The last 2 weeks of summer came so quickly! The first week K started her swim lessons again and D, M, and N went to a Star Wars themed gymnastics camp Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. D wanted more days at Indoor Soccer so I let him go Tuesday and Thursday morning so every afternoon left the children to play with neighbor friends. It was a great way to relax after an adventurous trip.
After seeing how much fun D had at AVID earlier in the summer, M went to a week of rock climbing. The most exciting part of the week was on Thursday, when, as she was up on the rope, she saw a bear! At first she thought it was a big dog and as it walked she realized that was really a bear. When she told the leaders they didn't believe her at first, but as the bear walked away, they could see it too. M was so excited to tell that story to family, friends and neighbors!
School hair! As a reward for finishing her month of swim lessons, K got a teal streak put in her hair. It's kind of hard to see in the picture and is actually a little more noticeable now that it has faded a bit. This was her first time having something more permanent like this done and it took 2.5 hours. While we waited D and I got our hair cut too. N was a champ waiting for all this to get done. We got home just in time to have the neighbors babysit and me take Grandma down to another check up in Aurora. While I was gone Hubby had to pick M up from rock climbing camp. Another day that week (for a local check up) Hubby picked up M and she got to spend time in Daddy's office until he was done with what he had to do that day. The children loved having the H girls babysit this summer while I was off helping Grandma. Let's admit it -- teenagers are more fun than Mom! But here's evidence I get let go a little -- another mom at Target told me how dangerous this was to let them do. Oh, life.
Girl Scout Day at Elitch Gardens! Our troop voted on attending GS Day with our cookie money back when we were doing cookie goals in January. I am so glad most of the girls were able to join us. The girls (and parents) were amazing and I would be more than happy to spend a day like this again next summer.
Check this off the summer bucket list: giving the pet rodents a bath! That was entertaining and beneficial. Lol.
Tradition! Hubby and my annual date to the CO Shakespeare Festival in Boulder was a little different this year. We branched out from our usual comedy and watched Julius Caesar instead. It was done in the Roman time period but to do their signature surprise, they had placed modern looking actors in the crowd and then when it was time for the Roman crowd they came out of the audience with their lines. It was genius because throughout the play we as the audience were part of the Roman masses. I'm so glad we have kept this tradition of outdoor theater dates up.
Learning about mixing colors for N's preschool summer work. She was my only child to finish her summer work before school began. A lot of that is due to the fact I could work on it with her while K was swimming... and most of her work was me reading and singing to her out of the book What Your Preschooler Needs to Know. 
Lemonade stand off the summer bucket list too!
We watched the new addition being put on the school from afar this summer, but went for a visit the Sunday before school began. You would not believe how excited we were for the new bike racks and addition of scooter racks. Everyone was hoping to get in one of those new classroom with the huge windows.
That first Sunday home ended up being a real blessing. I felt a strong desire to attend a missionary homecoming in our old ward that morning. I thought it was simply wanting to be there, but it turned out I needed to hear what was said. I wanted to hear Grant speak because I love his mother and sisters so much! It was great to hear him speak about his mission in Brazil 🇧🇷. It was great to hear his family's sense of humor come out and to hear of the miracles he got to see there. Turned out it was a double homecoming! Niels spoke of his mission to the Ukraine 🇺🇦. I don't know him well but had been his mother's visiting teacher before we moved so knew much of his family's story and moving to CO. He shared about serving with a mission companion that had been adopted. The way Niels described him sounded exactly like my oldest child. Then he told about a day his companion was complaining and he walked into the kitchen and stared at the picture of his family. Niels felt how much God loved his companion and how He had sent this family to find and adopt him from Russia 🇷🇺. How even though someone seems so unlovable, God loves them with an unending love.
Soon after we got home from our trip, my father left on a trip of his own. Originally my mother was planning on accompanying him to the East Coast to do family history lectures in places he had been invited to speak such as Philadelphia and visit his half brother in NC and sister in VA. Alas, what was supposed to be a tooth extraction ended with me bringing my mother home to our house after 2 weeks in the hospital. The children were so excited to have Grandma come live with us! They were champion helpers as we turned the art room into a place for her to stay for 6 weeks as I learn how to administer her IV antibiotics. A nurse came every day until I felt comfortable doing it myself and then she visited once a week to have vitals checked and blood drawn for testing. K and M plan on taking such good care of her she will never want to move back to her own house and then they are going to try to convince Grandpa to move in too. Hubby and I have asked them not to get their hopes up, but at least we can plan on them being super happy until the IV treatment is finished. They go down and check on her both when I ask them to and when I don't. They are very understanding about her need to sleep and everything else. They are being the best little granddaughters a woman could ask for. One of my friends said she thought it was pretty amazing my family was willing to take care of my mom in order for her to get out of the hospital. When I thought about it I remembered my parents taking care of my grandfather (my dad's dad) beginning in the summers when I turned 7 eventually until his death when I was 12. My response was that this is what we do in my family. Now I'm hoping my children will remember this when it's time for me to be taken care of and respond, "This is what we do in our family" too.
It was M's turn to take a trip with her Daddy. Her number one priority was to go fishing and camping which turned into backpacking! She was so excited! I knew they were going to do well together when the first picture he sent me was of M in front of her favorite place to get a snack: Dunkin' Donuts. They had a marvelous time and I'm sure it is something they will do again some future summer when it it her turn to have another weekend with Dad.
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