Summer wrap up

Today was Calvin's first day of Kindergarten, and in those 2 brief hours of relative quiet and peace, I realized that this summer nearly wrecked me.

I have come to realize that I am a mostly left-brained mostly introvert. Here are some things I enjoy:

• routine
• quiet
• schedules
• check off lists
• plans
• sleeping
• completing chores
• crafting quietly/alone

Here are some things that I don't totally enjoy:

• chaos
• arranging play dates every day
• repetitive whining
• continuously making snacks/doing dishes
• swimming
• nagging my kids about chores
• everyone talking to me at once

I will own up that I could do better about a lot of these things. I'm reading a book about the brain, and the author is continually pointing out that the brain can be taught to enjoy new things if it does it enough times. I could also be a more "with it" parent that can set a summer schedule and stick to it. Maybe that will be my goal for next summer.

Travel is often a summer time activity, Ben and I did some trips in the spring, and he took the older kids on some big trips this summer while I stayed home and completed chores. I did take the kids on a road trip to Wyoming and we ended the summer with a family road trip to Idaho.

June was spent at the city pool because we had a 1 month pass that we wanted to make the most of. July was spent traveling mostly, the annual pilgrimage to Boston for Ben and the girls was almost 2 weeks.

August was just really dragged out anticipation of our ID trip and back to school.

All this to say, I am not one who mourns back to school time.

RTDW Mystery

A devoted reader sent in this picture: She's been making banana bread for 40 years and doesn't know what went wrong! Leave your theories in the comments below!

Recent Projects with My Dad

As his time on this earth nears its end, I would like to make a tribute to my Dad, all the things he has helped me with lately. Meaning, apart from attentively raising me and teaching me everything I know. He has been our go-to handyman and construction guru, and he was always willing to help, he may have even enjoyed it.

He risked his job when we asked if he and mom would like to drive one of our cars back from CT. It was the end of the school year, but he didn't even hesitate to say yes. I didn't even get to come on that trip, but I bet it was memorable.

He was our 1-man moving crew as we moved out of our first home. He and Ben filled the truck themselves. While he didn't help us move into our current home, it was only because he and mom had taken our kids to the family reunion so that we could get moved in without them underfoot.

Last spring he helped me plant 28 trees to start my new "orchard." He was pretty excited about this one. He also installed a sprinkling system when I was out of town.

We borrowed a tractor to move some railroad ties around in the orchard. I think he enjoyed it quite a bit, this was a very similar tractor to those he had once owned.

2 summers ago he and Jan spent a month building me a new deck.

This was the last of about 10 trees that he cut down for me at this house and our first house. He liked an excuse to whip out his chain saw.

He built us this sandbox in our backyard, he was so patient and encouraging to let the girls help out.

One warm February I asked him to come build a new floor for our playhouse. He and Thad worked all morning installing a floor in a playhouse.

When I had a truckload of gravel delivered, he bought me a wheelbarrow for an early birthday present, then helped me spread it out on the side of the road.



He helped Beetle and Russell build this pergola in our backyard while Ben and I sat on a beach on vacation.

Above all else, the best thing he did was love us and love our kids unconditionally. They may not remember him much, but I will miss him every stinkin' day.

Bike Repair

I have four active kids, that enjoy independence and self-reliance. At least, I would like them to enjoy those things. So we invested in some new bikes this summer. Unfortunately on our property we can't hardly go outside without getting goatheads stuck in our shoes/feet.

goatheads

goat heads

These are basically death for bike tires. I was constantly dealing with flat bike tires on their bikes, my bike or my jogging stroller. It made going for a bike ride miserable, because we would have to check every tire, and pump or fix multiple tires before we set off.

So this afternoon I spent 2.5 hours finally putting an end to the whole affair. 



These are called Stop A Flat tires. They are a styrofoam core that replaces bike tires altogether. We're not messing around anymore! We can run over as many goatheads as we want and not be slowed down a bit. This is a game changer. They are pricey, but can you really put a price on your own sanity?

August and September photo dump

We finished out the summer with a whimper but started school with a bang! So here was our happenings:

 Highland Fling Parade! Anna was in the parade with her Karate studio, Calvin and Eliza and I watched the parade and collected a lot of candy! It was my first parade with kids, and it was pretty good. I forgot to take a pic of Anna on the trailer - too excited living the moment.

 Calvin turned 5! We had a crazy day,  we went to the museum, then

family bowling - arcade - pizza night

Cake and presents with Gramma and Grampa.
He's a cute 5 year old, very busy. He got Blockus Trigon, a puzzle, a maze cube, and a wiggle car.

 Eliza competed in the olympics.
Her gymnastics coach does an olympic games at the end of every summer. Eliza has been talking about it all year. She didn't get a medal but she is progressing pretty well.

 Spencer Family Reunion in Green River.
Camping. with 4 kids. in a tent.
That part wasn't my favorite, but seeing family was wonderful.

 Shave ice was a popular treat.

 Gramma watched the babies at the campsite so we could go down to Goblin Valley to play. The kids loved playing hide and seek and clambering around.

