[day 212 ... july 31]

Niall and I both love this t-shirt from Yellowstone. Such a cool pattern, and fun to check out all the different kinds of animal footprints as well. We'll be all set if we need to track anything through the woods. :-)

[day 211 ... july 30]

The heat this week continues relentlessly. High 90's now feel like some relief but it's still dang hot! The nights are brutal; it's just doesn't cool down so any air coming through the windows is still too warm to be soothing. It's improving bit by bit though.
Candi does some fun projects with the boys. These are some plaster casts they made (they did casts of leaves too that are gorgeous) and then painted. That's one of Candi's on the right. :-)

[day 210 ... july 29]

Record highs today around the Seattle area. It hit 107 degrees in Woodinville but thankfully, we were not outside to feel it!


I grabbed pictures of the outside temperature reading in the car several times throughout the day, and this was the hottest reading: 103 degrees! Yikes!

Took the boys and the van through the carwash (much needed after our Yellowstone trip) and this was the view through the windshield partway through the rinse cycle. Just looking at it was refreshing. Though I kept the engine running with the A/C throughout!

We went to see the movie "Up" at the Woodinville 12 movie theatres and enjoyed it - mostly. It's a bit of a tear jerker and Cory was pretty sad in several spots. It was worth it to be out of the heat, regardless.

After we got home and had dinner, I set up the sprinkler in the front yard so we ALL could cool down. It was still in the high 90's, even in the late evening. Between dashes through the sprinkler to cool off myself, I took this photo of Cory enjoying the spray.

[day 209 ... july 28]

Niall's little jalapeño plant has grown a lovely little pepper. It's so cute! Niall is dying to pick it but I really don't know how to tell when it's ripe. Maybe anytime now...?

[day 208 ... july 27]

Gas prices have thankfully not skyrocketed up to $4/gallon like they did last year at this time, but they're still plenty high. About $2.60/gallon right now, at the Costco pump. It's amazing how fast you get used to such a dramatic climb in a basic commodity. Gas has been around $1.30 - $1.60/gallon for years. I remember paying $1.299 at the Shell near Stanford month after month back in the day (1985?). But those days are along gone now, methinks.

[day 207 ... july 26]

It was a beautiful morning and before it got too hot, I took the boys out for kayak rides at Grandma's. Cory stayed behind to play with Playmobile while Niall and I paddled up to the bridge and around a bit, then Cory and I headed out for a shorter round. He was pretty nervous that the kayak was going to spring a leak or tip over or who knows what all. But we found some early blackberries along the bank and that helped win him over to the goodness of kayaking, after all.