We started off June strong with sending Patrick off to a KU basketball camp! He roomed with his friend Reid and a couple boys he met there. He played a ton of basketball and proudly informed me that he slept a total of 21 hours over the course of 3 nights so he basically missed an entire night's worth of sleep between the three nights. He was a bit of a tired disaster when he got back but the camp was very fun and he very much wants to go again next year.
Nathan dropped him off. He used to go to some college basketball camps, he was very excited that Patrick got to do this.
I got a total of two phone calls from Patrick while he was gone lasting a total of about two minutes and I got no meaningful information from him when he called. He was just very excited and took some screenshots.
Meanwhile, we had VBS at our church. I didn't get to be a leader for Juliet's class this year but we still had fun.
Her bestie Abigail from preschool was in her group!
And I had Bradley come help out after the first day. Wyatt was my other helper, they had a very good time together.
Inflatables party on the second to last day. Super fun!
Kitty cuddles! I think these are all pics of Meg. She is fairly needy these days. Sookie is too but mostly with just me and Nathan.
See, my lap with a Sookie. And also Meg and Callie in the background. I was trying to write, difficult at the best of times, more difficult with this many needy kitties around.
Meg strikes again.
Her favorite time of all is reading with Eleanor in the evening.
Juliet still can't tell the cats apart.
We tried out the new ball toss pool toy. It's awesome!
A typical teenage reaction to being told her needed to have fun with me whether he liked it or not.
Everyone enjoys this. Juliet is perhaps the best of the kids, which is awesome.
Gosh we love the pool.
End of basketball camp. Nathan picked up a very tired and happy boy.
He got his shoes signed by some KU basketball player and apparently it was a big deal.
We had a very rare Saturday with nothing planned so I got way too excited and made enough plans for three days but we did at least make it to Union Station to see the Guinness Book of World Records exhibit with Patrick's friend Luke.
I don't think Juliet had been to Union Station since she was old enough to remember going.
She loved the quick tour of the train room.
The older two kids didn't want to go, which was okay by us. They'll probably get to go later this summer when cousins are in town. Please note that all three kids we brought thought they deserved to be in 1st place.
The exhibit was so fun. Everything was hands on and the kids could try to break records while they were there.
And I even coordinated with Juliet's friend Addie's mom and we got to meet them there. Great joy!
A very apt toy found in the gift shop for Patrick.
We went to Unforked for lunch
And got some ice cream - it was a very fancy day.
We were walking by a tea place and they had moon cakes which I insisted we try because I had heard they were good. They were so bad. This picture was taken before we tasted the very gross things. Oops.
Then we went to Science City because there was a deal on Science City tickets if you got the Guinness Book of World Record tickets.
Spinny chair got a little scary for Juliet
By this point I was pretty exhausted by all the fun we had been having.
But it was so neat, I'm looking forward to coming back here later in the summer.
Juliet climbed so high!
Getting children to leave was a struggle but that just means we had a lovely time.
We got home and it seemed Eleanor hadn't been suffering too much in our absence. She and Bradley actually spent the morning over at my parents' house but when we stayed at Union Station longer than anticipated I let them know that they could bring the middle schoolers home early for cats and screens.
Another classic apology note from Patrick. He kept saying "damn" in the car because he didn't know it was a swear word.
Eleanor had a friend over and I came out to see them "tanning." They were very proud of themselves.
My parents' arcade got moved over to our house because they said it didn't seem like kids really cared about playing it at their house. Bradley has gotten really good at Space Invaders!
I've been on a fiber kick and made all the kids eat chia seed pudding one morning. The general reaction I got was that they would rather be dead than have health inflicted upon them again in such a manner. I am just putting chia seeds in their smoothies now.
More kitty cuddles. They love summer.
I love kids having play dates with friends and ending up in the pool every time.
I tried a single French braid on Juliet and was rather proud of myself.
We did a Girl Scout swim party at the Wilderness pool and it went really well even though the pool was frigid. All of the girls from our neighborhood just wanted to be on their cool playground anyway.
We started swim lessons with Melissia, a really nice mom I know from Girl Scouts. She comes to our pool twice per week and it's going really well. I have everyone but Eleanor doing lessons with her.
We had a couple of Nathan's cousins and their families come into town for a weekend and I wasn't really sure what to expect but we had a fabulous time with them.
Although I was slightly concerned when most of our car fell asleep on the way to the evening Royals game we went to with them.
How cute is Juliet? She wanted to see what she looked like with my belt bag she borrowed.
Most of the crew
Patrick flexing for the camera
They didn't know that there was a whole kid section to the place. It's always fun when someone with kids get to go to the Royals stadium for the first time.
Juliet smoked her sweet 4 year old second cousin at the race part of the place.
We got ice cream! And we had an extra ticket so Eleanor's friend Evie got to go with us.
This made Eleanor about 100 times happier about having to go to a dumb baseball game.
I mean, it doesn't seem like too much suffering.
Juliet got to ride the carousel! She's in the back towards the left in this photo.
