Chock Full O Fun

We FINALLY went to the library to check out their summer programs. There was supposed to be something about amphibians and reptiles. Turns out the guy was sick and the program was cancelled. BUT as we all know, that wasn't even the reason we were there. BOOKS!!!

 

We loaded up on lots of books and even bought a bunch of old magazines they had for sale. Jackpot!

 

 

Then, because the reptile thing was cancelled we had a little extra time and found a beach to play at.

 

1. It is completely hidden from view and you have to go down the steepest dirt path ever. I was wearing flip flops, not great. E just sat down to slide down the path.

2. Shelly said, "It's sad. People leave all this trash here." She's right, that part was sad.

3. Eli said (as we watched Shelly race on ahead of us when it was time to leave), "Shelly's a mountain climber!"

4. Mostly the kids just threw rocks in the water while I goaded them to try to find a BIGGER rock to throw in.

5. Eli dressed himself, which is why he's wearing a sweatshirt on the hottest day of the year. I'm so proud!

 

 

Time for afternoon activities. Archer's STEM group made AquaBots or something (AquaBoats? SeaSomething? Can't remember the name...). They walked to the lake to try out their robots and we joined Archer to see how it all worked. It worked very well, nice job, Archer!! E got to try for 30 seconds too. Then he played in the water.

 

Shelly finished up her first week of art class, her horse drawings are all very impressive and I can't wait for you to see them!

 

 

And then, the finale for the day. The Run. As usual, E is in his trailer, Archer is pulling him along and Shelly's riding alongside. It was super hot and we were just going on a trail, no roads, so I let the kids go without helmets. Archer's last words before we turned and started down the path, "Now let's ride off into the sunset!"

 

 

 

It turned out to be one of the hardest four miles I've run yet with the kids. Two days ago when we were on this trail (going south instead of north), we saw at least a dozen bunnies. I decided to count the bunnies to distract myself from sore legs and any other gripes I could think of. This time, going north, there were NO BUNNIES. Instead, there were FOUR hills. I did each of them twice - first push Shelly's bike up the hill. Then push Archer's bike plus the trailer plus the boy in the trailer. There were three water breaks for the kids to fight over who was drinking all the water. There was one potty stop for a kid to pee in the grass while I shouted "chop chop someone's coming hurry up!" and (sorry kid, I do feel bad about this) pee ended up all over their leg. There was the moment when I came up behind Archer and the trailer and gave it a push to help boost him along, but instead he tipped over into the gravel (again, sorry!). Then in the last mile, as my head was down and all I could think was, "WHEN will this nightmare be over?" I saw, not BUNNIES hopping along the trail, but a dead mouse and a few feet later a bird's wing.

When we finally got back to the van, I just had to sit on the bumper for awhile and recover. My average pace was 13:52, which is pretty disappointing. But I'm surprised it wasn't worse, since it took me over 16 minutes to do mile 2, and almost 15 minutes for mile 3.

Anyway, that was
1. Maybe the worst run ever, but also
2. Maybe the best one for laughing at ourselves later? Hopefully?

After that we picked up some fried chicken and went home to recover in the air conditioned house. So. Until next time...

Happy Trails!

Did you know...

Shelly: The US Library of Congress has over 850 miles of BOOKSHELVES!! (She says this, grinning, eyes wide.) Imagine how many BOOKS that is!!!

Mom: Wow, that's incredible! Where did you hear that?

Shelly: I didn't HEAR it, I READ it in a BOOK!

Of COURSE!

My little bookworm devours books faster than I can get them from the library. When she runs out, she reads books her brother has picked up, then he complains that he can't read because Shelly stole his book. When we visit the Bookmobile, I tell them they each have to pick up one book. MISTAKE! The next week I tell them to each get at least two. We walk out with armloads of books and it still is not enough to keep them busy. We've started spotting Little Free Libraries on roadsides and stop to get more books wherever we see them. When Shelly is without a good book to read, she mopes around the house, flops down on the floor looking miserable and moans, "Books. Books."

She's finally slowed down just a LITTLE bit on the reading this week, since she has art class every afternoon. Still. Don't forget to visit the Bookmobile on Thursday afternoon because if we don't get some more books into the house, it will be a gloomy week to come.

Why We Run

Leading up to the big day, I started texting Dad the reasons WHY we're doing this crazy thing. Here's my list, and his replies.

