The kids have been loving the pool to cool off! Cal and Emma particularly love going by themselves and meeting up with their friends. And everyone was excited to start swim lessons! They are doing really well in it. Cov, on the other hand, has really been struggling and not wanting to get into the pool at all lately. This is quite the change from previous years, where he tried to jump in all by himself many times. He seriously has a phobia this year from some reason. He cries and cries and panics when we get him in the water. Next year, let's hope! But everyone else has been moving up in swimming lessons, so that's good!
We worked up a sweat getting our sod in our back yard. The kids were getting sick of going through and hauling rock...they didn't even like to see gravel and rocks and one had a bad dream about it. But the end product was so worth it! We did a backyard games night to celebrate. Everyone got to pick a game to play. We had kick ball, watermelon picker, ships and sailors, kick the can, and blind man bluff. Lots of smiles and laughter! We finished off by making homemade ice cream in our soccer ball ice cream maker. Our backyard looks like a park now and we just need to fence it in now!
We've also been working like crazy in our garden. It's kind of become Dave's baby. He spends about an hour watering/weeding/taking care of it each day. It's looking great and we hope we can enjoy some of the fruits of our labor that way! We've been wondering if it is economical anymore to plant a garden, with all of the time you put up, the amount of water used, etc. It used to be I'm sure, but it's kind of like sewing. Now it's more a hobby than something thrifty to do. But it's great and the kids have been so excited to see the new blossoms or watch the corn grow. The corn, red potatoes, peppers, cherry tomatoes and radishes are doing well. The carrots, herbs, pumpkins, and other potatoes and sunflowers didn't really come up. We did find some birds coming to try to eat the seeds though when we first planted, so maybe that's what happened? When the first fruits of our gardens were ready to pick, radishes, the kids were so excited! They were a little stringy, but had a pretty good flavor.
Unfortunately, there has been a drought here this year. It has really made us feel for all of our farmer friends in this area. We've been praying and sometimes, soon after the prayers, we get rain. The kids also had to pull out umbrellas when we did get rain and go do a rain dance. The kids get so excited and have commented on how Heavenly Father answered their prayers! Unfortunately, it usually is only in short spurts and it looks like there might be lots of losses when it comes to the crops. We know that they are in God's hands though and He won't forget them, even if this year is bad for farming. In the meantime, we will enjoy tasting the rain drops on our tongues, dancing in the rain, twirling our umbrellas, sliding around on the tramp, and splashing in puddles.
Emma's also been enjoying her Activity Days crew, good times! They've worked on Faith in God, got to go to Burger Hut, went on a hike to Four Buttes and more this summer. Sweet and fun girls!
The kids got to go to Vacation Bible School, a nondenominational Christian event. That's what everyone up here does. They had teen counselors come in from all around the area to do it, and they were great. The kids enjoyed it mostly, playing battleship in the pews, games outside, learning new songs, memorizing scriptures, doing crafts and more. They did say they felt a little weird doing some cheers about Jesus like "S'more Jesus (clap clap), S'more Jesus (louder)!" We talked about how some religions really get into the praising and hallelujahs, and that's okay, but we usually speak of God and Jesus in a more reverent tone and that's probably why it felt strange to them. They had a little program at the end of the week and Emma and her age group sang "Sanctuary", Cal sang "Overflow", Lucy sang one about Jesus being the tree. I'd say it was good experience for them.
We had a couple of baby birds that we took care of who fell out of our tree. Their mother tried to help them for about a day, but they got too hurt and she couldn't do anything for them. The kids were devastated they ended up dying, but made their last day or two as comfortable as they could for them. It was a good conversation we had about life and death anyways and it was sweet to see their tender hearts at work.
We've been trying to keep on our schedules of getting our stuff done in the morning (which is like pulling teeth some days) and then doing our activities in the afternoon. Make it Monday, Time for Science Tuesday, Water Wednesday, Thoughtful Thursday and Field Trip Friday. As for field trips, we were able to go to Williston. We visited a couple of different parks, ate lunch at Culvers, went to the splash pad, made a Walmart run, and loaded up on fireworks (for New Years). We also went to Glasgow after one of my OB appointments and visited the Children's Museum, which was actually very decent and lots of fun for the kids! They loved it!
We've celebrated a few random holidays, like donut day and Teddy Bear picnic day. The kids also enjoyed doing Studio C Bingo and other random activities.
The kids have loved all of the friend time. Lots of sleepovers, bike rides, trips to the pool and more! One day, they did a salon with Roxi & Brewer. These funny kids gave me a foot bath and painted my nails. They did Cal's hair and gave him some facial hair. They did makeup and hair on each other. I love their imaginations at work! We also tried dyeing our hair with Kool Aid. Emma had the best luck with it. The rest weren't patient enough to let it soak.
Cal finished up gymnastics for the summer. He was promoted to Aerials, the highest class for his age group up to age 14. He's moved up really quickly, picking up on stuff so naturally. And he comes home and practices, practices, practices. He's always rolling around doing back flips, round offs, and hand springs. Everyone's been commenting about what a great gymnast he is! We went out to get ice cream to celebrate his hard work. He's sad there's a break for now, and excited to get back into it come September.
We did some fun things for crafts and science experiments. Emma got crafty with sheets one day and made the kids into Greek God/Goddesses. Toga Party! The kids all also sewed something this summer, so that was fun. They got to enter their creations into the fair. Their favorite science experiments this summer included the exploding bag, slime and elephant tooth paste.