Nathan gave the girls cash to go buy snacks but it turns out that it's a cashless stadium so they had to go to an ATM and turn the cash into a debit card and fortunately I figured it out by the time we bought ice cream so I got to finish off the card. I was impressed that the girls had sorted it all out on their own.
The boys only smile nice when someone is being goofy.
An actual nice smiling picture with Nathan
See the nice smiles? Because Juliet is being weird and Patrick wasn't even supposed to be in this photo.
Cotton candy!
Ice cream bowl hat
A picture with all of us. Bradley had given up on the game at this point and we were doing a Wordle together.
He's quite the Wordle champ these days.
Fireworks at the end of the game was fun!
And a picture of all the kids together!
Juliet enjoyed being carried by Bradley out to the car
Eleanor and Evie's turn to try to carry Juliet
And some late night kitty nail clipping. Sweet Meg was happy to oblige.
We had the cousins over to play and swim the next day!
It was lovely. They stayed for a long afternoon and everyone had a good time.
Too much fun for some!
The next day was Father's Day and we did some morning pickleball
Followed by a good brunch and then cards from everyone.
Group hug!
And pool time! Our neighbor Stella came over and enjoyed the chance to play basketball.
Poor Patrick had to trade off his child carrying duties
More kitty cuddles!
I had my mom group from COR come over for a morning coffee and Callie decided to join us for the picture. She smiled!
Play dates and pool. The kids won't get into the pool unless a friend is here or we're doing an evening family swim. Ridiculous.
I've been trying to ban tablet games and promote Mario games because at least they are social. So the kids are really into Mario party right now.
For my birthday I decided we should go pick blueberries! My dad pointed out that I always choose to pick berries during a heat advisory.
Fortunately we had a bit of shade, which was very helpful.
We ended up getting about 13 lbs of blueberries! We had missed a year or two of picking berries, it was really fun to go again.
Playground at the end!
Then the girls elected to join me and Nathan for lunch at McLain's. We ended the day with a family swim, it was a very lovely birthday.
The next day poor Patrick had three lacrosse games on a very hot day. He played really well but he got absolutely clobbered one time and fell in a crumpled heap at my feet and I'm officially retiring him from lacrosse. He can play out the season but I'm over it. There are plenty of other sports out there, it's been fun to do lacrosse and he's good at it but it just isn't worth it. And he's super excited about tennis after watching the French open! We've been playing together in the morning whenever we can, it's been really fun.
While Patrick was at lacrosse the other kids had a lovely morning with grandparents. Juliet loves the Junie B Jones books!
Sunday morning with Callie. It was Eleanor's 12th birthday!
Patrick had one last lacrosse game and Nathan took him out for lunch afterwards.
Then I had a dreamy afternoon with kid and kitty cuddles!
Eleanor's birthday presents from family. She also had an electric scooter in the garage that Nathan and I got for her as an early birthday present, I told her we could put a bow on it and she could go out and look at it.
Eleanor mostly got books this year and was really happy about it.
Oh Patrick. He is such a punk and I love him.
Best birthday ever! Side note: we haven't seen a lot of Eleanor since this. She's been holed up in her room reading. She also got a Kendra Scott necklace, I think it's on top of the books.
Then she had a party with way more girls than I wanted to invite over. They were very cute and had a great time.
Nathan got a Baby Yoda piñata on clearance from Walmart and it turns out 12 year olds still like piñatas!
The chanting was only a bit concerning ...
Her ice cream cake she made with my mom.
Not many candles to blow out when it's windy outside.
She also got a fancy cup to use at the party. Juliet and I were desperately jealous.
Bradley wanted to come down for food and treats but was afraid of all the girls. They all cheered for him when he finally made an appearance, so he flipped out and grabbed a Minecraft sword. Ahh, teenagers.
Whenever I tried to take a picture of Eleanor a friend would hop in the photo.
Patrick was afraid to come down after hearing the reaction to Bradley. I told him he could always take his shirt off to get revenge on the girls. He was delighted to do so and enjoyed the boos whenever he ran by.
They took a break from the pool for presents.
And some game time down in the basement. Eleanor was a really good sport about Juliet joining in on the festivities.
And then it was back to the pool. Eleanor could be a contortionist.
Ow. Ow ow ow.
They swam until 10 and no one wanted to leave. It was a very good party.
A belated present from Grandpa Dan. Bassoon shirt! It's so cute.
Eleanor's friend Naomi came over and they waited until 10 minutes before Naomi was supposed to get picked up to get in the pool so we ending up extending the play date. They did this again the next time Naomi came over so we're making a rule that they have to get in the pool first from now on.
And happy days! I ran into our friend Joel while at ROKC for Eleanor's rock climbing class. I hadn't seen him for at least a year and we ended up making 4th of July plans with his family because of it.
Swim lessons are going really well. All of the kids are making great progress, although they whine if the pool is below 84 degrees for their lessons.
A cuddly shopping trip to Costco.
Dropping off Eleanor at Girl Scout camp. She got to stay overnight all three nights. She tried to ignore all her friends and read books and didn't want to go on any hikes or really leave her bunk. I might put her in a writing club and opt out of Girl Scouts.
