The Fishermen

The Aho Men went fishin' today.  Dad caught the biggest small-mouth bass he's ever caught.    Quinn caught the smallest.  The boys were duly impressed by their old man!!!

Blueberries

25 minutes at the blueberry farm yielded 10 pounds of wild berries. Beautiful, and delicious. We'll definitely be going back.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

In case you can't tell, that's lemon blueberry cream pie.  I wish it were colored BLUE, but that part wasn't in the recipe.  It was fabulously delicious, though!

Posing

The children suddenly gathered, posed, and "said "take our picture, Mom!"  I was happy to oblige - it's such a rare occasion they're all touching each other without screaming, and looking generally in the same direction.

The Birthday Sink

THIS is my new birthday sink.  It is beautiful, and I love it.  It is GUARANTEED not to stain, chip, scratch or cause me heartache in any way.  If only everything in the house had the same warranty.  My wonderful husband spent more hours than he bargained for installing it this weekend.  Yes, we had to send the kids outdoors to protect precious ears from "Daddy language", but it was WORTH it, I tell you.  Worth every last cuss.  Of course, I'm not the one with my head under the sink, getting moldy rice in my hair.    I do have to say that getting a new sink was a good occasion for cleaning out UNDER the sink - a chore that has not been done in recent memory.  Must we have 3 half-opened containers of Pine-Sol?  Did I REALLY have to send Rob to the store for Jet-Dry, when apparently we had four of them lost in the abyss that is the cupboard under the sink? Having the cleaning products out on the countertop, staring me in the face, has inspired me to clean in ways I haven't for a long time, too.  REALLY?  We have anti-static monitor spray?  Well, why don't I just go get rid of those fingerprints on my computer screen that have been there for 5 years?  I polished every last piece of copper in my kitchen till it sparkled, used stainless steel polish on the fridge - the whole banana.  I want all the old kitchen stuff to welcome the new sink in style, I guess.    I'm stifling my urge to decorate "below deck".... new shelf paper, a coat of paint.  It's under the sink, for goodness sake.  But the sink itself is so lovely, I want the entire she-bang to seem just as sparkling new.  AHHHHHHHH.  I can think of no other birthday present that will get used as often as this one.  I live my life at the sink.  And now, I will smile as I do dishes!!

The End of A Great Trip

Our last Monday in Spokane started out as perfect as every other day we'd been there.... sunny, with plenty of time on the lake.  Rob took a day to explore North Idaho and fish solo, which is his idea of Heaven On Earth.  Mom and Dad took the day off work, and we enjoyed the water.  Mom even went waterskiing for the first time in years!  I don't know if the water-skiing made her cocky or what, though, because for some reason she thought her 5'2" little body could jump from the bow of the  boat to the dock while ladened with miscellaneous paraphenalia (including a camera and video camera).  Guess what.  She can't.  She crashed HARD between the boat and the dock,  landing in the drink.  A trip to the walk-in clinic disproved my theory of a broken elbow, but they didn't take xrays, and my money is still on a hairline fracture in there somewhere.  That elbow looked bad.  Plus the possibility of a few broken toes and an open sore on her foot.  Oh, grandma grandma grandma!!!  You're not 60 any more, you know!  Elle and her gang came over for dinner and Scrabble, but after the wine-cooler wore off, Grandma was pretty sore.  The kids tried to help with a foot bath and a leg massage.  It was cute.

The stream where Rob went fishing

Cousins....

Sunday after church, we headed to my cousin Steven's wedding.  Beautiful, but definitely not easy to keep seven children from running amok in a turn-of-the-century mansion.  The kids have had so much fun together over this week!  I'm so glad the cousins have gotten this opportunity to spend time and get to know each other!!

Saturday, July 17th

My roommates from college and I got together for the first time in twelve years.  SO GOOD to see them, even though one of the four of us was missing.  Next year, girls, next year.....  Anyways.  Afterwards, Kelli and I went to go get pedicures as a belated birthday present.  It was my first pedicure, so I went WILD - blue with flowers.  I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxing and pampered I felt afterwards!

This is the house we lived in during PT school!

Another Lake Day.... What Else?

Really, there is just not a good reason to leave the lake in weather like this, so we didn't.  Larry and Kelli's family, Rene and her family, Elle's kids, and the rest of us hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's place.  The day started on the lake, and ended on the lake, with tubing, swimming, sunning, and skiing in between.  Grandpa gave rides to the kids in the Model T, and we pretty much spent the day just lazing around and enjoying ourselves.  In the evening, we roasted marshmallows over the camp fire, and a friend of mine from college that I haven't seen in twelve years came over to visit from Montana.  Thanks for driving all this way to see us, Deann!   Just another perfect day.  This many in a row - we're starting to get a little spoiled, I think.

AND.... another try at all 10 grandkids.  This one turned out much better!

Hitting the Lake

When it's 90 degrees, there's no better place in the world to be than on a lake. We took full advantage. Seven of ten grandkids attempted water skiing. Two got up. Seven ended up in tears (a 100% cry rate), saying "but I don't WANT to water ski!!!" You gotta try, kids, because waterskiing is just what we Patterson's do, and if you're gonna claim our genetic code, then strap on those skis and some bravery. We're all thoroughly burnt - maybe I should've been more diligent with the sunscreen, but we need to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible before heading back to the great white north!!

Okay.  THIS might be why there was a little whining about waterskiing by the short set.  We drank some water a time or two.

But LOOK!  Practice makes perfect!!!  Kaden didn't enjoy his "mandatory fun", but he DID IT!!

See, kids?  Even the best of us take a dive now and then....