The Fair this year was an event to remember! We entered some items in the fair for the first time ever. The kids had some arts and craft kind of items. Monday, we went to ride the rides. Emma and Cal got wristbands and rode most of the day with friends. Lucy & Cov both got to pick out just a couple of rides with tickets. We had free ice-cream, did the giant coloring poster, got to milk a "cow", did the water and sand table, looked at the exhibits, watched a magic show and I think the kids can die happy now because they all used some of their money to buy fidget spinners. We've been resisting them but finally gave in! Tuesday morning, August 1, Grandma Di and Grandpa Scott arrived just in time for the fair parade. The kids walked in the Children's parade first. They had the idea to fill up water balloons and throw them at friends and Grandma & Grandpa! It was pretty funny! They also gave each child who was in it $2. Then we watched the regular parade. It was short but good. The kids got shirts and rocket toys and lots of candy. They loved the "Spartan Dude" and the giant tractors and seeing their friends on the Swim Team or 4H floats. Soon after that, Dave & I left to the hospital to give birth to our latest addition. Grandma and Grandpa took the kids back to the fair for a magic show, the petting zoo, Powerhouse clogging show and to see their exhibits. They each got blue ribbons on each of their entries and $5 for each, these kids are becoming quite rich this summer! They also went to the Demolition Derby and lawn mower races on Wednesday night, which they thought was great!
We spent so much time outside - playing with neighbors, sports, catching bugs (like this white grasshopper the kids found), jumping on the tramp, watering the plants and garden (inlcuding this "David" plant), laying in the hammock, and riding bikes. It's so nice to be out in the sun! Cov learned how to ride his bike without training wheels this summer! It was so fun to see him get it, he was giggling with glee. "I can ride by bike by mine own self like an old guy!" he said.
The weekend before school started, we went camping to Brush Lake with our Branch. Dave was just going to take the kids, but I felt up for going and it was going to be really warm so I thought Syndie would be fine. Some commented about how they couldn't believe I brought the babe with her being so little, but Dave just said it was like I was born in the wrong generation - I'm a pioneer and a tough lady. I also told people my parents took us boating and camping when we were super tiny and we all survived. I'm glad we did all go, it was a great time! We set up camp, went down to the beach to "wade", but ended up all wet in clothes, had tin foil dinners, watched the movie "Wild America" outdoors, watched the stars (and even saw some shooting stars!). Everyone slept well, except Dave, our air mattress got a hole in it and was slowly sinking all night and he was on the ground by morning. We woke up with the sun, had a yummy camp breakfast, cleaned up, and went down to the beach and lake for a day of fun! The kids loved catching frogs and looking for turtles, kayaking, tubing, driving and riding on the jet ski, swimming, and playing in the sand. Everyone loves this place and this is a tradition we are loving, one last hurrah for summer!
We experienced the "Great American Eclipse", which crossed much of America. Though we didn't experience totality, we still got in on the action. We made eclipse pancakes for breakfast, read some books about the moon and sun, watched some videos online about what an eclipse is, made pinhole viewers, did a craft with chalk, and then it was time for the main event! Unfortunately, our glasses we ordered we couldn't use because we got an e-mail from Amazon saying they found out they weren't really safe and we'd be refunded. So that was kind of a bummer. But we used the pin hole viewers, and Dave layered tons of dark sunglasses to let the kids look at it for just a second, which we read several places would be fine. We also loved checking out the eclipse shadows from our hands being crisscrossed, and on the fence and grill in the back yard. The kids were amazed by seeing how cool it was! And it did feel cooler and got darker, which was interesting to experience. We watched live coverage on TV next. The kids thought this close up they did of a man gazing up at the sky who was bald was so funny. They said that guys head had a solar eclipse going on. And they got a kick out of seeing Donald Trump at the white house in his glasses. It was truly neat to see it. I am thankful for this opportunity we had to see such a wonder! God is good and it was cool to see the whole country gaze heavenward together. I hope this will be a lesson to all that "it is better to look up" as President Monson has said. And it was his birthday that same day, we did a little service in his name and made a card to send him. Happy Birthday, President Monson!
The last day before school started, we just had a free for all day - no chores/practicing/workbooks/reading, which the kids thought was great! Mom is a mean mom most days, but sometimes I do pretty good. ;) They played a lot, watched TV, and then we had some of their friends over for the afternoon for a water balloon party. We played "water balloon, water balloon, splash!", catch the water balloon on your head, capture the flag, and then had an all out water fight. The kids loved it! Then we did our crazy dinner, where everyone picks out something from the store to contribute. Cov picked Cheetos, Lucy picked some mango coconut and pomegranate blueberry juice, Cal picked maple donuts, Emma picked stuff to make a blueberry banana fruit salad (everyone loved it!), I got stuff to make a green salad (so typical of a mom...), and Daddy picked out ribs and hot dogs to grill. While we ate we talked about the new school year and what we wanted to accomplish this year. The kids each had a father's priesthood back to school blessing, which they always look forward to. And then we watched America's Got Talent to finish off the night. It's been a great and hot summer! The kids are excited for school, but asked why summer couldn't be longer. It does always seem to go by way too fast! It was here and gone in a flash. And now, we're sitting here wishing for next summer to come quickly!
