The Strupp Family: Summer is the Best--Part II

When I think of summer fun, I think of pouring concrete...don't you? But actually, it was kind of fun. Considering a lot of it was mostly watching my hot husband do most of the work. 10 yards of concrete!! To many of you, that means nothing. It's not 10 yards long, but actually 10 cubic yards (I think). To those who know the construction lingo, that's a whole truck full of concrete...all poured for one and a half (the half is me) people to do all that work. Seriously folks, he's amazing.

Here it is all formed and ready to go. Trevor did all the work and I helped shoot some heights with the transit. That means I sit there and look in a little telescope and read numbers to Trevor off of his measuring pole...easy for me. I also tied some rebar. That's a good time. I seriously recommend everyone learn to do this. It maybe a dying skill since they have fiberglass fibers in the cement these days--which they say are millions of little "rebar"...but Trevor wants to make sure his work will last--so we used both fiberglass and rebar.

We poured a sidewalk and a base for our basketball hoop--the base took 3 of the 10 yards by itself! During this summer fun, I was a raking fool (as in: an amazing raker--is that a word?) I also helped with the edging...Trevor did the rest.

Wouldn't it be awesome if I had some "after" pictures? Well, I don't. And I'm too lazy to go take one right now. I'll post some house pictures in a different post, and although there's not a good one of the concrete--you can see there's some there. For now, use your imagination--and take my word for it, it looks amazing.

Later that day...after pouring concrete...we went to the parade.

Now, the fourth of July isn't just a one day holiday around here. More like a 3 day party. The parade is on the 2nd every year because it begins the weeks celebrations. It's so much fun. There are rodeos every night with fireworks to follow (REALLY good shows that you can see from our deck), awesome activities for kids and adults, a little swap meet kind of thing where people sell their goods, and if you're into the drinking scene--there's PLENTY of that going on. We aren't, but Trevor gets a lot of emergency calls due to drunken falling/fighting, etc. Good times. My husband's a genius because he set up the shade for us and brings a dry ice cooler full of popsicles to enjoy (and share). It was over a 100 degrees that day. That's hot for where we live :)

We have rabbits. Not pet rabbits, but pest rabbits. SO many rabbits. The kids caught three baby (adolescent) rabbits and wanted to keep them. I let them hang around in a box in the garage for a couple days while they fed and named them. Finally I told the kids we should let them go.

Ashley gets attached to things, and I thought she may cry herself to sleep for the next couple of days (weeks) so I was worried what this might bring on. But after I read some things on the internet to her about how wild rabbits get stressed and don't eat well when they're in a box, she decided we needed to let them go RIGHT AWAY. So we took them down the street a couple miles and let them go. Look, Ashley's even happy :)

The rabbits had it too easy the last couple of days, they needed some encouragement...or a foot nudge...

Ashley still catches rabbits every day. I'm pretty sure it's the same rabbit. I'm happy she doesn't ask to keep it, though.

We took swimming lessons. Since I'm a good mom, and I take so many pictures--this is all I've got: Jason's class talking about safety rules before they get in the pool. Swimming lessons really were great, though!!

We took a few hikes this summer. This trail is nearby our house that is a perfect hike for kids. Not too long or steep, but not a short and groomed trail either. They love it.