The 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July! 

We have a full, fun day of celebrating the America's birthday with our sweet friends.  The day will be filled with so much food and connecting with people we love!

See you next week!

Summer...

 We took a trip to our pool and nothing quite feels like summer like when we swim...

We are having so much fun getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July tomorrow with friends...

Another weekend...

 ... Another chance to watch our goalie play!

I am so proud of this fearless girl!

June books

Books I read in June!

I find that I can never do books justice in giving a synopsis, but I liked this one from Good Reads.  The book is really powerful and shed light on part of history that I was not aware of!

"The story is set in Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.  Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth. A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fuijwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction—and she will do anything to save them."

After "The Storm We Made",  I wanted a lighthearted read on creativity and story telling.  SARK is also the author of the "Creative Companion", written in the 1990s that I just loved.  She's a creative soul and I really enjoy her artistic approach to life and all things that go into living life to the fullest.

I have not read a book like this before.  It's a historical fiction of a house in Massachusetts that covers the stories of its inhabitants over the course of 3+ decades.  I don't even think that I could tell you that there is a main character.  Maybe it's the house.  The stories weave together and there are surprises and twists and I REALLY enjoyed it!  The beginning felt a little strange and but it took off for me after a the first chapter.  I would recommend it for sure!

I read this one, not realizing it't a sequel to another book.  I really enjoyed this paperback rom-com themed book.  It had heart and spice and hilarity and depth and some definite spice... It's s fun summer read and I know that this author has other books and I am looking forward to reading more from her!

Shaver Lake Family Time 2024

This last week, we got to meet up with almost all of our immediate Rae family to get family time together. We had so much fun making memories together! We got some time with our Grandi and Monkey Papa before everyone arrived!

There was hiking to The Burn, one of our favorite locations in the Sierras!

We got to celebrate Kit and his brother Ryan’s birthdays, June 16 and 18.

 

The cousins spent time at the pond on paddle boards looking for frogs and fishing:

The girls had a craft and tea time and the boys shot BB guns and ate ice cream:

We had a lake day which included a pontoon boat, jet ski, paddle boarding, cliff jumping, and a lightning storm that happening for a small window in the middle of it all. We sat under our pop up while we watched the sky light up. 

We spent a day at the Dinkey Campground to go swimming and to be on their natural water slides.

Then we ate dinner at the Hungry Hut in town and then home to play games!

We loved our family time! We are so grateful that we get to call these people our family!

We can’t wait until we get to be together again!