July Happenings

July 1

Charlie, Alanna, and Molly all took swimming lessons this summer. I opted for evening lessons in hopes that Hattie could hang out at home with Matt while I took the big three to lessons. It worked a few nights anyway!  This was Molly's first year taking swimming lessons and she did so great! Charlie and Alanna were in the same class (but doing slightly different things due to their level - this is why Leslie is an awesome teacher). Yay for being at the pool only 90 minutes instead of 135!

 We must have gone to the library at some point and gotten in on face painting with Teresa Raiford. This looks like one of her designs!

 This summer, I committed to taking my kids to Jen's pool at least once a week just to expose them to the water and hone their swimming skills. Because Jen is so generous, she is fine with just about anyone coming to swim, so I invited Michelle and her two little girls to come with us. We had a blast swimming together for a few hours before Michelle took her girls home for naps. 

 Kinsley and Hattie were loving this alligator. Kinsley always calls Hattie 'Patty'. My girls always tell her "H- H- Hattie!", and Kinsley answers back "H- H- Patty!" Kins also calls Theia, Leah. It's pretty cute honestly. 

 July 4

We met up with Jared and Michelle to watch the Florence 4th of July wet/dry parade. It was a beautiful day for a parade and we all sat comfortably in the DRY section of the parade. After the parade, we went home to grab lunch before meeting the Lakes again at Brush Hallow to spend some time on their stand-up paddle boards. We had a blast!

 The worst thing about reservoirs is that there is almost never a clean entrance. The shorelines are usually nothing but mud and muck! It is really tricky to get the kids out while keeping their feet somewhat clean. 

 There really isn't swimming allowed at the reservoir, but Molly was just wading a bit while Jared gave Hattie a ride on a SUP. Charlie had the other one and was cruising all over the reservoir like he was born on a board. And there Kinsley sits, happy as a lark in the mud. Ha!

 Charlie brought his fishing pole and while he was out on the paddle board, Alanna borrowed his pole and caught a fish! 

 Also on our summer bucket list was exploding a watermelon with rubber bands. Once we got home from Brush Hallow, we decided to tackle the watermelon before watching fireworks. We put on rubber band after rubber band, but it would not blow up. We ran out of rubber bands and it still hadn't blown! The watermelon had to just sit outside with a bunch of rubber bands on it until we could restock our supply and finish the job the next day.

 And now we wait. We counted every rubber band so we'll have to see what our total is!

 I read in the newspaper that fireworks would be starting at 8:00pm. Ok, so I should have known that was a misprint. We packed up snacks and waters and headed to Florence High School to claim our spot in the practice field.... and then waited for over an hour for the fireworks to begin. It was a beautiful evening, and we ran into several people we knew so the kids enjoyed running around playing tag for a while. The fireworks were worth waiting for! It was a solid 25-minute show with a fantastic finale!

 And now, back to our regularly scheduled watermelon event... we continued with the rubber bands until we finally blew it up! Any guesses as to how many rubber bands it took? 500 even! I majorly underestimated how sticky we would get in the process, so after we blew it up, we all headed inside to take showers and wash watermelon out of our hair. Ha! In the future, I would make sure we were all in our swimsuits and plan to play in the pool or sprinklers after we blew it up. We had to hose down the chairs and table and each other. It was a riot! (Now that I'm updating the blog in May 2020, I can say confidently that the kids still talk about it almost a year later.)

 July 5

Fresh from the showers after our watermelon explosion, Matt, Charlie, and Alanna packed up and headed out backpacking for the night. I don't remember where they went (Green Mountain maybe?) but I can say that Alanna was thrilled to be able to go with this year. Matt said they were pretty cozy in our two-man tent, but they all had a great time. At one point, they were above or in the clouds or something, which was a pretty neat experience. 

 Happy 38th birthday to our favorite guy! We brought balloons to Matt in his office - his bigger-than-normal-due-to-his-summer-detail-for-Kalem office. 

 We celebrated that evening with homemade ice cream! I bought an ice cream maker at Walmart and we are really liking it. Sure, it's one more appliance in my pantry, but whatever. We all have that one appliance, right?!

 Last night of swimming lessons for this little fish!

 If this isn't summer summed up in one picture, I don't know what is. I'm constantly saying 'shut the door'! 

 July 12

Michelle has been organizing some EFree church moms playdates this summer, and we have tried to attend whenever we are in town. On this particular morning, we met at duck park for playtime and snacks. From left to right: Janel with Ian, Sam, and Louisa; Larissa and Theia; Michelle with Kinsley and Joelle; me and my crew; Donna and Boaz. It has been a pretty fun thing despite the fact that it really is a lot of younger moms. I'm definitely toward the older end of things! In fact, once I was describing those old school juice box protectors (maybe from Tupperware? they were hard plastic cases that snapped around juice boxes to prevent kids from squeezing the snot out of the box and making a mess. pure genious, really.) to another mom. I caught a perplexed look on her face so I stopped mid sentence and asked her how old she is. She replied, "22". OH DEAR. I then realize that I am a solid 15 years older than her. Good grief! :(

 Alanna has been liking to read the BabySitters Little Sister books, a series I read and re-read when I was her age. She can read one in about 30 minutes. 

 Along with books and usual library perks, our library offers a state park pass that can be checked out. Going to a state park was on our bucket list so the kids and I went to Cheyenne Mountain State Park on July 13th. We found some nice trails and spent a bit of time there before being chased out by weather. There were a lot of people camping there. I'm always surprised at the places people choose to camp. Ahhh, what a beautiful view... of Colorado Springs?!?

 Also on the summer bucket list - take pictures of flowers!