Busy July

The month of July has come and gone! Here are some highlights:

Saturday, July 12 ~ Mom, Jonathan, David, Esther and James attended the Skagit Highland Games in Mount Vernon. David competed in piping and placed 5th, Esther competed in dancing and placed 1st, 2nd and 4th and was the best dancer overall in her category and won the aggregate trophy!

Monday, July 14 ~ Beginning of Fort Nisqually history camp. Josiah attended I helped. Jonathan and Graydon were also helping with camp and stayed with us for the week which was enjoyed by all!

While at camp, the rest of the Pollock boys went shooting with some friends in the afternoon and we all attended a surprise birthday party for Mr. Allen that evening.

Tuesday, July 15 ~ More camp--we had a really interesting group of kids this year. One of which was a wannabe gang member. During the calligraphy class--writing with feather and ink, this kid was making graffiti! Very strange for a history camp!

Wednesday, July 16 ~ I stayed home and Jonathan went in my place. Jonathan was responsible for one of the troublemakers. He had to follow him around and keep him in line. This camp usually isn't that difficult. I felt sorry for the kids who were there to learn and are not used to a "school" environment!

Thursday, July 17 ~ Last day we helped with camp and everything seemed to go better. The "gangster" child did not show up--I guess he didn't like people telling him what to do--pretty sad.

After camp we packed the van and headed to Portland, arriving at our destination around 10:30pm.

Friday, July 18 ~ The boys went berry picking with our grandparents. Mom and Dad had meetings with important people about my grandparents estate so I stayed at my grandparents house with the rest of the girls.

Later, the most of the family headed to the community college(venue for the Portland Highland Games) to set up our booth. When they arrived back home, dinner was ready including a fresh marionberry cobbler!

Saturday, July 19 ~ Portland Highland Games

Morning was very cool, but the afternoon warmed up nicely--enough to make some of us crispy!! The protocol is pretty much the same as the Tacoma games. The difference being the size and distance between the main field and the clan tents and athletics. Here are some pics from the games. (Photos taken by various Pollock children)

Sunday, July 20 ~ We went to church as usual. David and Josiah went to the air show with the Langfords after church.

Hannah lost her second tooth--she lost the first on Tuesday! At this rate she should be toothless by the end of August!

Our computer died--thankfully, we were able to save all our info off the hard drive. So, for most of the week we were without a computer! Thankfully, Mom recently purchased a laptop for her personal use, but now shares it with all of us!

Saturday and Sunday, July 27 & 28 ~ Seattle Highland Games in Enumclaw

Special post about these games coming soon!

July 28 - Aug 1 ~ I worked at Fort Nisqually where I am emplyed during the summer. I had never worked a whole week before which was a new experience! I enjoy interpreting and love to meet tourists from all over, but was thankful for Saturday when I could spend family time again!

Four of these days, Esther attended a history themed day camp there and Jonathan and David came to assist. Everyone had a great week!

Hopefully, our summer will slow down just a bit. What has happened to the "lazy days of summer?"

Obama and Generation Joshua

In an effort to direct the enthusiasm from Catholic and Evangelical youth, the Obama campaign decided to start a group and call it the Joshua Generation Project. Currently, there is a group called Generation Joshua (http://www.generationjoshua.org/) which was established for conservative, pro life, homeschoolers to encourage them to become active in political campaigns, which have been quite successful! The umbrella organization, Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) contacted the Obama campaign to notify them of the invasion of their trademark and title. The campaign acknowledged that HSLDA has the rights to Generation Joshua. Here is a quote from the Obama reply:

“Please know that the Campaign respects the intellectual property of others and wants to avoid any unnecessary confusion. As you may already know, the Campaign is no longer planning on using the ‘Joshua Generation Project’ name or any other confusingly similar name in the future. We appreciate you informing us of HSLDA’s marks.”

Our Neighborhood on Sunday Night

Our neighboorhood is not one of the best. So, we usually aren't suprised by a police car or two, but the sounds of a firetruck coming down the street at 10:30 pm can be alarming! The boys stepped out to see what was going on and saw about 6 police cars, a fire truck and a large group of people about 5 houses down from us. Our first guess was a shooting, but were surprised we hadn't heard anything. After longer observation, we decided it must have been a fight since a parent arrived to pick up their kid and he had ice packs on the side of his head. One of our neighbors tried to find out what was happening, but no one answered. It was quite an exciting evening! Here are a few pics--not very clear because in all the excitement, I forgot to turn on my flash!
Some shocked by-standers!

Our Fourth Celebration

This year we celebrated the 4th at a friends farm. They invited a few other families as well. We spent the late afternoon visiting and fellowshipping and the boys played ultimate frisbee and airsoft. Gracie fell and scraped her nose really bad. It was so red and she looked like Rudolph! Poor thing! : )
Eating ice cream with Clara

After dinner, the older girls and some moms all sang some hymns and patriotic songs together until our voices gave out! We then all gathered outside for ice cream and to watch the fireworks display and enjoy the bonfire. I am not exactly sure what Jonny was talking about, but it must have been a BIG story!
Some of the Pollock boys in their striped shirts!Rowland ladies enjoying the show
During the show a few older ladies decided to take a walk, which turned into a gator ride in the front pasture. It was much easier to see the fireworks from there! While we were gone, one of the roman candles fell over and shot into the crowd of children, burning Esther on her leg. Thankfully, she was not hurt badly--just a very minor burn. Things could have been much worse! We were thankful for God's protection!

And, of course, no post is complete without a picture of Jonathan. I am not sure what he was doing....but he looks interested!

Tacoma Highland Games

We arrived at Frontier Park around 7:30 and unloaded all of our stuff. Everyone helped set up our clan tent and put everything in order.

The piping and dancing events started around 8:30. David played around 9:05 and Esther was supposed to dance somewhere between 9-9:15. Of course, both events were in different areas--completely on the opposite sides of the park!

David went over a bit early to tune his pipes and start warming up. In the "piping" area you have about 20 or so other pipers warming up plus competition going on all around you. It can be quite an interesting sound! He played very well and placed 1st and 2nd. His second judge told him he should be playing in the next level!

Esther competed in three dances and placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd! A friend and fellow dance student from her studio, Colby Allen, placed 1st, 1st and 2nd. She received the trophy for the overall best dancer in that age category. We were all very excited for them! They have worked very hard and it has all paid off!

Dancing ended around noon when the main events started. All the clans gathered together and marched around on the parade ground while the MC announced each clan and thanked them for being there. Then came the singing of the National Anthem and a bunch of speeches which we didn't wait around for because we were all standing in the hot sun and we didn't want to fry! The afternoon hours are pretty much down time. We all hung out at the Pollock tent and tried to stay cool. Mom and David went shopping for some piping supplies and tried to find a chanter for Daniel. They came back with strawberry lemonades for everyone to share.

The day ended with closing ceremonies and massed bands. All four pipe bands played together at once! What a sound! : ) We quickly packed up all our stuff and headed home. Our grandmother and Uncle Jeff had come up for a visit, so to beat the heat, we met them at Dairy Queen for dinner and an opportunity to cool off.
Here is a slide show of additional pictures from the games.