July

During cousin camp, I ended up explaining “happy n sads” to one of the favorite aunties.  She loved the idea and we talked about how great it is even for adults to have that time to reflect and evaluate.  That, combined with feeling like blogging has become more a recitation of our schedule and includes less of the emotional side, led to a recommitment.  Thus, more frequent posts of my own “happy n sads”.  (We stole this ritual from some friends that are amazing parents.  They do it with their kids and then when we were all vacationing together, included us.  We’ve done it ever since.  We try to call Daddy to include him when he’s on the road and even my Ragnar family knows and participates in the tradition.)

But here’s some stuff I think I missed…

We’ve had lots of neighborhood playdates, usually involving water play in the backyard.  I was so excited to live in the kind of neighborhood where kids show up on my front door begging to play.  Now that it happens daily, I wish my doorbell didn’t ring quite so much but am still grateful for the enthusiasm. 

We had a blast at the annual swim party with my Dad’s extended family.  The girls are fish and always eager to swim.  But it’s way more fun with cousins to play with.  Even baby Z went swimming in the water, very still and wide eyed, as if taking it all in.  As always I loved getting to catch up with cousins and especially liked getting to know my brother’s girlfriend more.

The girls participated in a soccer camp.  They went for 1½ hours every morning for a week, starting with drills and technique and moved into more and more playing time.  They all ran non stop and had a great time.  They’ve asked to do fall soccer but I’m not sure if it works with our crazy schedule.

We went to a neighborhood ice cream party and had SUCH a blast.  I love this neighborhood exactly for this kind of thing.  It was like a big block party.  The kids ran around with friends, the adults mingled and relaxed and we had a great time.  I love how social our neighborhood is, how friendly and eager to include we try to be.  The huge downside of the night was when A got in trouble.  She always launches herself into play, making friends with everyone and having a great time.  Unfortunately she doesn’t always think it through and got in trouble for standing on the host’s car.  No idea why she would do that! I’m sure it was a logical part of their energetic play but she’s already gotten in trouble once this summer for that.  Some of the other kids accused her of scratching the car so we apologized to the host, found out the scratch was not her fault but preexisting and then returned the next day to wash their car as service/apology.  I was so grateful for my neighbor being so understanding and glad it all worked out okay.  This crazy kid.  Love her to pieces.  Hope she learns to think before she leaps a little more.  On the other hand, her big sister L, is so hesitant and self conscious that she often puts herself on the sidelines.  If I could somehow mix A’s reckless eagerness and L’s shyness, it’d probably be a pretty perfect combination.

Husband’s brother came to visit and their girls were thrilled to see their cousins.  We spent the first evening fishing.  We met for a quick dinner at a burger joint and then found a peaceful spot on the river.  The kids tried a few casts but lost interest quickly.  Husband hooked L on accident and Grandpa snagged himself, but other than that, we didn’t catch much.  But the girls had a great time acting out various fairy tale stories.  The next day, the men went fishing without us while the girls all played at our house.  They got out the dress ups, had a dance party, played the wii and we made our own pizzas.

Husband took E out on a date.  She picked bowling and reported that she picked a special orange ball and Daddy’s was green.  It sounds like she only made it through five frames but apparently she was so adorable that the owner gave them the game for free plus the girls at the snack bar gave her free ice cream too. 

Later that night, the girls got to check another item off their summer bucket list and slept on the trampoline.  They made a huge bed with pillows and blankets and all piled onto Daddy to cuddle.  I went out to check on them after a short time and found them all sound asleep.  A woke up first the next morning and was delighted to find the cat curled up on her!

Last night husband and I invited a few couples from the neighborhood over for dinner.  It was so fun to hang out with friends without being distracted by the kids and get to know neighbors better.  I absolutely love this neighborhood.

My happy today was spending a lazy Sunday afternoon with my family.  The girls curled up with Daddy to watch a quiet time movie after church, Z took a great nap and I got to lounge and read for awhile.  We went on a popsicle walk after dinner and the evening weather was perfect.

My sad today is that A was especially disruptive during our Sunday School class and it makes me question if her being in my class really is a good idea or not.  I’m sure she would be better behaved for someone else but have mostly enjoyed having that extra time with her.  Today didn’t go as well though.

