July rolls along...

Sorry for the absence. I could plead insane busy-ness, but that would be a lie : )

On Sunday, July 5, Don and I went to the Vancouver airport to pick up our first two international students. Their English names are James and Ricky. We didn't know about these names when they first came and we tried hard to learn their Korean names. Apparently our pronunciation was funny because we got lots of laughter each time we tried to call them by their names. The boys are very nice but speak very.little.english. They have a great school program...we drop them off at 9, and they have ESL in the mornings and then some very fun activity in the afternoons. We pick them up sometime between 3 and 6, depending on that afternoon's activity. Tomorrow their whole group is going to Victoria, so they'll be gone from 7:00 in the morning until 9:30 at night. So it's not a huge workload to have them here. They get along well with the other children and are pretty good at amusing themselves.

On Saturday the 10th, I took Sean to the Vancouver airport for his third trek to Quadra. This year he is in Gunnery Trade Group 3, basically the "big men on campus." Among other highlights, he gets to compete in a competition called "Iron Gunz," where the TG3ers can strut their stuff in front of the whole camp. It's apparently very impressive. If you want to drop Sean a note, here is his address:

PO2 Murphy S
Gunnery TG3
HMCS Quadra
Comox, BC V9M 8A1

That very same day, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from the airport and got a very big picnic lunch. Don, back at the ranch, took James, Ricky, and the Littles to Krause's to pick strawberries, and then came home and started loading up the van and car. Dylan picked up Haley and brought her home, and from there we all loaded up and went to spend the day at Cultus Lake! It was a hoot. The kids swam, played on the playground, ate, sunbathed (Dylan and Haley anyway), and napped (Nick). The weather was perfect...warm but not uncomfortably so. We got home around 7:00, had waffles for dinner, and called it a day.

Dylan has been working 40 hours/week at Thunderbird, and now has an awesome tan from being outdoors all day long. Unfortunately once he takes off his t-shirt the tan isn't nearly impressive...it's hard to beat a summer swimmer's tan, that's for sure. He is working for Don down at Radnai's on the weekends, in an attempt to earn enough money to purchase an expensive new cell phone.

Nathan is now in Pensacola, Florida. His ship just reached shore this morning. They are on land for 1.5 days, and then they'll be heading out again to start their fight against oil. He did hear rumors that they wouldn't be back in Cordova until March! I feel so badly for the families that are up there, having to go through the winter without their husbands and daddies. I think the guys will get some leave so there will be visits, but it's still going to be a long winter up there.

On a sad note, Naylene broke up with Nathan. I'm sure you can read volumes in the words I'm not saying. This is a diplomacy technique I've learned...

Don is busy as ever with the computers and the trees. He has a new contract in Richmond, which is quite the drive, one or two days/week. He's worked both days this weekend at Radnai's starting the spring work. He hired Justin Furse to work on tops, and so far he's quite pleased with Justin's work. This is a real help because with Sean gone most of the summer and Dylan working full-time at Thunderbird, Don was in a bit of a bind in the employee department.

This Saturday I will take James and Ricky to their agent's place in Maple Ridge. The agent, who is Korean but a permanent resident here in Canada, will fly with 9 Korean students back to Korea and deliver them to their parents. Then I will come home and "flip" the house to have it ready for the 2 students that we'll pick up on Sunday. They'll be here until August 14, and then Sean will return August 21. And summer will be winding down. Patience will be in Grade 1 (all day!), Sean will go into Grade 10, and Dylan will have his first year at University. I think it'll be quite an exciting year.

The Littles are all doing well. Nick is getting more mobile, more verbal, more independent, and more cute if that's at all possible. He is definitely a little ray of sunshine around here.

And there you have it...the happenings at the Murphy's so far this July.