June/July/August/September ("Summer") Recap

Ben - Ben had a particularly eventful summer. While still working full time he managed to:

Take a flight with his brother Nate (formally known to many as Nathan and to others and even more formally by his maiden name Nathan Kalana-Westbrook) piloted by the head nurse in the ENT clinic.

The two also took a rafting trip. Neither trip resulted in a payout of life insurance funds - which may or may not be a relief - I need to see what the going rate is these days.



We have an entire CD of pictures from the trip and in each one Ben's mouth is wide open. Cracks me up.

Here he is gallivanting on American Lake with his colleagues, on a weekday nonetheless.

And still another workday resulted in this fine catch. And a lot of sea-sickness I hear.

He also spent a month in Iowa for an work-related course, which was probably more fun than it sounds, at least it is if you like Wagyu beef. This trip also gave him the chance to visit Chicago.


Avery - Started first grade, is wearing skinny jeans* and is playing the violin (which is going much better than I had expected. my ears aren't bleeding...yet). She made a brief attempt at Tae-Kwon-Do but when she realized she wasn't going to get to do any real fighting the allure wore off. Plus discipline is not really her thing. What else... basically this is what Avery's summer looked like:

* Quite possibly the worst moment of motherhood to date when she asked "mom- can I get skinny jeans?" Actually, scratch that, it's a distant second to when she asked if I knew who Lady Gaga is. (When I played dumb she kind of let me know that while she knows who she is, that maybe she shouldn't tell me - to protect my impressionable old mind I'm sure. Uncle Nate was there to witness this interaction.)


Miles - Is still on a sheep riding high. Which is funny considering the rest of the summer he spent preferring to do yoga over sports like t-ball or soccer.

Cruz - All he cares about is where his next meal is coming from. And if it's going in your mouth then he wants it too. Nevermind that he has no teeth. (Actually he just sprouted two last week, started sitting up and does a mean inchworm)

Me - Well obviously while Ben was having all the fun this summer I was responsibly taking care of house and home. (Okay I managed to squeeze in a longish trip to CA and CO)

Britt - Because only Britt's events rival Ben's...I think it went something like this - Vegas, New York, Cabo, Yosemite, Colombia (the country of), Seattle then topped it off with a RV trip from CA to Oregon. And she also managed to work full time. But she couldn't win Wipeout.