7-25

quote of the day: "I'm on top of the world hey! I'm on top of the world hey!" (sang by both A and E when they took a turn sitting on the very top of Daddy's trucks waiting for the fireworks to start

my happy today was getting Z to laugh!  We were playing peek a book and he was laughing like crazy! I love how his whole face lights up with happy eyes and full cheeks and those sharp shining teeth.

my sad today was E crying brokenheartedly when she found out she isn't old enough to float the river yet.  So Daddy took L and A to go tubing down the canyon while E and I stayed home.  (she had a long playdate with friends instead.)

summertime staycations

Tuesday morning we finished our chores, finished packing, ran our errands and set off for our mini-vacation.  We surprised Grammy at her office on campus and checked out her office and amazing views.  Unfortunately the kids were restless. So we went wandering on campus.  I showed the girls the quad and Old Main.  We went in search of Aggie ice cream but most of campus was closed.  So we picked up Grammy and ran some errands.  We went to the Pizza Pie Café and the girls loved it.  A devoured three bowls of spaghetti with alfredo sauce and L and E loved the dessert pizzas.  Then, we went to my brother’s house to meet my brand new niece.  So tiny!  My brother and Papa took some of the bigger kids pokemon hunting on campus while Grammy and I admired the baby.  Z feels so big already in comparison!  Then we spent the night at Grammy’s house.

The kids slept great and helped me do a few little projects at the house the next morning.  Then we went to school lunch and visited Papa while he was working.  The kids were especially thrilled that they got ice cream in their lunches.  We headed back over to Logan to play with cousins and ended up taking the oldest three with us for a long playdate at the park.  The kids had a great time playing kitty, cops and robbers, chef and more.  We snacked on goldfish crackers and drank a LOT of water, but the kids didn’t seem to mind the crazy heat—they were having too much fun.  I took the cousins home and Grammy joined us for some back to school shopping.  L was thrilled with the selection at Kohls and both L and A have become very fashion conscious.  So they had a blast picking out outfits and trying them on.  (E just likes to mimic everything her sisters do.)  Grammy had a great discount so we were able to get everything she needed.  She’s very into dresses right now and had a hard time deciding between favorites.  I was a little sad acknowledging that she has officially grown too mature for characters or even for letting me pick her clothes.  But she has great taste and we found lots of stuff we both liked.  Trying on shoes was the biggest surprise.  She needed good tennis shoes she could use for PE or activity days.  She picked out great shoes and we had to keep going up in size.  Last spring I bought size 3.  This week I ended up buying size 6!  We had a quick dinner at Café Rio and picked up cookies to share with cousins for dessert.

On Thursday morning we were lazy.  The girls played and watched cartoons.  Grammy and I worked on plans for an upcoming family party (one of our favorite pastimes).  Then we packed up and headed south to camp in their trailer at Cherry Hill.  We ran a few errands along the way and Papa had everything set up by the time we got there.  We explored the grounds and went swimming in the camp pool before a late dinner.  The girls fell asleep watching an episode of Mickey and slept great.

On Friday morning, the girls were overly excited as we made it through breakfast and got ready to go.  We spent the whole day in the water park.  Grammy kept Z in camp for his nap while Papa, the girls and I headed first for the Gulch, a waterslide rapid river.  We got our tubes and got in line but E panicked and chickened out.  Papa took the big girls while we watched.  The second time, we convinced E to try it and she LOVED it.  She came up sputtered and shouting “Again! Again!”  Five rounds later we tried the Double Dragon water slide.  E got to sit on my lap and loved it.  Several rounds later we tried the lazy river.  Grammy brought us a picnic lunch and a hungry baby Z.  After lunch we settled into the lazy river again and spent most of the afternoon going around and around.  Z lounged in my lap, even sleeping almost an hour protected from sun/splashing with my umbrella and loving the warm water.  We got frozen yogurt (the kids mostly just like piling candies into their dish) and had another late dinner back at camp.  The kids were thoroughly worn out and slept great each night.  Z was occasionally fussy, seeming to have some separation anxiety and drooling like crazy (teething?) but still so fun to cuddle.

