Rob's post

Max is sick. Annie is watching over him, in the sense that she's a lazy dog looking the other way.

Holly

Holly performed in a play in May.  Neverland an Epic Adventure.  It was a mash of many different movies and pop culture.  Holly played "Lotso Bottle Logan" and "Bright Butterfly". 

She was fantastic!

My favorite is this picture.  This is Holly doing the Haka.  

The Redwoods

I found where I want to spend the rest of my life.  We took a family vacation this summer to the Redwoods in California.  I didn't expect to be so in awe of nature.  When we came into the forest there were gasps and "holy crap"s for the rest of the ride.


We stayed in a cabin in the Redwoods for three days.  During the day we explored and in the evening we went to the beach.  There is a small farming community close to our cabin and that was where the beach was supposed to be.  We saw a few signs at the beginning showing us public access to the beach but we got lost pretty quickly.  Finally we pulled over and asked a man who was out working with his cows.  He talked to us for a long time about the area and his farm.  I think he said that four generations of his family have been working on his farm.  His Son is in charge now.  He pointed us the way to the beach and told us to look for aggies.


  The beach was by far the highlight of the trip for me.  That is saying a lot because the Redwoods were amazing.  This "public" beach was a secluded spot with only a few people here and there.  I felt like I was in on a really cool secret.  The kids immediately ran for the waves.  Holly and Rob spent most of the time going out to the bigger waves and trying to stay up as the waves hit.  In the sand instead of sea shells there were the most beautiful rocks.  Aggies.  The kind of rocks you find at a gift shop and fill a little bag.  It was amazing and I couldn't help but spend most of my time looking for rocks.  I did join the family in the water a few times though.

Peaches again!

  We went peach picking in the churches orchard.  There were two things significant about this assignment.  The first is that Rob was well enough to come with us.  The second is that the orchard had a huge crop this year.  they were desperate for our help.  In church our speaker from the high councel told us that the largest crop in the past was a little over 300,000 lbs.  This years crop is expected to reach about 700,000 lbs. 

  My hopes for a church ad experience crumbled when Max found a bug and started screaming that there were bugs everywhere.  Then like dominos the other two children fell.  Holly first because "picking peaches was making her itchy" (It is a dirty process and we all were itchy).  Sam next because he was too tired.  I was able to keep him with me by making him explain the new minecraft version that came out that day.  Rob took Max to the car and Holly followed pretty quickly.  Sam and I filled a couple of more bags and then we all headed home. 

  Rob said that on the way back to the car he tried to get a picture of Max next to the peaches.  Max yelled that he "hated peaches" and that he "will never take his picture with peaches".

   Sometimes service is just service and the warm fuzzies come much later when the kids are all in bed asleep.