Savin' my pennies...

The other day Les took the kids to the Arvada Center where they got to climb on Mr. Squiggles and see a display of motorcycles. This is Katie posing in front of my future purchase.

Yesterday, I took the three oldest up in the foothills for a Jr. Rangers program offered by the county. We hiked along Bear Creek and got to look at a really cool beaver dam. It was almost 100 feet long and about six feet high. The beaver lodge was built along the side of the pond under the stump of a large cottonwood tree.

At the end of the hike, the kids got to run an obstacle course to ensure that they were physically fit rangers. This is a shot of Katie "picking up trash along the trail." (Sorry the picture is a little grainy, I shot it with my new phone and I'm still learning how it all works. Someday, I'll get the hang of this new fangled technology.)

Brant

White Trash 4th of July

Zirker 3

Can you post a picture of the new t-shirt design so we can all comment on it and give our expert opinions?

Sorry, I meant Family Presentation Night.

This is Weston's interpretation of folding laundry, rolling it and lining it up. While he was folding laundry he also put me in time out for not listening to him. Hmmm...

Not much happened this week. I worked on vinyl and my website. I started adding everything up and I have earned enough moolah to pay off my machine, so that's progress. Aunt Brenda is redoing her kitchen and she mentioned that she wanted to paint over the tiles with pictures of herbs on them. I told her to vinyl it and so we did. I found a little design and border that would cover the pictures and applied them on Friday. It looks fabulous! One more way to use vinyl!

We're excited for the reunion talent show, we have some "talents" we're excited to share.

Estes Park

We spent the weekend in Estes Park. While we were there the boys made and launched pop bottle rockets and the girls did crafts. Hallee made a mosiac picture frame out of colored glass, Andra painted an unmbrella, and Jamie painted snakes for the boys.

We also enjoyed some horse back riding. Korbin and Andra rode little ponies around in the morning. Later that day Erik, Hallee, and Trent went for a one hour ride to a meadow. Hallee was pretty nervous at first. Neither of the kids have really ridden before. They had a great time. After horseback riding we all rode go-carts, bumper cars, and a gunny sack slide in Estes Park (the city).

The Saga Continues

The one time I got to ride in the saddle and Eugene had to ride behind me (it takes a real man to wear pink pants). This was taken at my Grandpa Zirker's place in Arcadia.
I hope you're not tired of my weekly project report. Saturday I put the outside trim around the new windows. I started about 9:00am and didn't finish until about 1:00pm. The thing I didn't account for is that the last two windows I did were the two bedrooms upstairs. Do you know what it is like to stand/kneel on a black roof on the sunny side of the house in 85 degree heat? It was so hot I could feel it through my Nike's. My next step is to caulk all the seems and then start the prep work to paint. Shane and Tracey power washed their fence and are now staining it. I watched him power wash and decided I'd take him up on his offer to use his machine on our house. It will save a lot of scraping and sanding.
Amanda (aka. Mandy) reported her mission today. She gave a good talk. You could almost feel her shift into the missionary teaching mode as she spoke.
I did building inspections on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Tuesday morning we met in Post Falls and drove up toward Sandpoint to one building and then to Priest River for another one. Then we drove to Moses Lake and stayed overnight. I drove downtown and did the old cruising route for old times sake. I drove out to Chico's but did not stop. Then I drove back down Broadway and as I passed the Tastee Freeze (now called Woody's) I decided I'd buy a burger just to see if they tasted the same. I pulled in and ordered and I mentioned to the girl that I used to eat here in the 60's. She said, "you mean when it was a Tastee Freeze". The hamburger tasted the same and the butterscotch shake was just as good. Wednesday we inspected the Rose Street Chapel (where I was baptized) and the Warden building. I took the fellow I was with downstairs and showed him where we used to meet for scouts in the furnace room. After he headed home I drove down and talked to Jeff Whitaker (Bob and Ardy were on their way home from a family reunion in Missouri). I drove up and down main street and then over to see our old house. The town still looks kind of rough.
That's about it for now. Hope you are all well and happy.