Random July

Sarah's last day of 5th grade. I'm pretty sure she really appreciated the sun in her eyes. ;)

Another day, another trip to the reservoir. 

Our friend John Rolling came to visit for the 4th of July. We felt bad that we weren't as exciting as some of his other options, but it was great to see him. 

We went with the Smith's to walk around Silver Lake. It really never gets old. 

Hike to Cecret Lake

The first time the kids and I completed the hike to Cecret Lake they lamented the fact that we hadn't brought nets to catch the salamanders. This time we came prepared. We brought the Drew and Kaidence Anderson with us and Sheryl and her kids met us there. The hike is more of a nature walk than a hike, but incredibly beautiful. Here are a couple pictures on the way up and when we got there.

Here they are catching salamanders. Each kid caught at least one. They were tricky to catch and one of the nets had a hole in it. 

The hike down was just as much fun as the hike up. We took more fun pictures and the kids explored. We had our family pictures taken in Albion in 2009 so Mike and I recreated one of the pictures.

Aviary fun

Taking foster kids to weekly meetings with their parents can be a hassle, but there are some perks. One of which is going to the Tracy Aviary. We've gone a few times.

In May we took Presley with us while T was having a visit. The highlight for the kids was feeding the birds.

Last week we went after M had a visit. We saw a peacock, which was smart to run away and hide. The highlight of this venture was when Steven got chosen to participate in the bird show. One of their small falcons flew from a handler in the back to the front where it would land on Steven's arm. Adam said that he felt the bird fly right past them. :)

The Starley's and their technicolored hair

In February Sarah decided she wanted to put some pink in her hair. I thought her hair was light enough, so we did some pink highlights and voila! not much pink. :) 

Our friend Amy Hamilton added a big chunk of blonde which helped and then we decided we wanted a little more so we added more bleach and more pink. Sarah was really happy with the final outcome. 

By April her hair had faded so she decided she'd like to go purple. It looked nice with her darker hair. 

Amelia came over in May with a new haircut so we decided to add some Jade green. (With her mother's permission of course) We bleached it and then left the color on for a few hours. Her mom washed it out when she got home and I got to take a picture the next time I saw her. It looks really cool.

Since Amelia had cool new hair and Sarah's purple was fading, we decided to bleach the other kids hair and add even more color. Why you ask? Good question. It's Mike's fault. He thinks the kids should have complete control of their hair. Adam added Jade green, Steven did metallic blue and Sarah went with a combo of mint and salmon. It's been fun, but I look forward to seeing their normal hair again. I unfortunately have to pay Adam to let me cut his hair.