On Saturday morning I took the girls mini-golfing.  L and A loved it.  It took awhile for E to warm up.  She has been playing so hard and staying up so late that she was obviously overtired and got upset easily.  So she threw fits at first and eventually got over it and had a blast.  (We didn’t keep score but if we had, A won by a landslide.)  We made lunch at the trailer and Husband came to join us.  The girls settled in for a quiet time movie while we left for a temple date.  Unfortunately the temple was closed and by the time we figured it out, our window was getting too short to go elsewhere.  So we postponed the temple date, went back to camp and took the girls swimming again.  L, my fair skinned princess was quite sunburned so we bought a rashguard for her and Papa, who had done rounds on the waterslides with us the day before was definitely worn out and sunburned.  So Grammy and Papa stayed in camp with Z while the girls introduced Daddy to the waterslides and lazy river.  We picked up dinner from a local island grill and then hurriedly packed.  We said goodbye to Grammy and Papa and headed down to the drive in theatre.  (Z cried the whole drive but fortunately fell asleep as soon as the movie started and slept through the whole thing.)  Husband brought everything to make a comfy bed in the back of the truck and we had a great view as we watched The Secret Life of Pets.  (I thought it was kind of dumb but the kids liked it.)  We had planned to stay for the second feature Ghostbusters but we watched the preview on my phone and the girls immediately voted no.  (They’re always sensitive to gruesome things, but especially being overtired from playing hard all week, overreacted to the creepy ghosts.)  So we drove home and got everyone tucked into bed, actually rather liking being home sooner than we thought.

Z decided to wake up extra early (and unusually fussy) Sunday morning.  So everyone else slept in while we cuddled.  I LOVE Sundays.  Especially having 1:00 church right now makes our mornings pretty wonderful.  We had a leisurely pancake breakfast, wrote in journals, took showers, watched Jesus movies and did conference cups.  And even made it to church almost on time.  The kids did great through sacrament meeting.  (E slept on Daddy’s lap through most of it.)  Z got fussy after that so I spent most of it working through it with him but loving the cuddles.  After church, Z and I took a nap while Husband played with the girls.  Then we spent a great evening at grandpa’s house.  It’s an annual tradition to harvest from Grandpa’s garden and then make homemade calamari, onion rings, French fries, etc.  The girls loved it (especially the French fries) and husband thoughtfully grilled some fish for me, knowing I wouldn’t want to eat fried food.  Dinner was delicious and then the girls disappeared to play (getting along exceptionally well!) while Grandpa held Z and played guitar.  It was a pretty perfect lazy Sunday.

And then Husband and I stayed up late planning an upcoming family adventure…

7-18

quote of the day: While watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, during the scene where the girls are in the upstairs bedroom and start to accuse each other of spying on the boys, E nonchalantly comments "girl fight!"


my happy today was that all the laundry (six loads) got washed, folded and even put away! all in one day.

or that we had an unexpected playdate when we ran into two of my good neighborhood friends at school lunch and ended up being the only three families lingering on the playground afterwards.  for two hours.

or best of all, I got a new niece today.  but I haven't met her yet.  So that part can be my sad.

7-17

quote of the day: (from A) "And please bless this food to make our bodies healthy and strong...even though its just red velvet cake...made into waffles..."


my happy today was during church.  Z slept soundly in his carseat so Husband got to cuddle A.  E sat between L and me.  She laid her head down on my lap and asked for Z's extra blanket which unfortunately I had forgotten.  Summer has been so exhausting for her that she has slept through sacrament meeting the last few weeks.  But without the comfort of a blanket, she was a little restless.  L gathered up the fullness of her own skirt, scooter close and used her skirt to cover E.  And then we used the length of my skirt to tuck her in too.  And so the three of us cuddled close, L leaning in to gently stroke E's forehead and nose and cheekbones, just like we do to Z as he drifts off to sleep.

my sad today is that I'm really tired! Z woke up early, eager to play and fell back asleep just as sisters were waking up.  The morning was good but busy.  Then church and a wonderful evening spent at a friend's house playing and having dinner.  (our three girls and their three boys created a house/school game and they were being so dang cute in their imagination play) Such a great day but not so restful!

