Kid Quote of the Day

As I was packing for vacation, Briggs and I had this conversation:

Briggs:  "Have you already packed the potty trees?"
Me:  "The what?"
Briggs:  "The potty trees.  You know, like my toothbrush and toothpaste."
Me:  "Oh!  You mean the toiletries?"

I will never again say the word 'toiletries' without thinking about this conversation.

Love this boy!!

Summer

The end of the school year and the beginning of summer melded together into a blurry line as many things stayed the same.  We were still at home.  The calendar remained eerily empty.  Zach was still working from home.  Many businesses were still closed.  Many activities were still cancelled.  June became an extension of May with a sprinkling of new happenings...reintroduction of some get-togethers with family and friends, a few activities resuming, a few appointments on the calendar, some outdoor church services to attend, and a few things to celebrate.   As we've continued to enjoy our light schedule, we've also embraced some tastes of normalcy as we've eased into summer.

The girls resumed their in-person acting class--with some COVID-inspired changes to class size, health and safety screening, and social distancing.

The library remains closed, but we've taken advantage of porch pick-up and free books from the library dinosaur.

We loved getting together with family to celebrate Caroline's 6th birthday.

This was the first time the kids had gotten together with their cousins on this side of the family since before March and they were SO happy to be together again.

We also celebrated all the quarantine birthdays that we had missed with Zach's side of the family.  That included EVERYONE except Staley and Mark.  Yes, 10 of the 12 members of the family have birthdays between March and June.

The kids have also enjoyed resuming some play time with neighbors and friends.

We've enjoyed our tastes of social normalcy, but still have filled our days with many of our summer favorites like reading...

playing outside,

water fun,...

and lots of play time at home.

Our summer may be a little different than normal, but it has still been super.

Big Kid Bed

He ditched the training wheels.  We said good-bye to the strollers.  And now...

Good-bye, toddler bed.

Hello, big kid bed!

End of an Era

The one constant with kids is that they are always changing.  Their likes.  Their dislikes.  Their interests.  Their activities.  Their abilities.  Their independence.  Their needs.  Their wants.  The beautifully bittersweet part of raising children is how quickly they grow and change.  It's fun to watch the evolution and so humbling to be a part of.  On the other hand, it can bring a twinge of sadness as I realize how quickly these years are speeding by.

We are entering a new phase as a family.  It's wonderful and oh-so-fun and a little bittersweet at the same time.  Briggs ditched the training wheels.  He has proven himself a more than able hiker.  We can walk or ride all over town without anyone falling behind.  And so we realized that our trusty strollers that served us well for the past 9.5 years no longer have a useful place in our home.  I wasn't sad about passing them along to others or having the extra space in our garage...until I began pushing my beloved double stroller across town to deliver it to its next owner.  Pushing that double stroller brought back so many memories.  I spent miles and miles, hours and hours pushing that stroller.  It carried my toddler and my infant on so many walks around town when I was just learning to be a mom of 2.  With Briggs strapped to me, I was the mom of three taking my kids to watch a college baseball practice or a high school track meet.  It made so many trips back and forth to the school to drop off and pick up the girls.  A tired Kindergartener often found their way into the stroller, too tired from the long day at school to walk all the way home.  It forged a path through all the parks at Disney World, giving the kids a quick reprieve or a place to nap before heading off to the next fun thing.  It was often loaded down with 3 kids and a bag full of books on our many trips to the library.  It provided shade and shelter, comfort and convenience, and the primary way we made our way around town for years.

There are so many things I love about our family right at this very moment.  I love that we can go on bike rides and hike and explore national parks.  I love that my kids don't need constant supervision and can do things for themselves.  I love that vacations are easier, meal times are easier, bedtime is easier.  But part of me will always remember the feel of that stroller, weighed down with kids and their library books, knowing that wherever I was going, they were right there with me, along for the ride.  They were safely in my care and there was comfort in that.  And although I love the growing independence and this new phase as a family, part of me longs to hold onto those little kids who are just relying on me to take them where they need to go.

Good-bye, Old Friend

Once upon a time, poor young newlyweds purchased a fancy, cutting edge, state-of-the-art television set.  They marveled at the size.  They admired the picture quality.  They placed it prominently in their home.  They were proud to host football games and movie nights.  It served them well for years...and years...and years.  New technology came.  New technology went.  Still the television stayed.  They had to purchase various adapters to make newer accessories compatible with their television that was growing older by the minute.  The television won't last that much longer, they said.  Eventually the bulbs will burn out, they said.  We'll just wait until the television no longer works, they said.  Yet, year after year, the television soldiered on.  It continued to bring them football games every fall.  It was the provider of many a movie night.  It started mixing in more cartoons and Disney films and children's programming with the same stalwart persistence.  It bore the brunt of sticky fingerprints and wayward thrown balls.  As it sat sturdily in their living room, they discovered that it was also being featured in a museum display of technological relics.  They waited for it to stop working so they could feel justified in moving on.  They waited...and waited...and waited...until finally they could wait no longer. They brought in a newer, sleeker, fancier model.  They thanked their family heirloom for the years of faithful service and then found it a new home where they have no doubt it will continue to defy the odds and continue the legacy as the television that just wouldn't quit.  

