Monthly Archives: August 2013

Happenings of July/Aug 2013

We didn’t have a whole lot planned the past few weeks but the summer has flown by! I had July 4th off and we had a very busy day – church breakfast, mowed the lawn, Support the 4th rally in DC (4th Amendment), Ice-cream, Natural History museum, and then we made it over to the Fed where my work had games for kids & hamburgers and more ice-cream 😉 (don’t worry this was not government subsidized & we paid more than plenty for the food 😉 and watched the DC fireworks from the top floor/balcony at work. It was a very busy day but lots of fun. That Saturday we had an awesome BBQ with some of my Schollian family :).

For Ben’s birthday, we went to launch a couple rockets with some friends at Goddard Space Center, then had cake & ice-cream with lots of people at our house (about 31 :D)! Ben’s family surprised him with some fun presents.

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Last moments with glasses! Photo with the doctor as Ben drinks down his valium!
Last moments with glasses! Photo with the doctor as Ben drinks down his valium!

 

But his favorite “birthday present” was yet to come…about 10 days later he had LASIK eye surgery at Washington Eye! He went from practically blind (without glasses) to 20/15 (better than perfect!) vision and is extremely happy with it. It took about 15 minutes (he was awake & I kind of watched), then he went home and took a long nap. The next morning he drove himself to the check up and had 20/15 vision.

 

 

The last weekend of July we went camping! 😀 I would say this is our first “real” camping trip together and was lots of fun. Ben went up with our friends, the Lougees, Friday night to Jane’s Island on the Chesapeake Bay about 3 hours from our house (I stayed home to clean the house and help tenants move out & in) . I got up early Saturday morning and made in time for a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, & biscuits. Then we all went kayaking and stopped at a beach for a bit. It was perfect weather although we didn’t get in the water too much as it is rather swampy being the Bay side.Then we napped and relaxed and then went kayaking more — lots of water trails. That night we made “tinfoil dinners” and s’mores. We did bring air mattresses which made sleep quite pleasant. Sunday morning we had another great breakfast, packed up, and went to Chincoteague Island — with the wild horses. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow dogs, so the Lougee’s just explored the town and headed home. We walked along the beach – it was a beautiful (ocean side) — and then headed home.

Soaking wet, but having fun!
Soaking wet, but having fun!

 

August 8th we did the ROC Race in DC. It was a 5k with 12 fun obstacles – monkey bars, moon bounce, Tarzan swing, slip ‘n slide, etc. It was lots of fun. Afterwards we went to IHOP with our friends who did it with us. (It is coming to AZ in November and then to Baltimore & CA & lots of other places sometime later, if anyone else wants to do it.)

 

 

 

Ben went to California for a week for family reunion (and I was all alone … tear). His maternal grandma and 2 siblings live out there and almost everyone else joined (12 out of 15 of the kids!), along with a few cousins, aunts, & uncles. Sadly, I don’t have tons of leave left but Ben had lots of fun!

all_fam jean

 

Mom, 7/9 sisters, 1/3 sister-in-laws, 1/3 granddauthters!

Mom, 7/9 sisters, 1/3 sister-in-laws, 1/3 granddaughters!

Dad & 5 out of 6 brothers & the only grandson!

Dad & the brothers! Just missing one brother & the one grandson!

Anything else….we gardened a bit, saw Superman with Ben’s dad, went to my friend’s Iftar, and I got to hang out with a long lost high school friend that is working here – I love seeing AZ people out here 8-)!