7-16

quote of the day: "So if I dont fight with sisters and tease I will be closer to Jesus? And I can be a peacemaker?"

my happy today was getting to see cousins for the annual lake day get together with Grandma's siblings.  Unlike other branches of the family where is a huge number of kids of all ages, this branch of the family is a little more polarized.  A few of the older cousins have kids but we don't see them often.  The cousin families that typically come are still in the beginning stages which means my girls are the oldest.  And baby Z fits right in with all the other babies!  So it was wonderful talking with cousins that we only see a few times a year and getting cuddles from all the new babies (four of which are under 8 months)  The girls loved playing at the lake again, especially on the stand-up paddle boards and daddy was able to take them each out for some one-on-one time.  They paddled out to the island and explored and collect rocks.  Z was being a little fussier than usual, unable to get into a good sleep with the wind and noise but still took time to charm everyone.

my sad today was the I really missed Grandma today.  I thought about this during cousin camp too, experiencing the same sad twinges.  We spent the day with cousins and their babies and the grandparents of those babies that are so eager to hold them and so helpful and so lucky to share fun days like these.  And while my babies have plenty of people to love them, including the best daddy I could have ever prayed for, they didn't have a grandparent (on that side of the family) wanting to cuddle them or who knew just how to spoil them with a favorite treat or activity.   Most days, it's ok.  But today, I'm just feeling a little sad.  My babies, especially Z, got cheated out of having her there for days like today.  Still a wonderful day.  But still true.

7-14

quote of the day: "Thats so rude! You have to give it back even if you liked it?!" (apparently we don't quite understand the concept of redbox)


my happy today was taking the kids swimming.  I was very very hesitant to take four children to a public pool by myself, worrying I would not be able to supervise them enough or worrying about exposing baby Z to germs, etc.  But one of my best friends invited us and SO glad we went.  E did about 300 laps on the huge waterslide.  A bounced around making a million new friends.  L shocked me with a forward flip off the diving board!  And little baby Z did fantastic.  He LOVED the water.  It was so warm and he lounged happily in a baby float, slapping at the water, jabbering and grinning.  We ended up staying for almost five hours! No wonder the kids were so worn out.  And yet we still had a great grandpa night, wandering the farmers market and having dinner at Dairy Keen.

my sad today was listening to a conversation between L and A about how the characters at Disney are just people in a costume.  Even the princesses look real but they're just girls dressed up like the character.  Well, obviously.  But my heart broke a little with this evidence of growing up.  So we talked about how sometimes our head can understand something but when we let our heart just have fun and believe, that's really what makes it magic.

7-13

quote of the day: "Mommy you are still a kid! because you still have a mommy and you call her Mom ad it's our Grammy!" And Grammy is still a kid sometimes because she has a mommy, GrandmaGreat!"

my happy today was bedtime.  Especially when Husband is out of town, bedtime can get...unpleasant.  But tonight we went on a Popsicle walk, got ready for bed with minimal reminders or complaining, did all our reading, happy n sads and prayers without me questioning my sanity. They were all sound asleep before 9:30.  hurray!

my sad today was that lunchtime was significantly less fun.  We made it through soccer, errands, the library and school lunch.  But the kids (mostly E) were grumpy and had to be asked and coerced multiple times.  E and A already had three strikes each losing a dessert for tonight and even Z was super fussy.  I was irritable and needed quiet time time just as much as they did!

7-12 soccer, friends and a bleach mishap

I woke up at 7:00 and spent half an hour convincing myself to get out of bed.  I could hear Z’s grunting and wiggling as he vacillating between sleep and wakefulness.  A slept soundly in the bed next to me, having claimed Daddy’s spot when he left for the airport at 3 am.  I vaguely remember telling him goodbye.  Vaguely.  Finally I got up and began the morning routine.

We finally left the house and I dropped the girls off at soccer camp only five minutes late.  I hate being late.  Even with the new baby we are usually on time, often even early.  Mornings are the exception.  Today at least I could blame it on the flat tire.  Yesterday’s slow leak was a complete sitting-on-the-rim-flat this morning.  Fortunately Husband saw it and left the air compressor out and ready for me.  So I cancelled my nail appointment (my somewhat shallow but strangely satisfying indulgence) in favor of getting the tire fixed.