Thank you, old friend!  You served us well!

Question of the Day

When we realized that all the public pools would be closed for the summer, we thought that maybe we needed to get a larger pool for our yard for the kids to enjoy this summer.  When we recognized that everyone else had the same idea long before we did, we were disappointed when we found that there were no pools available to buy.  As a consolation prize, we blew up the pool we inherited from Zach's parents and put it on the deck over the week-end for the kids to enjoy.

Question of the Day:  Were the kids disappointed that we didn't have something bigger for them to play in?

3 hours on Saturday plus

3 hours on Sunday plus

5 hours on Monday equals...

No disappointment at all. 

The kids have had THE BEST time in this pool.  We don't need anything bigger.  We don't need anything different.  The kids weren't thinking about what we don't have.  They are just enjoying what we do.  And what we have is a giant inflatable peacock on our deck that provides hours...

...and hours and hours and hours of fun!

Big Boy

At the end of last week, Briggs decided he wanted to learn to ride his bike without his training wheels.  A little practice on our sidewalk and a second round of practice on the lower lake trails was all it took to figure out the balance, pedaling, and steering.  Another quick session on the lower lake basketball courts and he figured out how to start on his own.  A mile bike ride around town confirmed it for us...

Briggs is a training wheel-less bike rider now!

He's so proud of himself...and so am I.

New Smile

She was supposed to get her braces off in April.  COVID happened.  She had to wait until June, but...

they're off!!

She still has retainers and I'm sure there are more braces down the road, but it's nice to see her metal-free smile again...at least for a little while.

Talent

There were many things that Staley was bummed about missing at the end of her 3rd grade year.  There was the iconic We Love America program.  There was missing her first year to participate in the 3rd and 4th grade track meet.  End of the year activities like the awards assembly, the teacher talent show, and field day are all days to look forward to.  But the 3rd and 4th grade talent show might have been the one Staley was most looking forward to.

Since Kindergarten, Staley has been talking about and planning for what she might showcase for the talent show when she was in 3rd grade.  She queried about whether you could do several things.  She tossed about different ideas and suggestions over the past few years.  For a good part of this year, she and two of her closest friends spent every recess working on a song and dance routine to "Into the Unknown" from Frozen II with the plan to perform it together for the talent show.  And then, of course, the pandemic happened and everything got cancelled.  Well...mostly.

A few weeks before the end of the school year, the school sent out a message that they would still be doing the 3rd and 4th grade talent show...virtually.  Since Staley would not be together with her friends to perform their practiced routine, she would have to come up with something else.  She thought about singing...or dancing...or doing gymnastics...or playing the piano...or doing a roller skating routine.  She had no shortage of ideas so we came up with a plan.  Since the talent show would be virtual, Staley could put together a montage of all her talents into one video submission.  Since her mother is technologically challenged, we came up with her idea, took the videos, and then her computer lab teacher worked with her virtually to put the videos together into a finished product.  It turned out even better than I envisioned.

For her talent show video, Staley sang her "In Summer" song from the Frozen show she was in.  The video started with her singing the song.  Then, as she continued to sing, the video cut to short snippets of Staley roller skating, pogo sticking, tap dancing, doing gymnastics, and completing a magic trick.  Then it cut back to her finishing up her song.  I'm attaching the link to her video, although I'm not sure how long a private you tube link stays active.

https://youtu.be/PD-7AcYD8AA

There are many things I loved about Staley's video.  The idea was super cute.  The snippets showcased things that she is good at.  But my very favorite part is the confidence that my little girl still possesses.  For her, it was never a question of IF she would do the talent show, but which talent she wanted to showcase.  She never worries much what other people think or what other people are doing.  I love that Staley's talent show video showcased one of her greatest strengths:  this unwavering confidence she has in herself and her abilities.

My talented little girl

Good-bye, Illinois...Briefly

We were supposed to go on a birthday trip to Chicago in March for Adelie's birthday.  Cancelled!  We were supposed to go to Chicago for Spring Break in April.  Cancelled!  We were supposed to enjoy lots of end of school year festivities in May.  Cancelled!  Zach was working from home.  The kids were schooling from home.  We were attending church at home, interacting with others via technology from home, finishing up virtual extra curricular activities from home.  Once school was over, we were all ready to get away from home for a little bit...and so we did.