 This is the result of trying to camp for 2 nights.

School finally started for these girls. Eliza is in 1st grade and rocking it.

 Anna is in 4th grade and growing much too fast.

 While the girls were at school, Calvin and I had a lesson on how to make Mac n Cheese. He was pretty into it.
The sooner I teach my kids to cook, the sooner I can be relieved from that duty.

Calvin had a gymnastics class in the summer, the showcase at the end was a lot of fun. A big obstacle course for all the kids and plenty of popsicles. This is his "ta-da" pose.

 Dress up day with cousins. It's halloween research.

 just, come on. so cute.

 All these girls and I rode bikes to the park and hiked to the waterfall. A fun Saturday morning, I wish we could do more of this.

 Calvin FINALLY started preschool 2 weeks after the girls. He's going 3 days a week, and enjoying it.

 Becca accessorizes while I exercise. She was trying to put on that doll boot.

 The next 3 pictures are from the State Fair. It was a great state fair. We talked the kids out of riding any of the rides (!) but there was plenty to do without them.

We saw all the animals and there was a great multi-stationed activity from FFA that they had a lot of fun with.

 this is how many hands high they are - like measuring a horse.

she's just the best.

Boston in the Summer?!

Boston Trip Part I: Flying there.

Calvin LOVED the in-seat screens that allowed him to play bubble shooter and tic tac toe for 5 hours. He kept asking to go back to the airplane so he could play the games.

Becca got her own seat and enjoyed that as well. I'm glad I didn't have to hold her the whole time. She read skymall articles about Justin Trudeau and tried to figure out headphones. Ben sat with the girls, I think they just watched movies the whole time.

 Part II: Playing Around.
We went to the Science Museum the first day, it was full of hands on exhibits, Anna sat in a space capsule, Ben and Calvin watched the Rube Goldberg that has been there since Ben was a child. There was a cool lightning show - Scientists always have the most dangerous fun.

We also visited a cool park a few times during our visit, called Joey's park it has a zipline and castle structures and a field, we brought some stomp rockets one day and got to visit the ice cream truck.

Part III: Aunt Rachel's Wedding

So the impetus of our trip was Aunt Rachel's wedding. It was at an historic farm about an hour north of Boston. The ceremony was in a lovely garden and the kids didn't do anything too embarrassing during it, which was fortuitous. The dinner and evening was in a big barn, with lawns all around so they had games set up to play. It was great to send Calvin out after he ate his "dinner" (5 minutes after we sat down).

Here the kids are attempting to play badminton with their 2nd cousins- Oliver and Harper and a boy named Jack who Anna played tag with all night.

This little baby stole the show, she was jumping and dancing and flirting with everyone all night. Roughly 40% of the kids at the wedding were ours, so as far as adorable toddlers go, she didn't have much competition.

She especially loved Charlie Pierce. And he loved her.

Part IV: Connecticut
We drove down to Connecticut to check out the places we once lived and to see our long lost friends.
Here is the new temple it's in the same town we lived in, because Wilford Woodruff also lived there. (But not at the same time as us.) It's absolutely gorgeous. It was Sunday when we went so it was closed.

 The girls all picked up right where they left off. They played and laughed the same as ever. It was great to see them and their mom again. They kept us sane while we were living there.

 Part V: Gramma's House
We spent a lot of time at Gramma's house when we weren't adventuring. Steve taught us how to play croquet - and schooled us every time. Calvin and Becca played by their own rules. She also had water guns and water balloons to play with.

Becca exploring in the backyard -- gorgeous, right?

The kids, ironically, watched a lot of Phineas and Ferb. 

And played with Gramma's toys and puzzles.

Part VI: The Beaches

We visited the beach in Gloucester twice, I only went the first day but I didn't take pictures of that either. It's a fun beach, it's the one from the Red Lobster commercials. - here's a picture from google.

The second day they went it was super foggy, so they had to wait until it cleared up to play. The girls loved boogie boarding. I kept Calvin and Becca with me because Calvin refuses to get in the water and Becca needs to nap. 

The other beach we went to is in Maine. Ben's friend from high school lives in this resort town year round and only a block from the beach. It was great to hang out with him and his 8 yo daughter. I really liked this beach, and so did Becca. She wandered in and out of the water for hours. Calvin- refused to get in the water.

Part VII: Tom Petty Concert!

For my birthday Ben got me tickets to the Tom Petty 40th Anniversary concert. It was really really really awesome.

 Part VIII: Riding Escalators

We rode escalators at the airports, at the science museum, everywhere we could find them! Totally a highlight.

The flight home was delayed 2 hours, so we boarded at like 10 pm? We met a nice mom and boy at the airport and she offered some chocolate melatonin treats, which I definitely took her up on. Especially for Calvin and Becca, Calvin slept the whole time, Eliza and Becca slept about an hour. Ben and Anna and I stayed awake the whole time. Uncle Jethro picked us up at 2am Utah time, which was 4am Boston time. What a busy summer! Happy to be home for August!