Another summer flies by......

What the heck? Remember when you were a kid and the days seemed to drag on and on and you thought Christmas would NEVER get here? When did that go away? Time is going by so quickly now I hardly know what day it is.

July has been busy for us. 

We tie-dyed. 

(Here's how we did it)

It was super fun and now we all have so many tie-dye shirts that at least one of us is wearing one everyday and we look like a big commune of hippies.  

What must the neighbors think?!

Wesley and Nate went on an awesome trip to Catalina Island. 

I don't have any pictures of their trip, but here they are just before they left. 

Don't they look happy?

Eli turned 13!!!

I'm still adjusting to the idea. 

He had some friends over to celebrate and he made them sleep on the trampoline to prove their loyalty.

It got chilly during the night. I think it was a frigid low of 95.

Of course, we went to see Harry Potter. 

And Ivy stood next to this giant Smurf thingamajiggy.

(What the heck could a Smurf movie possibly be about? 

Or do movies not have to be about something anymore? )

Eli and Ivy finished another successful season of swim and dive team.

Sadly I only remembered to take the camera to ONE dive meet and ZERO swim meets. 

Here's Eli at the City Championship meet where he was awarded 6th place. 

And here he is with his coach Rusty.

It has been a busy month and we're looking forward to taking it easy for a couple of weeks before school starts. 

And then we blew some stuff up

When I was a girl in Kentucky we made our own moonshine fireworks. Living here in the dry, forest fire prone desert our kids have always had to settle for those silly professional fireworks shows.

No more!! 

Recently common sense has been tossed aside and it is now legal to purchase fireworks here, some cities even let you light them.

It's true.

So, like any good father, Sylvan set out to find some really good ones.

(Some of those are smoke bombs. I don't get smoke bombs. Can someone please explain the thrill of colored smoke to me?)

It was great fun. 

Please note the torch in Eli's hand. 

Not only did we let our almost 13 year old light the pyrotechnics, we let him do it with a torch. 

When I say we, I mean Sylvan.

The grand finale

In order to fully experience this video of "The Little Big Show", I suggest you turn off all of the lights and sit in a 107 degree room.

Untitled from Sue Lunt on Vimeo.

I don't even want to know how long the Big Big Show lasts. 

In the end, no one suffered loss of limb or eyeball, so we're calling it an Independence Day success.

A love story

I'm always trying to get my nephew Brandon to express his emotions.

For example, I know that I'm one of his favorite aunts, but he's a private boy who holds everything inside his tender little heart, and he would never want his other aunts to feel bad, so he just says things like,

"I love you all equally Aunt Sue." 

He so sensitive and kind.

About a month ago he was at our house and he noticed this giant lollipop (that has been hanging around for about a year and a half), if there's one thing Brandon loves almost as much as he loves me, it's candy.

"Is this for sale?" he asked. (Because, what? I'm running a candy store up in here? Sheesh.)

That's when I had a brilliant idea.

"Why yes nephew, it is for sale." 

We chatted, a deal was struck, and a few minutes later Brandon "found" me in a room filled with witnesses, where he hugged me, professed his love and my favorite status, then KISSED me on the cheek.

Proving that everyone has their price.

We make amazing things around here.

A request has been made that I post these pictures in a post of their very own so that you may all gaze in awe at the wonder of the block maze.

That's right, you are looking at a maze, made of blocks, by Ivy.

As you can see the details are impressive.

She would be happy to make one for you too. 

Just give her a call.

There were about 15 more pictures of the block maze, but we edited it down to these, the best ones.

You're welcome.

How can it be 4th of July and I'm just now posting about Father's Day?

Ivy started planning for Father's Day months in advance. 

When Sylvan opened his gift it was obvious she had made the right choice. 

But, really, can you ever go wrong presenting someone with their very own "as seen on TV" EasyFeet?

I love how the box says "No more bending to clean your feet." 

Finally! Those pesky bending days are behind you.

Apparently Sylvan has always wanted his very own Bonsai Tree and Wesley was able to score this fantastic grow your own kit. 

There were also chocolates and a big fat steak.

They know him so well.