I think we're all getting our groove with the new school year. Brianna's enjoying her senior year and finding that her classes aren't nearly as challenging as in years past. She reserves the right to change that assessment though. Kenzie is finding high school not as scary as she thought it might be. She's liking all classes except French. We told her to take Spanish, but "NO!" I don't want to take the same class Brianna did. Carly's enjoying being big girl on the elementary school campus. She's doing well. On top of her piano lessons, she's taking a musical theatre from the same teacher. She's doing this with a couple of her friends and really enjoying it. Aaron's settling in and discovering he can handle the extra challenges his new class is offering. Soccer is a lot of fun for him too.
We're still awaiting insurance to come through with a settlement from our robbery - now over a month ago. It's a bigger pain that we even imagined. We're now passed on to the 3rd department with no end in sight. Note to others: You are definitely NOT in good hands with ALLSTATE.
A few weeks ago, Brianna finally got her braces off. Yeah, because we needed to get senior pictures taken. We found a great place: www.luminaphotography.com We like how they do things. You pay them by the hour, then come away with a CD with all of your pics and the copyright to them. You can develop them wherever you want, i.e. really cheap at Costco. We made it a family photo session too. Got a lot of great shots of the family, each kid individually, various groupings, then Brianna had the duration of the time to do her senior pictures. We were very pleased with the outcome. Here is a sampling. I'm not going to include our favorite family shot because then our Christmas cards wouldn't be new.
Kenzie, Brianna, Carly and Aaron - Time sure is flying!
A decent picture of Paul and I
Aaron, the dude, Leavens
Carly, I'm too cute for my own good, Leavens
Mackenzie, you asked for attitude, Leavens 
Brianna, I'm a senior and ready to fly, Leavens
We'll give her a few shots on here - it was about her mostly after all.
That's all for now. Later...
The house from the lake.
Grandpa and Grandma didn't want to miss out on the fun. These two are quite daring for 76ish years old! Rachel got on with them to balance out the tube and so Grandma could be in the middle. 
HOLD ON!
TJ, showing his impressive moves:
Brianna got a lot more comfortable this trip, being able to board almost every day. She got over both wakes and even got a bit of air and landed it!
Steve being tricky with his water camera:
Steve's showing some of his sweet moves:
Then it's Paul's turn:
Rachel is a chip off the ole block - Steve's block:
This was Carly's first time boarding too. A natural, and pretty excited about it. The jet skiers (in the background) had a lot of fun riding the wakes too!
This was Carly's last day to board, she got pretty tricky too. Was able to go over both wakes. Here she is saying : "Oh Yeah!" after she crossed the wake successfully. Really, that's what she was saying!
Aaron's first time boarding this trip too. He just popped right up and rode for quite a while. He crossed the wake successfully too! A happy boy here!
The jet skiers had a good time. The kids enjoyed driving it themselves. Here's Aaron and Kenzie driving with Paul:
After a hard day playing, we would hang and play games, read and just hang together. Grandma never knew a chair she couldn't take a nap in:
Susan, Paul, Todd, Tami and Steve playing Mexican Train:
Kids reading and playing scattergories
Above - the dads attempted to take the kids out to a little island on the raft. Now, Lake Wenatchee's a very windy lake, and after a bit, they started getting sucked down the river off to the right. They never did make it to the island, but did manage to bring ALL the kids back alive! Oh, I should have mentioned, all the kids went except Brianna. She was attempting to read a book that she had to read for her AP English class this coming year. It was so riveting that she fell fast asleep:
That night, I really paid the price for missing some spots on both my arms with the sunscreen. Just the fronts of my arms, but it was plenty to feel like I was on fire. (I know, I know, I'm not very smart - it REALLY was an accident!) I was applying aloe the whole night, but finally discovered that the best relief came from cold wash cloths. See below:
On Tuesday, we went on a little hike out to another little mountain lake called, Hidden Lake. Hey, look - more big trees!
The view at this lake was beautiful - and not just the view of Mackenzie!:
Aaron, Sarah and Carly balancing:
Group picture before we head back:
When we got back to the cabin, the dads and most of the kids went out to geo-cache in the area. That was a first for us. Aaron and Carly thought that was pretty cool! Then we hung around a bit, made dinner and the men and kids went out and did some archery and BB gun shooting. Aaron was in heaven! I think he wants a BB gun for Christmas now - GREAT!
Yo-Yo Man below:
The kids also passed the time away with "selling" rocks to anyone who would buy - usually to each other. They had collected the rocks outside, hammered them open and then priced them according to their "prettiness" or "coolness."
While the parents played games til late in to the evening - or at least until my Tylenol PM kicked in! Our favorite games this visit were "Puerto Rico" and Kentucky Discard.
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