Indian Hill Gun Club

For a Wednesday evening activity, we took the young men to the Indian Hill Gun Club for some shooting. The club gives access to families on Wednesdays during the summer for novice shooters, and the boys enjoyed shooting at their various targets.

At one point, is started to POUR, just as the boys all were going out to reset the range targets. It was pretty funny to watch them running full speed!

 

No explanation needed

 

Summer starts

We have a lot of random pictures that show a little glimpse of a 2021 Jensen summer in Cincy.

Last day of 3rd grade for these 2 cool kids!

Kings Island in the time of COVID, masks and all!

Jacob and Claire were eligible for the COVID vaccine - and celebrated with a trip to DQ.

Claire got to go to Girls Camp at Camp Bear Creek. We don't get many details from Claire (and 0 pictures), but she seems to have had a great time!

Kate took part in a one-week drama camp, performing as the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.

Summer, and dad working from home, mean Skyline time can happen sometimes!!!

Boy stack - these 3 are ALWAYS touching each other (much to Dani's chagrin)

Kate celebrated getting her braces off with Jolly Ranchers! She continues to have an appliance in her mouth and will until she gets braces again in another year. She's a trooper about it - and a super stickler about the braces rules!

Friday selfie! (We know it is Friday because the sheets are off the bed)

The boys made a little obstacle entrance to the room. They went through it every time. Mom and dad just didn't find as many reasons to go into their room while it was blocked!

Playoff basketball meant that Jared and Jacob needed to wear their Lillard jerseys. It apparently didn't help - Blazers lost to the Nuggets 4-2.

Vicki came to visit, and we took her and the kids to Condado. The youngest 3 especially all continue to rave about their tacos there, calling it the best tacos they've ever had!

Torin got to go to KidStrong for a birthday party with his friend Brady. He reported that he successfully did all of the obstacles

 

Freaking Hilarious Freaky Friday

We had Papa over for a movie night, and we decided to watch Freaky Friday. Papa found it SO funny and was laughing so hard the entire time!

Also, Papa recently broke his foot. He has a wrap, but he often cannot remember which foot is injured, but fortunately he doesn't seem to feel pain as he walks on it.

First day of work!

 Jacob and Claire both got a job at Jets Pizza. The application process was pretty easy - everywhere is hiring! Jacob applied to both Wendy's and Jet's and had an interview scheduled first at Wendy's, but the Wendy's manager didn't show up, so it was an easy decision to join Jet's. Claire joined shortly after.

Their first days of work were both last week and involved watching 2 hours of training videos, but their first official days were today. Their shift was 4-8, and they rode their bikes to get there.

They reported that they scraped and oiled pans, made boxes, handled the DoorDash orders, wiped lids. Their shift ended a little after 7:30 as the dinner rush waned. They seemed to enjoy it

Summer of Cicadas

Brood X. The 17-year cicadas that have been anticipated since 2004, which was the first summer that Dani and Jared were married and living for the summer in Cincinnati. We had memories of that summer and cicadas all over the place, so we anticipated a noisy summer full of cicadas everywhere.

In the end, there were not many in our yard or really in the area around us. We did go on a Sunday afternoon cicada walk looking for them, and we found some in the Winds. Kate was grossed out every time she saw an exoskeleton.

One of the places we saw a lot was at Blue Ash Nature Center, where Claire had a senior party with her friend Veronica.

Torin turns 7

Torin's birthday celebration started on Friday. He wanted to invite his friend Brady over for a play-date, and he wanted a fire, so we decided to do roasted hot dogs and snow cones. Kate had a friend, McKenzie, over, and that multiplied into a Harper and Abbie too.

On Saturday, we planned on doing breakfast in bed, but the power went out overnight and Jared's alarm didn't go off in time, so instead, we did a breakfast of waffles and eggs. After weeding briefly, Jared decided to take Jacob, Kate, and Torin to Kings Island (since Claire was at work and Liam had a noon swim party). Torin rode Mystic Timbers for the first time and liked it (or at least, he convinced himself later that he liked it). We rode the log flume, Adventure Express, Jared and Jacob rode the Bat (Torin felt nervous so he passed, and Kate joined him), and finally Viking Fury (Torin's favorite).

 

Afterwards, we went swimming at Nana's and had pizza and cake. It was exactly the day Torin had hoped for! We are so happy to have Torin and his bright, snuggly personality in our family. He loves being with his parents and siblings!