The kids enjoyed their school fair. You get your hair painted, play games, win prizes, eat junk food and party till you drop. Mike had so much fun Fran couldn’t even get a picture of him. 

Claire turned seven! We had a family party during the week (on her birthday). Fran made clam vermicelli (Claire’s requested birthday dinner) and a coconut cake. Claire got a bunch f Playmobile set that mom and dad had a “great” time putting together. 

On Saturday Claire had a party with her friends. The theme was “slumber party.” The table and cake were even decorated like beds. 

After working to clean and speed up the family’s old computer for a few hours Cam gave up and went and got a new one. It’s sort of amazing what you can get now for a few hundred dollars compared to what you got a few years ago. Sadly, the new computer wasn’t as upgradeable as Cam had hoped and he couldn’t put in a better video card. Everyone point at the “motherboard” and laugh. 

School started this past week. One in kindergarten, one in second grade and one in third. Not too bad! On Sunday Fran said “Ahhhh! I wish they could go to school every day!” (we can say this stuff since our kids don’t read the blog). These are a few pics and a video from the kids’ first trip to school. Cam is taking them most days- helps him get his butt out of bed.

We’re trying a new parenting method. We used to give the kids beads each time they did their chores. Beads could them be redeemed for money. However, this past week we switched to the “fear of loss” method. Each month the kids start out with a glass filled with quarters. We remove quarters when they don’t do do chores. Effectiveness is TBA. And some sad news: The other day Mike rode Claire’s bike off a ramp. Didn’t go well. Mike landed badly (on his face). He made it home but with some gaps in his memory. “What happened to me?” He had no recollection of the crash. Fran popped him in bed and he would periodically wake up and ask where he was. Poor kid. Except for the fact that he has forgotten how to stay clean he’s doing fine now.

The Scouts have a lot of fun activities like racing vegetables down a water filled ditch (this fulfills part of the “Nutrition” and “Orphan Games” merit badge requirements). Mike used an avocado (technically a fruit, but it was sanctioned by the racing coordinator). While light, the avocado boat didn’t fare well when it took in water. It’s erratic maneuvering patterns lead many to believe the captain of the small vessel was intoxicated. In the end it was a cucumber which proved the most sea worthy.

On Saturday we went out to celebrate Greg’s 27th birthday. Per Greg’s request Mom & Dad took us all to P.F. Chang’s (thank you guys!). This birthday was especially significant because we didn’t know if Greg would make it this long.

Look at all these happy people eating [what some may call] Chinese food!

Fran is trying to help the kids develop some skills in the kitchen. Each week she tries to work with at least one of them. Sometimes it can be trying though. On Sunday they all wanted to help. “How long until dinner is ready?” Cam asked. “Well, now that I have help it will be longer.” It took two hours. But you could totally taste the love.

Fran and the kids went to Lagoon and had a lot of fun. With the exception of Chloe the kids can go on almost every ride. Chloe still went on her fair share though.

Lagoon: The Disney Land of Utah. Rides, food and fun. They stayed until the park closed at 11:00pm.

Cam’s is working on some major car modifications (new engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and maybe bigger turbos and upgraded fuel system). This will probably be a 3-4 week project.

The kids and Grandpa look forward to the Alpine Days parade each year.

After gaining back a good deal of weight Cam is starting his diet and exercise program again. So far so good (except that he is really grumpy).

Sometimes kids do really weird stuff…

Nothing beats the Lindon pool on a hot summer day.

Claire went to her cousin’s birthday party. Gabe stayed home with Dad and they made cookies and watched cartoons (Mike was off with his friends). [The picture from this post was lost in the blog consolidation and, alas, it cannot be found]

Francoise is still trying to make eggplant taste good (this has been an ongoing battle). As it turns out fried eggplant is actually pretty good. On Sunday the family played Richess du Monde (a French game which is similar to Monopoly). Cam thought there may have been some cheating and would like a rematch. [The picture from this post was lost in the blog consolidation and, alas, it cannot be found]