Camp adventure

So this weekend we camped in the Eldorado National Forest with a few of our friends. But this was no "sit around the fire telling ghost stories roasting smores" type camping! Oh No. This was a dirt bike camp trip. We had 8 families with about 18 kids and more loud dirty fun than you could imagine. Only one person in our group had been to this area before so we really didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be perfect, a big open area where we could all park our trailers together. There were trees to keep us cool and we could even have fires (which we needed to keep the mosquitoes away)! There was one bummer of the trip when one of our families broke down just a mile from camp and had to be towed in. It was there transmission, ugh. They have a fifth wheel trailer and no one else has one so they had to call someone from home to come and get them. They only stayed the night and left the next afternoon. A couple of the kids were able to stay with us which was nice. The trails were long and very dusty and hot so we made a few trips to the river to cool off. This will be a repeat trip for sure!

Good friends & Good music

On Saturday night we went to see Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek Theater in Berkeley. The line up was great. Ra Ra Riot from Syracuse NY and Andrew Byrd (from idk) were the warm up bands. Ra Ra Riot was great. They all looked like they were about 16, but turns out after talking to their sound guy they are between 22 and 26 years old. Good entertainers and the singer has a really nice voice. Death Cab was great. The sound was fantastic due to the fact that they have an awesome sound engineer, our friend Will Markwell. It's always a treat to see him and of course we get the special seats right with the mixer and we get to watch him work and visit too. Will's Mom Lynn and Dad Mike were there as well as Will's Girlfriend Nadine. We enjoyed a scrumptious carrot cake that Lynn made for Will. It was strange to have a little rain though, very unexpected for us. Luckily, there were tarps for the sound equipment that we snagged LOL! Will was completely unfazed saying "this is nothing" apparently they've played in wind, rain, sleet and who knows what else!



Pictured: Lynn and Nadine cutting the cake. Mike Markwell, Wayne and Ian. Ian, Will Markwell, Wayne and Evan. Jill (me), Lynn Markwell and Nadine under the tarp.
On Friday I took the boys over to our friend's house so they could ride their dirt bikes. They had fun and I hiked almost to the top of their property. I got a little lost so about 3/4 of the way up I turned around and came back down. Here are a couple of pictures from Friday.

If this is how summer is going to be.............

Than bring it on! We've had so much going on since school got out I don't even know where to start. I just feel like this is how summer is suppose to be, spending time with family and friends. I feel so blessed just thinking about it.
Some notable highlights so far:
*Both boys went to 4-H camp for a week
*Our annual Father's day camping trip with great friends
*Ian turned 14!
The 4th of July weekend was great. Watching the parade, spending time with friends and watching the fog less fireworks.
But so far the best part of this summer for me was seeing my cousin Matt Deis. He's an East coaster (lol) from my mom's side of the family and is on tour with his band. They played Canada and came down the West coast stopping in Seattle, Portland, Sacramento and Petaluma which is where we met up with him. The boys thought it was great to meet a rock star relative and go on the tour bus. We had dinner and got to catch up. I have something like 78 first cousins on my mom's side alone so it I jumped at the chance to see one of them and it was great.

Milestones

We had two milestones in the family this week. Ian graduated from 8th grade and Evan from the 5th grade. This means they will both move on to different schools next year. Ian's promotion ceremony was held at the high school on the football field and was super nice. Both sets of grandparents were there which made it even more special.
Evan's promotion was today in the multi use room at his school and honestly, I think he couldn't get out of there (school) fast enough. Elementary school is so different from middle school. It seems like 6 years in one place is too long. He and Wayne went with a couple of other kids and another dad to Malibu grand prix and to lunch. Ian went with is graduating class to Great America (amusement park) today. I'm sure they will both appreciate sleeping in tomorrow! It was a been a busy week for everyone. In case you missed it on the video of Ian some girls yelled out "We love you Ian!"

Boys, Boys, Boys

Pictures:
#1 Ian
#2 Ian
#3 Evan
I finally made it out to the ride park to see the boys on their dirt bikes. I have to admit I had a great time watching them. And of course Ian was thrilled that I was there so I could take pictures of him riding. Anyone that knows him (Lisa) knows he really likes to have his picture taken! Anyway, Funny story about Evan. We sold his dirt bike back in December because he swore he wasn't going to ride anymore, he really never had much interest it in to begin with. That didn't last long when all of a sudden he said he wanted to ride again. Go figure. Luckily we have another bike he can ride. And Ian the awesome person that he is takes Evan out on the trails and stays with him. Evan is not an aggressive rider but rather very passive. A funny quote from Ian while they were riding "Evan, we don't have to slow down when you see a "slow" sign okay, we're already going slow" Evan, "Oh, Okay"


Promotions galore this week! Middle school comes to an end for Ian this week and will begin for Evan after summer. The past 3 years have gone by too fast. It's hard for me to believe I will have a High schooler in the fall. So we have a busy week planned with Ian's 8th grade promotion on Wednesday night followed by a class trip to Great America the next day. And Evan's 5th grade promotion is Thursday morning. He already had his class trip to Raging Water's last week. On Saturday we're having a combined 5th & 8th grade promotion party at a friends. On Sunday we drop them off at 4-H camp for a week! But it doesn't end there! On the following Friday we pick them up at camp and head right down to Santa Cruz KOA for our annual Father's Day camp out with our friends. Everyone's happy and looking forward to summer!

June 4, 1994

Wow! I wonder if the next 15 years will go by as fast. I hope not.

Birthday Girl

Yesterday was my sister Rae's birthday! Unfortunately she's been in the process of moving her store and has been working umpteen hours a day all week. The grand re-opening will be on Monday and after that things should start to settle down for her again. Then we can celebrate! Happy Birthday Rae!