retrieves my ball. I was ready to be done golfing after that.

On our way out of the establishment before we even get to the car Vern pipes up. "Now where in the world is that beer can?"

I looked at him shocked and point to the ground where the empty can is lying.

"Ohhhhhhh" he says, "I thought there was a giant one in the sky or one of those blow up ones."

We all start laughing. That's our Vern. 

Bible School

Vern was soon onto his next activity of the summer. He was a volunteer/helper for Vacation Bible School at our church. He had a good time helping the little kids and it was some time away from the electronic devices which was very much needed.

Vern got up early (for him in the summer) and participated until noon every day.

On Friday after clean up he and the other helpers were rewarded with a pizza party.

I have seen a few photos that were taken.

The only one I could find to scan or link was the one below. I circled Vern and Ann in the photo. They are in the back row on the left half of the photo.

As you can see they had a LOT of kids to keep in line. Everyone did a great job and I am glad Vern was able to participate in this event.

By the way...DA MOM'S computer decided to take a nose dive to computer heaven so I am working from the kids computer. It is why the posts are so slow in arriving. I do not know when I will once again have my own laptop but until that time please be patient with me.
Thanks!!!

Ending 6th grade on a good note.

Here we are at the end of another school year. Vern is SO excited to be done with 6th grade. I think he ended the year with 2 detentions within 2 weeks of school getting out.  We both are glad school is out and Vern gets some time to do other things. He will be kept busy this summer.

Before getting on with summer I wanted to brag about his report card. I was pleased that Vern did indeed try and ended the year on a good note.

English                B+
Social Studies     B+
Science               A-
Math                   B
Physical Ed        A+
Choir                  A+
Music Apprec.   A-
Foreign Lang     B+

If you know Vern please congratulate him either in person or via the comments section. He deserves it!

Now it is onto fun summer time activities.  Summer is just starting and he already had a dog over for a week to play.  This week he is spending at his dad's house and next week starts his time as a helper for vacation bible school.  More updates to follow!