The tire shop reported a three hour wait—the longest I’ve ever been told.  Fortunately they gave me a loaner car. At this point I concocted a plot where my husband has sneakily manipulated my flat tire so I would spend the day driving a mini van instead of my glorious Honda Pilot. He predicts love at first sight.  I’m onto you buddy.  I love my Pilot.  I will not relinquish my Pilot for a dumb ol van.  I didn’t like it.  Ok, I liked it a little.  Don’t tell him.

I ran errands, picked up kids, ran more errands, killed time in the grocery store next to the tire shop, found out my car still wasn’t ready and took the kids over to school lunch.  We love school lunch.  The kids get lots of options and plenty of food and all of us get to see friends.  Today was no exception.  I happily chatted with several friends as families came and went much faster than E who insists on turning every single chip into seven bites.  The big girls were done in a fraction of the time and played on the playground with friends.

Eventually we left to visit a neighbor friend.  The kids played happily downstairs, me and my playmate mom sat upstairs chatting.  Finally we picked up my car and went to the gym where I had a practice for the new materials the instructors are presenting starting next week.  I haven’t gone back to teaching yet, mostly I was excited to see my work friends and get in a good work out.  I nervously left Z in daycare for the first time.  Ive been holding off until Z had more of his shots but I knew daycare would be empty because it wasn’t a regular class time.  He of course, did great.

Back at home I started dinner and then hurried to get in a phone call before end of business while Z fussed.  It was frustrating and took longer than expected but success!  Meanwhile the girls had been busy and tackled today’s assigned chore—cleaning the bathrooms.  (“Toilet Tuesday”.  It’s also “take a trip Tuesday” but since we were gone literally all day, I think we sufficiently satisfied that.)  My sweet, sweet girls cleaned the bathrooms all by themselves as a surprise for me.  With bleach.  While wearing brand new clothes.  Warily they came to confess.  Already frustrated by the obnoxious phone tree I had suffered through, I covered my face and held my breath.  L, so sensitive and misinterpreting my reaction, burst into tears.  So instead I hugged them and praised their kind action.  Then stripped them down and let them finish the job in their bathrobes.  A’s shirt is still wearable, only a few bleached spots that almost blend in.  L’s shirt is ruined.  I gushed about what a good job they did and offered to pay half  towards a replacement shirt.  I told Husband who was so impressed with them, he told L he will pay her half.  I have such good kids.  And such an amazing husband.

We ate dinner, did a quick clean up and the girls got on their jammies.  Then they settled in to watch a movie we redboxed (they are still fascinated by the magic of redbox) while I met with my book club downstairs.  The book this month was Funny in Farsi, it was casual and lighthearted, quick and easy to read.  I didn’t love it, finding the writing style disjointed and distracting, but admired certain themes and loved chatting with friends about favorite parts.

Just before 10:00, I hurriedly tucked the kids into bed, skipping our usual chapter book and scripture time in favor of much-needed sleep for tomorrow.  I puttered around, unwinding for the day.  I debated on my new resolve to journal more often or watch House.  And eventually did a little of both.

My happy today was getting so much time to visit with lots of friends.  I crave that social, adult interaction and was blessed with an abundance of it today. 

My sad is that it did not include my smokin hot husband.  

7-11

my happy today was baby Z's first laugh.  He fell asleep against my chest and I got to cuddle him for over an hour while husband played with his girls.  His ever expressive face is so fun to watch.  As Husband and I were talking, admiring his happy sleep smile, he abruptly began giggling in his sleep!  I can't get enough of how cute he is.

my sad today was not participating in slurpee day.  Husband took the girls out for their free slurpees.  They even brought one home for me.  But thoroughly committed to this health challenge, I took one sip to say thank you and let them finish it for me.

June

Summer has been crazy busy and such a blast so far.

The girls have taken some classes through the rec center.  They loved their jewelry making class, coming home with beaded bracelets and necklaces.  L and E both carefully planned out their patterns while A’s was a spontaneous array of colors.  They also painted birdhouses.  What they lack in finesse, they made up for in excitement and had a great time.

All three girls did a week of swim lessons.  E needed it the most but it was a great refresher for L and A too.  Mostly all three of them loved the excuse to go swimming everyday for a week.  L spent a week at dance camp.  It was a jazz intensive with some of her favorite instructors.  She spent 3 hours a day dancing for a week, coming home tired but happy.

