Aurora shores

Went to a cookout with some friends Friday night, and the kids got to play on the beach at a nearby lake and went out and got pulled on an innertube. They also did a little swimming.

We met the kids' teachers this week, and they are looking forward to school starting on Wednesday. It will be Allison's first experience with all-day school, heading into 1st grade. Courtney is going into 7th grade, Hal will be in 6th, and Tyler is a 4th grader this year.

Efforts to remodel the kitchen continue, and we have the dust to prove it.... :)

Harry is coordinating a PR event at his office-- a segment of the Oprah show will be filming here on Wednesday, showing how Lean Cuisine comes up with ideas for new products.

Teresa had a nice event with the Young Women this week, with a "Newlywed Game" format to see how well moms and daughters know each other.

Dan is now sleeping in Hal's room, and we are pleased to report no more peeing on the floor in the middle of the night. Yay!! We literally did duct tape him around his diaper one night this week to ensure compliance.

All hands on deck

The kids are painting the deck this morning. We've noticed that the falling acorns and leaves end up staining the light blue color, so we're trying red this time. Initial motivation was high on the part of the kids, but appears to be waning.

Harry was in California for three days this week touring produce processing facilities and working on ideas for new Lean Cuisine products. He's also been collecting some family history information lately.

Teresa took the kids swimming a lot this week, and removed the tile from our kitchen walls in the next phase of our kitchen remodeling. She's preparing questions now for a mother/daughter "newlywed game" activity for a combined Young Women activity next week.

Dan has removed all of his clothes and diaper for the second night in a row now, and we found him this morning out of his bed asleep and naked in front of the TV with pee all over the carpet. It seems like he's fitting into the family just great :) We may need to start going back to the one-piece pajamas for a while.

Weather has been great lately, enjoyed going over to some friends this week with the sister missionaries and had dinner outside with them on their patio.

They did it! Seven hours and three buckets of paint later... looks pretty good.

Pioneer Day Activities at Johnson Farm

Had a ward campout and pioneer day activity at Johnson Farm this weekend in Hiram. Weather was great for the festivities. Harry provided some entertainment with singing and guitar playing around the campfire Friday night, and the kids stayed up late playing in the woods. Played lots of pioneer games and had a hot dog roast for lunch on Saturday.

Three of our kids lost teeth on Friday... guess who?... and the answer is... Courtney, Hal, and Allison all lost teeth on the same day. The tooth fairy will be busy tonight because she decided not to come to the pioneer day campout.

Dan burned his thumb at the campout-- we're not sure how he did it-- maybe a lantern--but he has a little blister on the tip of his thumb. He is happier today and it does not seem to be bothering him.

Teresa has been working on remodeling the kitchen, removing a set of cabinets with Hal and has repainted the walls and ceiling. Will show some pictures when we get it all done. The kids have also helped a lot with house cleaning this week.

NYC Trip

Harry and Hal returned from their trip to New York City this morning. One picture is of Hal in front of the original Nathan's hot dog stand at Coney Island-- home of the world hot dog eating championships! You can't tell from the picture, but the line inside to buy a hot dog was unbearably long. The other photo is Harry and Hal in front of the Manhattan temple, which is also the building where the Manhattan ward meets. Hal was one of the only Primary kids there on Sunday, and there were not many youth-- mostly young couples or some older folks. Pretty building inside.

Other highlights of the trip included seeing two Broadway shows--"Wicked" and "The 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". Both were great entertainment. Saw a lot of NYC tourist sites like the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. Had a nice time at the Natural History Museum and playing in Central Park.

Courtney and Tyler have been attending a summer creative writing camp this week, and Courtney has created several poems, including a haiku about Bubbilicious:

Bubbilicious gum,
Cracked, soft, Bubbilicius gum,
Sour, sweet, chewy, POP

Teresa took Allison and Hal to Geauga Lake last Wednesday to celebrate Allison's success with scripture story memorization this summer. The weather was hot, so a good portion of the day was spent in the water park.

Harry's work responsibilities at Nestle changed this week, with the same team and same boss, but he now oversees new product development for Lean Cuisine. He will be in Northern California next week to meet with some ingredient suppliers.