The summer of 2011 - hot & dry

The summer is "over" because school has started, but today it was 100 degrees outside.

The summer of 2011 will be known as the hottest and driest ever in Midland.

Midland had a record-breaking 54 days of 100-degree temperatures, and that number is still climbing.

The state of Texas has the record for the hottest summer in all of the United States, with an average temperature near 87.

Every county in Texas is in a drought. And 80% of Texas is in exceptional drought.. the worst rating.  Some small cities in west Texas have to truck in their water, because the lakes are dry. Crops and cattle are dying, and wildfires are burning acres of land. 

Fortunately through all of this, our family has been absolutely fine. Of course there was that one weekend when our A/C quit, and the temperature inside the house got up to 91.. so we had to move in with my parents for a few days. And unfortunately it's been too hot to go on bike rides or play at the park. Most of our time outside was spent in a swimming pool.

I am very thankful for swimming pools and air conditioning. And a water well.

The summer of 2011 will also be known as the summer of the rafting trip. Josh went on a high adventure trip to Colorado with some of the young men from church. They did whitewater rafting, four-wheeling, and hiking. They had a traumatic experience their first day on the river (of which I am in no way qualified to write about), but they are a remarkable group of young men who were able to find strength in eachother, and enjoy the rest of their trip in the mountains. Josh had lots of crazy and funny stories to tell, and I kept thinking "man, we never did stuff like that at girls camp!"

Here's a few pics of their trip.

The boys after their four-wheeling trip in the mountains

At the beginning of their wilderness hike

Snow.. in June

Beautiful hike... but they were really looking for some mountain lakes to fish in

They never found the lake... but instead played in the snow

Boys...