We’ve attended school lunch frequently.  I love how simple and easy it is for me, they love all the food options.  The favorite part for all of us is how often we see friends and get to talk and play as we eat.  We usually hang out on the playground after to play even longer.

A lost several teeth this summer.  A few months ago, she fell off the kitchen counter while putting dishes away and smacked her face on the way down.  It knocked several teeth loose enough to bleed.  But she was careful not to disturb them further and they seemed to settle back into place.  But a month later she collided with E and smacked her face again.  One tooth fell out immediately, another the next morning and two more within a week.  (All were teeth that should fall out around this age but it was surprising to see it happen all at once.  It definitely made eating interesting for her!)  L lost two of her molars as well.  The tooth fairy was busy this month!

One Saturday we made forts in the tv room.  Each of the girls had their own little fort in separate corners of the room.  They ended up sleeping in them for a whole week!  (until I finally couldn’t handle the mess anymore and we had a big clean up day so I could vacuum and “reset”.)

For Grammy’s birthday, we met at my sister’s community pool.  We claimed a big corner of the yard, sprawling out under the shade canopy while the kids swam for hours.  We had a delicious barbeque and cake and presents and more cake.

For Father’s Day we made Husband breakfast in bed.  And then L and I ended up staying home from church.  Husband took A and E and then we had a great feast in the evening with ribs cooked in our smoker.  My favorite part was the gift we had for him.  I had plaster hand impressions professionally made and love how great it turned out.  L’s hand nearly fills the circle while Z’s is so tiny.

Husband took L and A on a daddy date.  He had to run a few errands and then they stopped in at the Air Museum.  The girls loved seeing the planes and especially loved watching the air show.

He also took the girls to a reptile show at the library.  They got to see all sorts of things and report that A held a baby turtle and L and E got to hold snakes!  E was so delighted she couldn’t stop giggling.

Baby Z has become an increasingly wonderful baby.  He’s so sweet and cuddly.  He’s sleeping well most nights despite teething and smiles easily—a great big, beaming smile that lights up the whole world.  I can’t get enough of his jabbering and am so crazy in love with him.  The girls continue to dote on him and have become more confident in picking him up, even able to carry him around the house and get so excited playing with him.  He’s growing so fast—most of his clothes he only wears once (partly because he was spoiled with so many and partly because he’s growing so fast).  He loves bathtime, just lounging in the water and still loves the ceiling fan of course.

Our most exciting endeavor in June was Drama Camp! I enrolled all three girls in a 2 week drama boot camp.  We missed auditions so they didn’t have speaking roles but had a blast regardless.  They did all kinds of drama exercises and put together a show, “We Are Monsters”.  The large cast of rambunctious kids did amazing! I was honestly surprised how good the show was, especially considering their young ages and the short time they had to prepare.  L and E were monsters, A was a werewolf.  A was given a short solo in one of the songs and threw herself into the role.  L was probably the most engaged in the acting part of it while E managed to just charm everyone.  During the show itself, she was more interested in watching so she usually had her back to the audience but she did love the music and they’ve been singing ever since.

cousin camp, July 4th

On Thursday we picked up husband’s sister (who had flown in the day before) and began day 1 of our crazy weekend adventure.  We drove to the zoo where we met husband’s brother and his adorable family.  The girls were thrilled to see each other and had a fabulous day together.  We had lunch, saw lots of animals, got ice cream, saw more animals and wore ourselves out at the splash pad.  Their favorite animal of the day was the polar bear doing backflips into his pool.  Or the brown bears that were playing tag, sprinting back an forth in seemingly random bursts.  Baby Z did great, sleeping through most of it and watching with big eyes from his stroller.  We returned to Grandpa’s house that night to figure out dinner and settle in.  With so many cousins coming to camp, we elected to take our trailer and set it up in the driveway.  The girls shared the back bed (their “nest”) and Z’s bassinet fit perfectly on the bench.  They slept surprisingly well all weekend, worn out from playing hard each day.

