Good-bye July!

July has had some big moments, like the 4th and our quick trip to Michigan and Miracle Camp and Chicago.  But in the midst of the big stuff, we've also filled time with fun with friends and library trips and lessons and activities.  Here are some of our other July highlights:

We took Uma out for her birthday girls' day to the theater to see "Into the Woods" followed by dinner at Noodles and dessert at Culver's.  It was a fun, special day celebrating Uma.

Briggs did a week of swim lessons with Ms. Lisa at her pool.  He improved with all his strokes and was able to swim the full length of the pool by the end of the week.

My friend, Christie, and her girls were here for a week and a half.  We enjoyed lots of play dates and outings with them.  We kayaked and went swimming and had lots of play time together that typically resulted in the kids making plays and movies together.  And, of course, Christie and I fit in several late night walks together.

I love that, even though we only see them a few times a year, our kids are still great friends and always pick up right where they left off.

Elliott spent a few days with Grammie and Grandpa, so we also fit in plenty of cousin time at Aunt Bonnie's pool, State Farm pool, running together, and a kayaking outing on Eureka Lake for Staley and Elliott.

The kids have enjoyed running camp every Thursday evening throughout the summer and thought it was lots of fun having Elliott join in while he was here.

Zach's new company, Perfect Pace Race Management, hosted their first race (The Not Quite a 5K, 5K).  Adelie, Staley, and Elliott all ran the race.  I ran with Staley while Erik ran with Adelie.  (Both girls ran the whole way with Staley finishing in 31:30 and Adelie finishing in 31:39).  Elliott came in 3rd overall.

It was a hot morning and a tough course with some big hills, but all 3 kids did great!  (And Zach with his race management company did great too!!)

The girls did a few more performances with their Rising Stars group.

We also fit in school supply shopping and back to school haircuts to get us ready for the impending return to school.

And in the midst of all the other fun and activities, we've managed to find a little time at home for jobs and reading and games and outside play time and family walks and movie nights and baking and creating....including this homemade cake and homemade icing decorated by Staley...

...and Briggs' dragon castle.

Our July has been busy, but fun.  It's hard to believe that summer is winding down and school will be starting in less than two weeks.  I'm not ready!!

Ding Dong, Ding Dong

There are several kids in the neighborhood that are Briggs' age, and all of them happen to be girls.  It's not uncommon for the doorbell to ring and to find a girl or several standing there, asking if Briggs can come play.  Grace, Keiko, Mallory, Cady, Chloe, Jessie...they have all been over at one time or another, asking if Briggs can join them for some outdoor neighborhood fun.  However, this summer has found one friend on our doorstep more than any other.  It's been the summer of Coraleigh.

Coraleigh is our next door neighbor.  Her family home schools and were limited in their interactions during Covid, so Briggs and Coraleigh had never spent much time together prior to this summer.  However, as the weather began to warm up this past spring, they found themselves playing together a few times.  They realized that they shared many of the same interests...they both love drawing and imagining and pretending and finding bugs.  And so Coraleigh has become a regular fixture.  At the end of the school year, she would be waiting for Briggs to get home from school and would come running over to play.  As summer began, daily doorbell ringing began.  Ring, ring, ring, ring.  We would always know it was Coraleigh by the multiple chimes at the door, wanting to know if Briggs could come out and play.  After having Briggs let Coraleigh know that only one ring was necessary, we finally settled on a two ring Coraleigh signal.  That way, if Zach was working, he'd know that the doorbell ringing twice was Coraleigh and did not necessitate a trip upstairs to get the door if Briggs wasn't home.

Briggs and Coraleigh have had a lot of fun together this summer.  Backyard swimming, catching bugs, sidewalk chalk, water fights, fairy houses...Coraleigh and Briggs have enjoyed it all.  And all of the fun starts the same way.  It all starts with a 'ding dong, ding dong'.

Summer in the City

Miracle Camp is amazing!  However, Miracle Camp is also 4 hours away from home.  Taking the kids to camp and just coming back home the same day makes for a LONG day in the car.  So when we were making a plan to take Adelie and Stella to camp, I determined that breaking up the drive would make the trip much more palatable.  Since Zach was busy at work, Staley joined me on the trek and we enjoyed a special Mother-Daughter overnight in Chicago on the way home.

Don't worry about Briggs missing out.  While all the girls were away, he spent a fun day with Uma and Papa at the Wheels of Time Museum and another fun day with Grammie and Grandpa at the train station and Barnes and Noble.  He got to eat out, play with grandparents, stay up late with Daddy, and have plenty of desserts.  He was living it up too!!

Staley and I dropped Adelie and Stella off at camp in Michigan in the early afternoon, making our way to Chicago around 5:00.  We checked into our downtown hotel (the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue--perfectly situated to everything we wanted to do), got settled, and then walked down to Navy Pier to enjoy our evening in the city.