We wanted a destination within one day driving distance where we could enjoy outdoor activities, have our own house or cabin, and visit a state that was more "open" than Illinois.  The Smokey Mountains in Tennessee met all our criteria!

The kids traveled the 9 hours each way like champs.  We listened to books on tape (How to Train Your Dragon, The One and Only Ivan, and Peter and the Starcatchers were all winners), ate snacks, and the kids watched a few episodes of some of Briggs's favorite shows.

We even got to stop and eat INSIDE restaurants.

Although we planned this trip about a week before we left, we were able to find a great little house/cabin that would become our home for the week.  It was called Priceless View in the Starcrest Resort area.

It had everything we could want.  A cozy living area downstairs with our kitchen, washer/dryer, dining area, living room, and master bedroom with bathroom.  And wood.   Lots and lots of wood.

The upstairs loft (where the kids slept) was even better.  The air hockey and pool table didn't get as much use as we thought they might.

But the hot tub on the deck got plenty of use!

Since we had been doing so much hiking around home during this quarantine period, we thought the kids were ready to take on their first national park.  They were!  Our first day after arriving we hiked the 3 miles round trip on Trillium Gap Trail to Grotto Falls.

This was a scenic hike, not too strenuous, and with a super fun water fall waiting for us at the end.

Grotto falls was the first waterfall the kids had ever seen.

It was a pretty voluminous falls that you could walk behind, which the kids thought was pretty great.

And we found lots of salamanders in the little water crossings on our hike back after another hiker mentioned how prevalent they were around these falls.

On our hike back to the trail head, we got caught in a rainstorm.  It was a fun little adventure until we all got soaked to the bone and the kids started getting cold.  We had anticipated the rain and had planned our hike early enough to hopefully beat the rain.  Briggs had the quote of the trip when, as it was pouring down rain on us, he stated very matter-of-factly, "I don't think we're going to beat the rain."  #understatementoftheday

Luckily we had a hot tub and a super-big jacuzzi tub to warm us all up once we got back to our cabin.

After warming up and cleaning off, we headed into Pigeon Forge for a scrumptious (and huge) home cooked meal at The Old Mill restaurant.

We then went to The Island in Pigeon Forge...

where Briggs and Adelie rode some overpriced carnival rides...

while Staley and I did the ropes course.

Although The Island was very touristy and over-priced, the kids enjoyed it and it was just nice to be out and about around other people soaking in the normalcy of it all.

We made plans to rent a pontoon boat and go fishing the following day.  However, the rental place ran out of pontoon boats before we got there and we forgot the tackle box back at the cabin.  We got a free up-grade from the rental place for a speed boat instead.

So instead of spending a few hours fishing, we spent a few hours boating and tubing instead.  Adelie and I went first on the tube and had the misfortune of the tube going underwater briefly, knocking us off.  This made all the kids anxious about trying it.  After showing them that falling off is not typical, both girls went with me a few more times and enjoyed it.  Briggs wasn't willing to try.

Regardless, all three kids enjoyed our couple of hours on the lake.

We then went back to our cabin and swam in the resort pool for a bit...

...and enjoyed a quiet evening of grilling out and playing games.

Our next day's hike was a 6 mile round trip hike to Rainbow Falls.

It was a pretty strenuous uphill climb on the way there, but all three kids rocked it!

These are the tallest falls in the Smokey Mountains, but the highlight for the kids was finding some little holes in the ground and seeing a mole rat poking his nose in and out of the holes while we were eating our snack.

After finishing our long hike, we stopped in Gatlinburg to check out their aquarium.  It was not at all crowded and we had a great time.  This long underwater tunnel where we could see all the sharks and eels and other fish swimming around was definitely a highlight.

As were the penguins.

We then had dinner at a little Mexican restaurant, walked along the main strip in Gatlinburg (which was horribly touristy), and then took a free trolley ride as it was top of Briggs's list of things he wanted to do.

Our last day found us checking out yet another waterfall hike.  The 3 miles roundtrip hike to Baskins Creek falls was probably our least favorite of the hikes.  It was more woodsy and buggy and overall less scenic.

However, the falls themselves might have been the most impressive...and the kids liked climbing around on the rocks around the falls.

We followed up our hike with another afternoon swim in the pool...

...and another quiet evening in our cabin where we had dinner and then cuddled up together to watch a family movie and eat popcorn.

This get-away was just what we needed.  It was a great mixture of doing and not doing, of nature and civilization, of experiencing a new place and relishing a taste of normalcy.

What a great way to start off our summer!!