This summer we spent a lot of time in the water
Here’s Gordon in his goofy monster goggles.

Boys in Lake Norman balancing on the rope and trying to knock each other off.

Nick’s balancing act on grandpa Walker’s shoulder at our neighborhood pool.

Ethan’s fake smile…he spent all his time floating on this noodle the entire summer! When we went on vacation, we had to go to Toys R Us and get a noodle for the hotel pool.

Benjamin jumping into a hotel pool in Utah. His cousin, Ellen is in the water…she didn’t like it.

Nick & Ben (and a bunch of strangers) waiting for a giant bucket of water to dump 0n them at Carowinds.

Our family was going to go camping in the mountains with three other families. However, one family’s car broke down, and the other family had sick kids, so it was just us and one other family. We decided to go to Carowinds (an amusement park) since we both have season passes and camp there. Not really roughing it…there was putt-putt golf, a pool, clubhouse, and bathroom with showers. We did sleep in a tent, but we had to roast marshmallows over the grill instead of an open fire… and instead of hiking, we rode rollercoasters:)

Hope everyone reading this is having a fun last week of summer! School seems like fun. We went to Nick’s middle school, brought back so many memories (oh, to have a locker again). Nick is still loving Blender and teaching Gordon today.

Ben has been reading a lot and playing Battlefront II again. He is into “moding” his own maps and downloading those others have “modded.” He went tubing behind a boat with his Sunday School class for a party on the lake. We also went on a Cub Scout trip with him last week to the North Carolina Raptor Center. It was amazing seeing those birds up close. The falcons are my favorite. One had a broken wing from “speeding as a teenager.” Everyone used their money to buy mood rings in the gift shop. Go figure.

It has been 109 here with 80% and higher humidity sometime. Needless to say, we stay inside a lot. Hottest temperatures for these parts since 1880. Global warming must be real. Went to the pool with the boys yesterday to cool off some.

Alicia and I went and saw Bourne Supremacy. We give it four stars. It was good if more of the same. I do love the mind game stuff and that battle between the two experts. We stopped at Taco Bell on the way and got a Nachos Bell Grande and 7-Layer Burrito. Hadn’t done that in a while. Alicia gave me a hard time for saying, “nachos belle grrrrrrannnnnde” and “burrrrrrito” to the order taker. I figure it is just more fun making the microphone person laugh. We ate them in the parking lot listening to music and just talking like a college date about everything and nothing while we waiting for our movie. It was great. Reminded me of stories about Mom and Dad eating nachos at 7-11 when that was all they could do to get away for a moment. I will admit that wonderful processed nacho cheese tasted good after something like two years.

Hope you are all doing well. I heard a quote recently from Charley Chaplin, “A day without laughter is a day waisted.” No matter how hard the day is, find something to laugh about.

In downtown Salt Lake City, Rob and I went to take the kids to the Hansen Planetarium. Low and behold, the one we remembered going to on dates in an old historic building was closed down (man that makes you feel old). They built a brand new modern one called Clark Planetarium next to a mall. The kid’s favorite thing was this contraption called “Newton’s Dream,” where balls roll around and interact with other parts of the machine. Here is Gordon using all his strength to move the lever.
We all saw the Imax 3D Dinosaur movie which was awesome. All the boys here in those funky 3D glasses.

We all know Nicholas will someday have a profession in metorology. Probably research or computer generated modeling. So here he is in front of the weather map.

Ben and I took the planet challenge at this exibit. We learned various facts about each planet.
Finally, man has walked on Mars. What a good looking man at that!

The Muhlestein clan went to Hogle zoo in Utah. The main attraction was the albino alligator. Is was super hot that day, but the zoo had spritzer fans throughout the park and we had lots of drinks. Here’s all the cousins at the gorilla exibit and Nicholas measuring up to an ape…hahaha how close they are.

We took to kids to temple square one day during our trip to Utah. We looked in all the visitor’s centers and saw all the displays. Everytime we go they have new stuff.

Gordon got pretty tired.

Before we left, we went to the distribution center. Ethan wanted a Book of Mormon. Even though he can’t read it, he looked at it for a long time. We read part of it in the car.

End of July saw us in Utah for Rob’s family reunion. Eight brothers & sisters and all their children and a couple grand children–lots of people and never a dull moment.

We all got together at the hotel pool for a family swim event.
Here is Rob and his brother (Rex) being the bases for nieces Ellen & Emily’s knock down fight.
Rob’s parents
& a soup full of family in the hot tub

At one point there were squirt guns and water bombs flying everywhere–and of course plenty of splashing.

The Muhlesteins took over the church gym for games and a talent show.

Games: Toilet paper dodgeball–it’s a muhlestein family tradition now.

This big green tubbie thingy–

Sword fighting (Ben & Mason dueling)

Basketball & skateboarding
(not really sure if that one was allowed, but they sure are cute)

Here’s the talent show part of the day:
Andy played guitar and Rex played drums (both Rob’s brothers)

Emily, Abigale and Lilly danced to that Woo Hoo song (I have no idea the name, I just know they say Woo Hoo in it and we played it a lot)

After all the girls danced, Ethan had to go up there too.
Nick & Ben played piano
Gordon showed off his Floam castle/volcano.

A couple of days before we left for Utah I was stewing about what I could do for the talent show. All my talents are somewhere in art, but nobody wants to see paintings or drawings. Unless it’s of them (idea) “I’ll paint a picture of Rob’s parents.” Rob thought I couldn’t do it in two days. Ha! Proved him wrong. Rob’s parents play Mr. & Mrs. Claus at Christmas–I believe!