We walked around to check out all our dining options on Navy Pier, and Staley chose Chef Art Smith's Reunion for dinner.  We shared a fried chicken sandwich, mashed potatoes, and the hummingbird cake.  It was delicious!!

We took a spin on the gigantic ferris wheel, enjoying the view from the top of downtown and Lake Michigan.

We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around Navy Pier and talking.  The weather was beautiful, it wasn't crowded, and we just enjoyed having time together.  We finished off the evening with some shared ice cream and fireworks before heading back to our hotel.

The next morning we got up and moving early enough to beat the crowds at Millenium Park.  We had donuts and smoothies for breakfast as we made our way Millenium Park.

It was so fun to have a thoroughly uncrowded opportunity to check out "the bean."

We then headed to Maggie Daly park to again enjoy a pre-crowd opportunity to play on all the playgrounds.

We checked out all the play areas at Maggie Daly park.  

We then headed back to Millenium Park and cooled off in the face fountains for quite awhile.

(When we left our hotel in the morning, it was raining a bit so we borrowed an umbrella from the front desk.  The rain stopped about 3 minutes later and we ended up carrying our umbrella around the city for the rest of the day.)

Staley spent lots of her fountain time practicing her dance moves and leaps...and I spent lots of my time trying to get a fun picture of her dancing.

After our fun morning at the parks, we spent a few hours on State Street and Michigan Avenue doing some shopping.  We found some fun back to school clothes for Staley.  We also found the Hoka store that we knew Zach would love.

Our final stop of our trip was a fun lunch at Jojo's Shake Bar.  They had this super-cute outdoor patio.  They are also known for their fun shakes.

Uncle Ethan met us for lunch, so that made it even more fun.  We enjoyed the fun atmosphere, yummy food, and split a ginormous mint chocolate shake.  

One on one time with any of my kids is always special, but this trip was a really sweet opportunity that I got to spend with my oldest.  We got to explore and enjoy the city together, but it was also nice to just talk uninterrupted and enjoy some time together.  I am so proud of the person Staley is growing up to be, and I loved having time to just focus on her.

Miracle Camp...Again

Staley went to Miracle Camp in June with a group of her friends for her 3rd summer in a row.  Adelie's previously scheduled Miracle Camp session in early July was cancelled at the last minute due to a Covid situation with the staff.  After waiting for a few years and a tortuous few more weeks to follow in her big sister's Miracle Camp footsteps, Adelie finally got to enjoy her time away at camp.

Adelie's cabin with her cabin leader, Izzy

Adelie and her friend Stella got to enjoy three nights away at Miracle Camp together.  

They got to play games, do crafts, share in cabin devotionals, attend chapel, buy snacks, and enjoy their taste of independence away from home.

There was swimming and archery and rock climbing and shooting BB guns.

Adelie loved her cabin leaders and made friends with the other girls in her cabin.

Adelie said that she wasn't really homesick and wants to go for a full week next year.  On the flip side, the house seemed quiet without Adelie around, and we noted that things just aren't as fun when Adelie isn't here.  Even if she's ready to be gone for a whole week, I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

I'm glad that Adelie FINALLY got her chance to go to Miracle Camp.  I'm glad that she has a sweet friend like Stella to go with her.  I'm glad that she had so much fun and got a taste of the fun that Staley has been talking about over these past few years.

I'm so thankful that Adelie had her opportunity to experience the fun and fellowship that Miracle Camp brings.  I'm glad she had the opportunity to learn and grow in her relationship with Christ in a new place.  I'm so glad that she got to spread her wings and take another step in her independence with some alone time away from home.  Hooray for Miracle Camp!

Parenting Milestone #763

Last week Briggs was at a playdate and Adelie was at camp, so I took Staley and her friend to State Farm pool for the afternoon.  Staley and her friend swam together while I floated in the lazy river for an hour and a half.  This was my first parenting outing to the pool where I wasn't vigilantly counting heads and following my kids around.  It was lovely. 

My Little Saver

Adelie is my child that has a hard time parting with things and loves re-purposing things from the garbage or the recycling.  Any time we have an empty container or box of some sort, Adelie will ask if she can have it.  She saves stickers off of Grammie's coffee containers and keeps all sorts of random little things that she finds.  She has a hard time getting rid of clothes in her closet, even if the clothes are 2 sizes too small and no longer fit.  When we clean out toys or stuffed animals or books, Adelie is the one who has the hardest time admitting that she no longer uses something.  "I still like that" is a common refrain.  There have even been instances where Adelie gets sad when Zach trims her "favorite branch" from a tree.  I truly think that part of it might be her sweet and sensitive nature...perhaps not wanting to hurt the "feelings" of these inanimate objects.  Part of it might be her endless creativity and a vision she has for future creations with these random odds and ends.  But whatever the reason, Adelie is my saver.  

