One thing the pandemic taught me was the value in not being over scheduled. I made sure there were weeks when we had nothing much to do. We have enjoyed swimming and water fights, baking, puzzles, games, the Olympics, and of course, hanging out with friends. Kate has had so many friends spend the night here and she has spent the night at so many friend's houses I would be hard pressed to supply all their names, let alone the details! She has also enjoyed shopping and getting her nails done with her friends most recently. No photographic evidence since I'm still not supposed to take pictures. Speaking of no photos, Michelle set up and hosted a book club for A Wrinkle in Time. After they talked about the book it was so fun to see six girls ready for middle school watching a movie together in our new theater chairs. Afterwards, when it was time for the parents to come pick them up, the girls were literally tied up in knots because they were playing the game Twangled. I should have grabbed the camera because it was great.
Speaking of great, my favorite son is putting some great work into baseball while the team takes a break. He’s keeping sharp for fall ball!
We had another wonderful, three hour Activity Days meeting at our house. We did bleach shirts, played Just Dance in the basement right before the new furniture arrived (it came while everyone was there!) and played in the backyard and pocket park with water to keep cool in the 100° heat while we needed to stay out of the installers’ way.
We adore our neighbors and hardly ever get to have P. over because he is such a busy guy. When he did get to come we fed him homemade cookies while watching The Jungle Cruise, had a water fight, ate dinner and played games like Ticket to Ride. It was a joy to have him around and I think we have him convinced we are pretty lazy. I prefer the word chill.
Michelle’s track season ended with a gigantic water fight as well. We parents brought coolers full of water to practice and let me tell you, the coaches were amazing. They surprised the kids with beginning the water fight before they were ready and there was so much fun and laughter. We are so grateful to Coach Josh and the other coaches and are already looking forward to the next track season.
After months of searching for a used mountain bike for Danny since he had outgrown his old one, we finally gave up and bought him exactly what Hubby had told me to look for and the bicycle store only had one. It was our lucky day! And can I just say, I’m loving the “Miami Green” color. I was also pretty excited to know that this bike is the right size for me as well! Our boy is growing up fast and it’s so fun to watch.
While Danny was off camping with the Deacons Quorum (that deserves a whole different blog post) I used his new bike to take Michelle (on his old bike) around a wonderful 5.5 mile loop near our house. I absolutely loved going and Michelle was glad we went on a new adventure but hasn’t asked to go again. Lol. We did get rained on so made some tea after we got home. We were out of Michelle’s favorite kind, which led us to journey down to Pearl Street to resupply. After buying the biggest jar of "Sweet Mint Tea" that Rebecca’s Apothecary sells, we got to watch "Magic Michael" and that funny show was definitely worth putting money in the collection can for.
We are getting out of chronological order here but: Egg drop! It looked liked these boys were have a great time when I came to pick Danny up from Young Mens the night of the egg drop, just like when they did the potato derby. Danny and T. made a successful contraption that kept the egg safe no matter what the leaders did. To truly test the limits, Danny used his baseball arm to throw it on the ground repeatedly and finally got the egg to break. Lol.
Now 3 of my 4 children have completed the city’s babysitter training! Danny and Michelle both claim they didn’t learn anything but I’m glad they went anyway just to check that box when you're offering to babysit other people's children. The house was earily quiet without them around and Natalie and I spent time organizing the house, snuggling while watching the Olympics, and practiced her softball swing by placing water balloons on the tee. Notice the hat she is wearing? Michelle made that at crochet camp that our neighbor/ward member put on for a couple afternoons. So neat! Can I just add that I have loved watching the gold medalist Tom Daley knit during the Tokyo Olympics. Like Roy Wood Jr. said on his Daily Show with Trevor Noah video, that skill will be more handy than diving as we try to survive a post apocalyptic world someday.
I got to open my birthday present early! Danny came home from camp very surprised to see that we now own an inflatable stand up paddle board. I had been eyeing one for a long time that came recommended by a friend (many thanks, K.T.!) and am so glad we went for it when my birthday month arrived. We girls had no trouble getting it ready but were happy another mom we knew happened to be leaving when we came so she could tell us we had to have it inflated up to 15psi. She could tell we were eyeballing it. (Thank you, M.H.!) Those two hours went by fast. In fact, we liked it so much that Hubby ordered himself one too! We already have another lake trip planned for next week and are looking forward to him joining us soon.
Comments