On Friday, the rest of the cousins began arriving.  It was a family reunion with Grandpa’s siblings and all their kids and grandkids.  So family trickled in throughout the day and the party just got more and more exciting.  The bounce house arrived shortly after breakfast and stayed all day—to the delight of all the kids.  Their imaginations took off and they played nonstop.  Meanwhile, the “grans” (my generation) snuck away to float the river while the siblings watched all the “greats” (my kids’ generation).  Husband and I took Z with us and split the adventure.  I kept Z, hanging out with one of my cousins and her infant son while our husbands floated the first half.  We met them at a halfway point and traded.  The float was fantastic.  It ended up being my bro in law and six women, with plenty of teasing and laughing as we drifted downstream, bouncing over rocks and running ourselves into trees.  Back at Grandpa’s house, we played with cousins.  I particularly loved getting to see baby Z with my cousin’s baby.  They’re only three weeks apart and so adorable.  We dressed them in coordinating outfits that I bought and got some great pictures.  The girls played non stop, with plenty of cousins their age.  They played on the swings hung from trees, lounged in the hammock, ran laps around the house, dragged out their favorite toys, played spies and chef and all sorts of things, dancing and especially, jumped around in the bounce house all day.  That evening we had  churrasco for dinner—Brazilian barbeque that was beyond delicious.  Husband manned the grill and the aunties supplied all the amazing side dishes and desserts.  (This family is blessed with some great cooks and an appreciation for great food!)  After dinner we played a rousing and thoroughly entertaining version of kickball.  My children clearly demonstrated their lack of familiarity with sports but had a blast anyway.  My favorite part is when E kicked the ball and then at our encouragement, took off running—in every direction but nowhere near the bases.  The evening entertainment also included homemade ice cream.  Each of the kids got to pick their own flavors and make it in individual size servings, which was possibly more fun than actually eating it.  And then we finished off the night with fireworks.

On Saturday, we feasted on omelets, fruit and French toast with buttermilk syrup and fresh whip cream (so divine!).  Then we scrambled to get everyone over to the lake.  Husband and kidsister had arrived several hours earlier to pick out a great spot, knowing the beach would fill up fast on a holiday weekend.  We spent the whole day at the lake.  We took the kayaks and stand-up paddleboards.  One of the cousins brought his beautiful rowboat and took the kids for rides and Grandpa rented a powerboat so husband took kids out tubing all day.  I spent most the day on the beach with Z and refereeing the kids as they dashed from one activity to another.  The girls tried all the water sports, played and explored with cousins, built sandcastles and snacked on yummy treats.  I took the girls out on the paddleboards and on kayaks.  A wanted to jump in and swim back to shore—I love how she challenges herself.  I think husband had a great time driving the boat and bouncing kids around on the tube.  We even took baby Z out on the boat for a short ride.  He had gotten rather fussy in the late afternoon but settled down with the motion of the boat.  A late afternoon rainstorm hurried our clean up but it was still warm and beautiful most of the day.  Eventually all the cousins drifted away and we returned to Grandpa’s house for a quieter evening of leftovers and a movie.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we took our little family home to shower and attend church.  And soon after, we were right back at Grandpa’s house for more time with cousins.  We made dinner, played outside, roasted s’mores and watched a movie.  Z had a rougher time sleeping the longer we were away from home.  I suspect his new teeth are still bothering him but he was happy to sleep in my arms.

On Monday morning the girls got to play through breakfast and while the grown ups packed and cleaned up.  We said goodbye to cousins and made our exit.  We dropped the trailer off at home and immediately headed north for an impromptu pool party at my sister’s house.  Her community pool was empty when we arrived but filled quickly in the hot afternoon.  We lounged under the shade canopy watching the kids swim and enjoying the perfect weather.  The men took Z with them to Cabela’s so I got to swim and enjoy the pool with the girls.  We barbequed more delicious food and had a fantastic time.  We arrived back at home in time to unload the vehicles and get ready for a fun evening.  The girls helped me make our traditional flag snack with blueberries, strawberries and donut holes.  We took it outside with us to enjoy while husband and Grandpa lit fireworks in our driveway.  The girls shied away from the sparklers but loved watching all the fireworks from a distance.  And all of us were stunned at the spectacular aerials that filled the sky almost constantly for an hour.  Several houses within our neighborhood had deeply invested in their display and it was incredible.  After our own little rather impressive show, we continued watching the aerials from the windows upstairs until we finally put all of our littles to bed.