Funnel Cakes

 I'm usually the one who does the cooking at home.  But, Eric had this fun idea of making funnel cakes.  He says he used to make them years ago.    Since we would be leaving for the cabin tomorrow and not overly worried about the diets, the funnel cake making began.

Ramsey, who's never had a funnel cake before, was excited, but also a bit leery.  We explained that it's basically deep-fried pancake batter with powdered sugar on top.  

That tipped the scales for Ramsey to the more "excited" side.  

Though they didn't quite turn out as a usual batch (the temp of the oil had to have been "off"), they sure were tasty!!  Nom nom nom!  Good job, Eric!

Monday Evening at the Lake

 It was another gorgeous day.  Of course, that meant a slow boat ride with lines and planer boards out, then swimming afterwards!

At times like these, Jango gets teased a lot.  He knows the words for "boat", "pontoon", "swimming", "lake", etc, among others.  And, he does NOT like it when he is told he has to "stay".  That's the teasing part and he goes ballistic!

Of course he doesn't have to stay.  He loves boat rides and swimming!    The boys graciously waited until I was done working and we headed out.

The fishing was slow...  er... non-existent.  We didn't catch a thing.  But, Ramsey was able to hone in on his captain's skills.

As per usual, Jango perched at his usual spot, pretending he's Jack from the movie Titanic.   I swear, I think he's going to jump.  But, he never does.

After the attempt at fishing, Eric, Ramsey, and Jango swam from the pontoon and enjoyed the cool waters on such a warm day.

I practiced my captain skills at the time, ensuring the pontoon didn't drift into the shore line.  

What a gorgeous afternoon and evening!

Mystery Solved: The Evening Thief

 We'd been perplexed for the last few weeks.   We have a few bird feeders on our lake-facing deck.  One is very large and can hold a LOT of bird seed.   For a while now, Eric will fill the bird feeders and, by the next day, they are completely WIPED OUT - totally empty!   There haven't been a murder of crows around or large flocks of anything else that would have caused this.  And, there weren't any holes in the feeder.

This evening... we figured it out.  We saw the culprit around 10PM as it was getting dark.  

Yes, the culprit... the thief... was not any sort of feathered creature/s.  It was, in fact, a single gluttonous raccoon!

We had to take measures to remedy the situation.  We certainly didn't need any additional racoons getting any crazy ideas.  Poor guy... but man, if he wouldn't have been so greedy, we would have happily shared.   

She's a Scorcher Out There!

 We've had a few HOT DAYS as of late.  It reached 102° today!  It was a perfect day for the kids to swim.

Ashton & Rae came over to play and cool off.  They requested my assistance to record their many fanciful tricks.

They were trying to complete a 3-person totem pole. I knew that wasn't going to work, but they were having fun, so I just took the video and let them do their thang.  😉

This one was rather impressive... Rae actually stood up on Ashton's shoulders.   I guess all of those gymnastics lessons and competitions paid off!

Here, the girls propped Ramsey up on Ashton's shoulders.  They treat him like their little brother.  It's so cute!

Here's a video Ramsey wanted me to post.  Eric had been out fishing and Ramsey had been over at the girls' swimming.  Ramsey decided to swim back.  Eric played "Eye of the Tiger" from the pontoon whilst Ramsey swam back to our dock.  He insisted this was video-worthy! 😂🤨

On a different note, the evenings have still been nice enough for boat rides or fishing off of the dock.  So peaceful and beautiful!

Panzer

 Well, it just wouldn't be summer around here if we didn't catch a Pumpkin Seed fish and toss it in the aquarium.  The boys caught this one today.  He's a large dude, so hopefully he doesn't scare the other fish! He's beautiful and he's seems to be adapting well to the new environment.

Eric is excited because this one eats tropical fish flakes, so he doesn't require a 100% special diet.  He does like his worms though and comes to the surface and snatches them quickly when they are offered.

August update:  Mr. Panzer has gotten aggressive towards the other fish.  We've noticed that the goldfish have lost many of their scales and look rough.   We felt it was best to release him back into the lake.  

The goldfish are on the mend.

This will be the last time a Pumpkin Seed will be in the tank... for the rest of the fishies' sake.

Swim Time With Charlie

 Ramsey and his buddy Charlie always have a good time together.   When we got a request to watch Charlie for a while Jonah and Leslie went out for supper for their anniversary, we happily accepted!

Charlie had been hesitant to jump off the dock.   Ramsey encouraged him and showed him the ropes.

Before long, Charlie was jumping like a pro!

The kids played for a few hours.   

Then, I heard thunder and decided it was time for the kiddos to come inside.  The rest of the evening was playing toys inside.   ...Grateful for these good buddies!!

Vacation Bible School

It was time again for Vacation Bible School at our church.  This year, I was unable to take the time off to assist.   Ramsey was super pumped to be going again!   

This year's theme was "Stellar - Shine Jesus' Light".    Ramsey's troop had seven kids in it, all around his age.  He made new friends... one of Ramsey's favorite things to do!

Each day at the beginning and end of the days, the kids learn and practice their song lyrics and actions in the gym.  

There are multiple stations thereafter.  They learn about the bible verses, have snacks, do crafts, and have outside time.

And, because it's nice and warm, there is always lots of WATER fun during the week!

The kids perform their songs twice for the public/congregation; once on Wednesday evening church and then on Friday, right after the last station/class.  (We missed the Wednesday evening performance.)

Hundreds of kiddos partake in this wonderful event.   There are SO MANY wonderful volunteers and church employees who work hard to make everything run smoothly and be possible.  They have my gratitude!

Ramsey had a great time and is looking forward to it next year already!

Summer Swim Fun

 Two buddies who are addicted to swimming.  Ramsey is lucky to have Rae just a few houses down the street!

I watched them play in the water for a while.  Rae was trying to get Ramsey to stand on her shoulders.  It didn't quite work out, but they had a ton of fun.