WHAT did she just say?

I have a beautiful new office that David built for me in the corner of our basement. I love this space with its sunshine colored walls, cozy reading chair, and peace and quiet. Mostly.

On the days when the kids are home (like EVERY DAY OF SUMMER!) its not always so peaceful and quiet. Often, I feel like there's a herd of elephants running around above my head, and its only a matter of time before they come crashing through the ceiling onto me!

Today, though, there was a new event. Shelly came running into the office claiming
     "The mad pantser strikes again!"

Followed by Archer announcing
     "Eli is chasing me with the fork of destiny!"

Maybe the herd of elephants was better than whatever it is they're talking about?

Swim Update

News from Shelly

Swimming Update
Eli is coming off the step at times and is trosting me agin & got him to take off the life jacket too he was touching the bottom of the pool! AMAZING!!!

Mini Golfing

No children fell in the water, only three golf balls got wet and only one got lost. Ball, not child. Fun! (But waaay too hot. All the golfers were sweating by the end. And then complaining that they were freezing when we went out for pizza later. 😉)

Another Fourth

Over the years we've fallen into what's becme a family tradition - Firecracker Four run in HC, picnic and pool time with Grandma and Grandpa. Fireworks on the lakefront with the cousins. And this year, a cookout with the family at Scott and Kim's house.

This year we also added the part where Archer and Shelly run the Firecracker Four - I ran the 1.7 mile route with them and was impressed with their finish times. Archer finished in 17 minutes, Shelly and I 20 minutes. David and Eli cheered us on and it was a great start to the day. We had an early start with the run, a late finish with the fireworks, and today has started off pretty slowly with everyone sleeping in to recover from yesterday's fun.

The weather was perfect for our run, kids were worn out on the way home, only half way through the day's adventures!

As we were killing time waiting for the sun to set and fireworks to begin, the soccer ball ended up in the lake twice and the football three times. I'm just glad the KIDS never ended up in the water!

Aww, time with the cousins. That's the BEST!

P.S. Happy 12th Anniversary, David! It's been another great year!

Sum Sum Summerfest

We dropped the kids off with Grandma Sue and had a grown ups only day with a visit to Summerfest. What a treat! Good food, good music, and a fantastic time together. Thanks David!

Summer Stories

We had Shelly's friend and cousins come over for a pool party and sleepover. They spent a bunch of time fixated on a spider they found at the edge of the pool, paddling their raft a little closer, little closer, then screaming and paddling away as fast as they could. Then, of course, edging closer and closer until they could see where it was again. Screaming and squealing all the while. They kept splashing water at it to flood it in the hopes that it would wash farther away from the pool. Finally, I went over to investigate. Closer and closer I crept, I saw it curled up and dead on the cement and in a moment of bravery, I reached down, with the intention of picking it up to throw at them. Or maybe not REALLY throw it, maybe just THREATEN to throw it. Closer and closer my fingers got, I reached out to grab it and then NO!! SCREAM! Its STILL ALIVE! I almost picked up a LIVING SPIDER!! I leaped into the air, screaming like the rest of the girls, they all screamed and laughed at me as I retreated back to the safety of the deck. Bampa of course had observed the whole spectacle and laughed along with me about my reaction. Brave Mom turned out to be just as much of a scaredy cat as the girls. Oh what an adventure!

We stopped off for a movie on the way home, then nail painting, movie and snacks, finally bedtime.

I've been dragging the kids along with me for my runs, they ride bikes, I run. Sometimes there are some antics. Like Archer getting stuck in the van. Mostly I have fun and they try not to complain too much. Sometimes I get really scared that Archer's going to flip over the trailer that Eli is riding in, Archer just whips around corners, off-roads up and down hills, weaves back and forth across the trail. Eli loves it. I hold my breath and wait for disaster. Shelly just tries to stay out of the way.

Eli had a minor meltdown the other day over his shoes and I sat him up on the washer to put his shoes on for him, then understood his problem. Two sizes too small!! What! Two days of shoelessness. We went to the store with him in only socks and found the BEST pair of shoes ever. Minions. He's in love. New Minion Shoes for Eli. (And Shelly too. New shoes, not minion.) New summer haircut for Archer. And a taxi ride in the grocery store.

And that's been our summer fun for the last few days!