Beautiful August Summer

Perfect Chalk art. Hannah takes pride in her work. ;)

Ashton did a pretty good job too and seems pretty proud. I think we will work on those "S"s. 

Last year the weather only seemed scorching hot during Ashon's birthday week. This summer the sun seemed to stick around.  We tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. Ashton does not like sunscreen, so it was pretty easy to convince him to stay out of the sun. This year was definitely a busy summer. Ben entered more tournaments, Hannah started soccer, and Ashton just keeps you busy all day long.

Our Perfect Pool. Low Maintenance, and it does the job!

Hannah's thoughts are very original and creative. Ashton enjoyed watching and trying the same thing.

Having fun shooting each other and running through our sprinklers. (Which is in the shade so Ashton didn't need to put on sunscreen.) 

Going shirtless in this heat!

This is the park across from Ashton's soon-to-be elementary school. It was very unique.  Ashton was very proud of himself for climbing where Hannah climbed.

We loved Visiting their garden!

Just look at those Green Bean vines. Wow!

Ashton gets a new racket

He wants to take a swing. Better get him to the tennis courts!

Off they go to play tennis at the highschool

Yakima

The tennis was great; the weather was hot; but the best thing about Yakima for me was the Praying Mantis bug I saw.  It was just sitting on my bag and then once a dog approached, it moved quickly to the plants. Not sure if I have ever seen one out of an aquarium before. It was quite large. I don't think Mark and Ashton really cared too much about it, but I was excited. 

Mini Golfing in the heat.

Race Cars for Speed

Mark and Ashton came in first place the first time they raced so Ashton received a finish line flag. They had so much fun that they went again. The second time, Ben came in first place and received the cool flag.

Bumper Boats to cool off!

They were wet!!

Tennis: The real reason for coming to Yakima!

I love these action shots! 

We played at this cute little park at the Tennis club, but the sun was getting hotter and Ben was in the second set.  I wanted to watch some of his match, so Ashton gets to watch some of his TV shows on the iPad. 

This match was painful to watch. The other boy would just loop them in, so Ben had to have a lot of patience. The points went on forever! Thank goodness his match started at 9:30am. The heat was getting bad after 2 hours of playing.  I couldn't imagine him having to play during the afternoon. Some kids had to play in 90+ degree weather. We got lucky for both matches, and his doubles match.  Ben did win this first match. Played again at 8am the next day, but didn't win that one. His doubles match was later that evening at a indoor facility. The lost to a two really good doubles players. It was a great experience for him, and I am glad we were able to drive to Yakima for it.

Love this shot. Ben is looking at his ball (hopefully those eyes aren't fully closed....) But the ball is smashed into his racket. Amazing what impact it has on contact!

Enjoying our seats in the shade and watching Ben.

Our view of Ben from our seats. It is a gorgeous club.

I loved this tree. We sat under this tree to watch the boy's 18s Semi-final match on the day we left. This is where I  saw the Praying mantis! ;)

Early....Early morning hitting before playing. I believe it was 7:30am. 

Hard to see Ben, but Ashton and I just sat on one of the courts watching.

Ashton found this trampoline in the lounge area. He enjoyed bouncing on it.