It's blogging time - finally

Where did July go???  Where did the summer go??!!??  School begins in the next two weeks and there you are, “summer” is over but I bet the heat won’t be over.  This oppressive heat and drought is one of the worst on record – certainly the worst we have ever experienced.  All I do is water – trying to save the garden and all the fruit bearing bushes and trees that we have planted. 

That is what July was – watering…..and having a Lambson family reunion.  Kirsti and Ryan flew out from Utah.  Elise flew in from New York.  And Julina drove in from Indiana.  The reunion started

 with a campout at Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park - for old time sake.

 

 We haven’t camped there in seven years – not since the Taum Sauk dam burst and flooded the state park.  Heck, we really haven’t camped at all in those seven years.  So, add oppressive heat, a campground that is totally different and farther away from the Shut-Ins, and old, decaying (or absent) camp equipment and you have a recipe for a less-than-perfect camping trip.   

 

Sleeping was hot.  Eating was drawn-out because there was an open-fire ban (due to the drought) and we could only use charcoal.  

 

 

  our poor bacon trying to cook over charcoal.....

 After we learned to light little piles of charcoal every thirty minutes, cooking got easier but the first couple of meals were kind of a disaster as our charcoal briquette heat faded too quickly to cook effectively.  

 

  pie irons did OK - but look how funny the egg cooked?  Looks like a little volcano!

  of course, Noah had fun, no matter what!

and it was fun to have Papa Joe along (he was stateside for a meeting earlier in the week)

  

Only the water (which was low, but still present) saved the day.  Swimming was wonderful!

 

  Elise and Papa Joe 

Steve found one of his hole-in-a rocks

Lucy was NOT happy that she couldn't go down the Shut-Ins with mom, dad and Noah

 

Camping went from Thursday to Saturday and then we congregated in Columbia for 24 hours – enough time to have a family portrait,

 

   a family council, and  two family dinners – the first one being cooked by those who do not like to camp and stayed home (Beckie, Tamara, Julina, and Melanie) – and the second one to celebrate Elise’s birthday.   

 

 We got to attend the new Kansas City Temple twice – once before picking up Elise at the airport and again before her flight back home.  That was great.  

 

 Ryan, Kirsti, Steve, and Elise at the Kansas City Temple.

  Overall, it was a family gathering that exceeded my hopes and expectations.  So grateful to have everyone home one last time before Beckie leaves in September.

July was also grandkids.  Emily flew to Utah last week to be the photographer for Kamrie’s wedding (Jeff’s oldest daughter) so Steve and I took care of Noah and Lucy for four days.  It was great – both adapted really well to being away from their parents.  I was so busy that I didn’t take many photos except these when Noah and Lucy were on our bed.   

 

 It was Lucy’s FAVORITE thing to do – bounce on grandma and grandpa’s bed.  We explored the little-kid’s swim at Oakland Park and we returned to Stephen’s Lake Park with the spray ground and sandy beach.  

 

And, now it is time for school.  I am still teaching zero-hour orchestra Monday through Fridays at CIS.  I have six applied string students (basically private lessons) at CMU that I will drive up to Fayette to teach hopefully just once a week but I might have to split the lessons between two days  BECAUSE, I was asked late last week if I would consider teaching part-time with Columbia Public Schools again!  That was a surprise.  And, after a weekend of considering, I accepted the job of teaching a morning 7^th grade viola/cello class every day for 45 minutes at Lange Middle School and driving down to Rockbridge High School every other day to direct their orchestra for 90 minutes right around noontime.  I really believe this to be only a year-long assignment as next fall, the third high school will open and CPS will be able to hire another full-time string teacher (which I WON’T be).  SO, for this year, I will be doing LOTS of string teaching on LOTS of different levels.   OH, and remember my adult string group – the Da Capo Strings?  I have been thinking it was time to integrate them into the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra – for people who want to play in an orchestra but are not skilled enough for CCO).  Only, the director of the RTO was ready to fold the group because she didn’t want to handle it alone any longer.   So, we have put our resources together and we will co-conduct/direct the RTO.  This is actually a lighter load for me as Da Capo Strings met weekly and this will be twice a month. But, considering how crazy my summer was, maybe going back to school will be a vacation???