So far our summer has been a full and fun one!

July 4th was Chris' annual fireworks and barbecue party. Along with celebrating Independence Day we also celebrated Rylan’s 5th birthday. Kathy and I made his cake a castle according to his wish. Of course since it was the Fourth of July Kathy and I had to make it red, white and blue for the holiday. Rylan enjoyed his cake especially because it was topped with a fireworks candle. Candles dropped down and lit while music played Happy Birthday. He had the same kind of candle last year and loved it so much Kathy (with Chris' help) made sure she bought one for him again this year.

Then there was our annual Gray PEAR family reunion held at the end of July. I was very busy beforehand getting ready for it. I made buttons for everyone to wear, tote bags to give out as prizes and a pinata for the kids to break. The theme for this year was Prickly PEAR Picnic and Fiesta. I made a logo for the buttons, tote bags and also for ironing onto shirts to wear at the reunion. The pinata was a prickly pear complete with a sombrero. At the reunion itself I offered face painting for the kids.

We drove to the reunion held in Colorado. We decided to camp along the way and Rylan came with us! He was a real delight to have along. We enjoyed taking him to a dinosaur museum, swimming in a river and in a lake. He had a wonderful time. Also on our way we stopped to pick up Kathy and Sierra who scheduled a flight into Grand Junction to join us for the reunion. Aubrey didn’t come because Kathy decided taking her would have been just a bit of a handful. Instead Aubrey stayed home with Tim enjoying a lot of one on one time with her daddy.

Once we picked up Kathy and Sierra they joined us for a night of camping and the next day we all drove to the reunion. On the way we stopped to enjoy the scenery, view and uniqueness of the Colorado National Monument state park and then the absolutely gorgeous landscape on the drive to Naturita.

Robert has been working very hard on the play structure this summer. Me too (although not as hard as he has). I have been doing a lot of painting to help out. We both were anxious to get it as finished as possible for a party we had on August 7th. Everyone enjoyed seeing how great it turned out. There are still a few things left to do on it. Robert wants to add shutters to windows, a rope net to both sides of the swinging bridge, enclose the secret tunnel and finish trimming the playhouse. I want to add stars and flowers to the playhouse walls and ceilings. Visit Robert's play structure journal to view the entire building adventure.

Sierra is getting so big. She now sits up, is showing the first signs of crawling, makes dada and mama sounds and laughs and laughs. She loves watching Rylan and Aubrey play. She is now six months old!

We continue to enjoy having her, Rylan and Aubrey so close and love how often we see them as well as Kathy and Tim. There is always another adventure, another experience, anotehr new event to relish as we turn each corner of our lives.