The other day Zach and Adelie were in the car together and both unwrapped a piece of gum to chew.
Adelie:  "Can I have your gum wrapper?"
Zach:  "Sure" (while handing his empty gum wrapper to Adelie)

Adelie:  "I like gum wrappers.  I think I'm going to start collecting them." 

Adelie's penchant for "saving" things is obviously imbedded in her personality and can be sort of sweet...if it didn't also make me worry that one day she'll end up as a hoarder.

Random stickers?  Yes please!

Question of the Day

Should I be worried that my kids can spend LONG periods of time imitating an inflatable tube man...

 or should I just be pleased that they are so easily amused?

Busy

Summer should be the time to relax, soak in the free time, and fill up on fun.  But as we hit mid-July, I look back on summer so far and just feel like it's been busy.  Not necessarily bad-busy, but just busy.  I'm working an extra day.  We've had several vacations.  The kids have a variety of activities.  There have been camps and performances and lessons.  And on our free days without appointments or scheduled activities or work, we have filled most of them with favorite outings or swimming time or fun with friends or get-togethers with cousins.  I look at our refrigerator calendar with our monthly schedule and realize that there are very few days without something scheduled.  That's not bad.  Most of the things on the calendar are things we chose to do.  Things we want to do.  Things we look forward to doing.  And sometimes I feel the need to fill any empty days with fun things that only summer allows or time with friends we don't see very often.  But each thing I put on the schedule means less time at home.  Less time to get things done.  Less time to just be.

Today is a day we needed.  We filled our morning with piano lessons and grocery shopping and getting a few things done around the house.  We've had a busy week filled with fun with friends and cousins in our free time, so by this afternoon the kids didn't want to do anything.  They didn't ask to swim or invite friends over or go somewhere.  They didn't want to fill up our pool on the deck or play in the sprinkler.  They all found a book, settled into their own space, and enjoyed a quiet afternoon of nothingness.  Although there were any number of things we could have filled this time with...

...sometimes this is what summer needs to look like.

Busy can be good, but sometimes unbusy is even better.

Conquering the Board

State Farm Pool is one of our favorite places to go during the summer and we've found our way there a handful of times this month.  Each summer the kids grow in their confidence and skills...and they grow in the things they can (or will) do at State Farm Pool.  This summer is no exception. 

State Farm Pool time with friends and cousins

My new favorite thing is that all 3 kids can touch in the yellow slide pool, the lazy river, and the 4 foot pool.  The girls are both good swimmers now, and Briggs is continually improving.  No more puddle jumpers for us!  Now the girls can go off together to do the diving board or the lazy river if Briggs would rather do something else.  Or Briggs can do the lazy river with one of the girls without my constant supervision.  (Although I never say no to a few laps around the lazy river.  It's my favorite!)  However, it's very freeing to feel more comfortable with my kids' ability (and height) at the pool these days.

Cousin time is the best time.

For Briggs, this summer has marked a big step for him at State Farm Pool.  After much encouragement, Briggs jumped off the diving board for the first time.  This may not seem like a big deal to some, but for my cautious little guy, it was a big leap.  Of course, once he did it once, then he couldn't get enough.  He was flinging himself off the board in all sorts of ways after that first jump.  Just trying something new for the first time is always hard for Briggs.

After the diving board, he also conquered the red water slide (again with some extra encouragement) and did that over and over again too.

The girls, on the other hand, have upped their diving board skills this summer and are both working on doing front flips off the board.  They've both had their fair share of back flops, but they get back up there and try again.

Staley has also really perfected her diving skills this summer as well.

Getting a front flip picture isn't as easy as you think.  But here is Adelie preparing for her forward somersault into the water.

We have really enjoyed our outings to State Farm Pool this summer.  Each summer it gets a little easier.  Each summer the kids develop new skills.  Each summer the kids conquer new challenges.  And this summer has been no exception.  All the kids have made strides, but the big winner this summer...

...Briggs-conqueror of the board!

Questions of the Day

Is it a good idea or a bad idea to give the kids a summer day project of scraping and repainting the porch swing?  (For the record, they were way more excited about doing this project than the other daily projects/chores I generally give them to do over the summer.)

Is it a good idea or a bad idea to give them free reign to choose the colors, make a plan, and figure out how to work together to get it painted?

Is it a good idea or a bad idea to not veto the idea of 3 different colors with everyone painting their own color at the same time?

Sure, there was complaining about who dripped how much of their color on whose area.  Sure, the driveway ended up with its fair share of purple paint footprints.  Sure, mom needed to follow up with a little touch up assistance.  But in the end, we have a cute and creative newly painted porch swing and 3 proud kids who made it happen.