Summer Break

Brandon's finally finished with school for the summer! He has one month off entirely and then after that only 9 months until he graduates! I am already counting down the days! He also got good grades last semester and gets to keep his scholarship for being in the top 20% of the class. That alone is reason to celebrate!

His last paper was due at 11:59 pm on Friday night and he turned it in early... at 11:56 pm :-) Then he promptly came downstairs with a grin on his face, plopped down on the couch and said "This is the first time in over 10 months that I haven't either been studying or feeling guilty for not studying." Have I mentioned we're both soooo glad he gets a break?

On Saturday we enjoyed the entire day together as a family! We went blackberry picking in the morning and then to a park near the airport to watch the airplanes land, one of the boys' favorite things to do. I was super excited to find a place over here where blackberries grow wild and we could pick them for free. After growing up in Washington and enjoying the luxury of picking perfect blackberries by the bucketful, I could not bring myself to pay $5 for a 6 oz. container at the grocery store. So we just did without. But then I heard about a park nearby with wild blackberries growing, and less than 12 hours later we were out picking them! Well, Jack and Cullen only picked a few (none of which made it into the basket of course) and then tired of it quickly so Brandon played with them while I picked for a couple hours. By the time I finished, I was sweaty, a little sunburnt and my limbs were so scratched up it looked like they'd lost a fight with a weedwacker, but I'd say the 10+ pounds of free berries I picked were well worth it! This week, I'm going to attempt to make jam for the first time. Wish me luck!

Anyways, here are some pictures of Jack and Cullen, which I know is the only reason people visit my blog in the first place ;-)

Enjoying a popsicle on the front porch. It turns out our AC was actually broken during the heatwave last week. Figures. So we spent a lot of time at the pool and ate a lot of popsicles.

No he's not sharing his popsicle with the flowers. That would be silly. If you look closely, you'll see he's actually sharing with Bob's ceramic bunny ;-)

Helping Daddy cut the grass. He loved this! He was incredibly proud of himself and likes to talk about how he helped Daddy with the "lawnmower."

Eating blackberries of course.

All three of my boys took a long nap together after berry picking and Brandon took this picture when he got up. I think they're so cute when they're sleeping... maybe because that's the only time they're peaceful.

Brandon taught them how to throw a frisbee. Jack's a pro already!

Running to tell me that an airplane's coming!