It always seemed so far away...

The end of June is a real magical time. Spring has come and gently caressed us up out of our slumber. It nudges us into action, encouraging us to get outside and smell the magic in the air. The  pine and fresh grass is intoxicating and never fails to bring a smile to my face. In the briskness of early morning with the sunshine warming the skin on my face, I lift my cup of coffee to those near and dear in a silent salute and once again smile at the fortune of happiness in my front yard.
The deer grazing on the grass and the moose on the willows are only a few of the things reminding me that summer has finally arrived. The other is the smiles on the kids faces when we wake them up for school. Puzzling until I remembered they are in the final throws of school days, meaning camping trips and amusement parks are the order of business as Jeff finishes his time at Banded Peak School. The grade 8 farewell is right around the corner, which means I better bust a move and get Fillmore in his dress duds to full fill my promise of taking Jeff and the boys to their "grad" just like I did for Anna's Grad . Back then Fillmore was in much rougher shape, and I thought by the time Jeff's big day came....hell we might be done fixing up Fillmore.....it seemed so far away then.

I decided to put up a valence, not in the design or material that I ultimately want in the end but, it's time to be practical.

Frankly I think it looks sharp...

It cleans everything up quite nicely. After I finish that, it was time to clean, the inside...

And the outside. The kids,loud tunes, a few buckets of soapy water and a hose....what could go wrong?

I am so proud of my kids, Jeff is super confident with who he is, in a wonderful, loving and (mostly) humble way. I'm not sure I would have been able to pull off a pink shirt, a bow tie AND shorts at 13

But his crew is a great bunch of guys with lots of class. They made a great entrance and loved every minute of the night, thanks for letting the old man and the old bus be a part of it boys!!