But she and her friend Faith were good helpers to Juliet's Girl Scout troop for all the day camp activities. It was actually really great, Eleanor ended up being the bathroom buddy for the girls which was especially helpful on the day they got to make their own lemonade. We're pretty sure one girl went to the bathroom 7 times that day.
Me and my co-leader with the girls.
We started at climbing wall!
And I made sure each girl got a solo picture at the beginning of camp.
Juliet with Leiliya.
She loved sling shot!
Popsicles with my girls after lunch.
Pool time!
Juliet and Lilah were the only girls from the troop that passed both levels of the swim test. Juliet also beat everyone at the portion of the swim test where you do a lap in the pool. It was pointed out to me that you just pass that portion, speed doesn't matter. But every time you swim a lap is a race if you're living right. Juliet won.
The pool is pretty great, there's even a cute splash area.
It took the girls about 25 minutes to change back into regular clothes so we were really late to our next station. It did not matter, we just had our girls do half of the activities there.
Cute kitty robot!
And they got to cook campfire treats after this.
Juliet tried to fall asleep on the bus ride home.
Then I took Bradley and Juliet over for chores at my parents' house while they were gone on their trip.
And that night was also the Weird Al concert at the Starlight! I bought these tickets back in September but then Girl Scout camp was announced and ruined my plans. It's okay though, Eleanor was at camp and I got Juliet to bed and each of the boys got to bring a friend and one of the boy's parents came along too.
We had been listening to a lot of Weird Al leading up to this and Juliet was pretty disappointed to not get to go but apparently they got rained on a bit and then they didn't get home until 11 at night so it was definitely the right call to give her an easy night in the midst of camp. Nathan and the boys had a blast!
Double rainbow after the storm!
Honestly, I don't know when the boys are going to have a concert experience to top this. Weird Al is just so much fun.
Singing I'm Fat!
More songs!
Back to camp with my girls in the morning.
We had an unexpected torrential downpour but I was really proud of the girls in my troop making the best of things and going along with me with I told them to do a rain dance and make the rain go away.
Rain dance!
Pool crew! They're such a cute group of girls. It was actually really nice just having 10 girls instead of our usual 21 for troop meetings. I felt like I actually got to know each of the girls and spend time with them instead of racing around and trying to manage mayhem.
We found the Yeti stuffed toy and got a prize!
Making lemonade. The girls were all so well hydrated after this. So many potty visits for the little ones!
We love a photo op.
Cool Eleanor!
Learning about trees. All the activities at camp were so cute and fun.
On our hike that afternoon!
I spent the night with the middle schoolers and helped force Eleanor to go outside and play games with friends and shocker, she had a great time.
Nathan took care of cuddling up Juliet that night and watching the Scooby-Doo movie with her. Happy girl!
She ran into my arms the next morning when she got off the bus. Be still my heart! And then all the other girls ran up and hugged me. Pretty adorable. We started the morning dissecting owl pellets! The girls were unsure at first but quickly got into the sort of treasure hunt spirit of things.
Juliet was adamant that she wouldn't touch it but it was so cool she decided to get in on things. I love that Girl Scouts does things like this. Amazing for a 6 year old to get to dissect an pellet.
Pool time. Eleanor was the only middle schooler to make it to the top of the climbing wall!
Popsicles after lunch!
We made friends with the 5th grade troop during lunch time and adjusted our schedule so we could join them at the outdoor arcade for a bit. Best decision of the day!
I missed a lot of this because I had to go supervise the teens at the zipline because they wouldn't let them do the activity without enough adult chaperones. But my co-leader got some cute pics!
Apparently the 5th graders decided to put on a show for them.
I'm told it was loud and chaotic. The best!
Meanwhile, Eleanor was a champ on the zipline.
They were into singing as the girls went on the zipline.
Hanging out after the 5th graders left on a hike. I was really sad that we had missed the outdoor arcade the day before, we didn't have time to fit it in. It's just so much fun, the girls had a great time.
Then we ended the day with sand art and bubbles stations. We were supposed to spend about two hours at these stations and we were twiddling our thumbs a bit with one hour. But it was good times and it all worked out!
We did little mandala sand art sets - it was pretty great, we're definitely doing this again during our regular Girl Scout meetings this next year.
Blessings upon this teen Girl Scout who played Down by the Banks with the 1st graders.
Camp was over and we all had a nice swim to cool off! Gosh we love this pool.
And because I have no sense, I agreed to volunteer at KantCon the next day. I brushed off the Game Like a Mother t-shirts and grabbed a bunch of games. We only played with a few kids but it was very fun. Patrick was my official helper!
Bradley and Nathan joined us after church.
As predicted, Bradley had about the best time of his life at the convention.
Playing games with a church friend and his kids!
The boys' favorite activity was probably shopping with Nathan.
Family photo on the way out.
And an evening movie and cuddles with Meg. Oh Meg, what a sweet kitty.
Juliet has been really into forts. She's dragging stuffed toys and blankets and pillows all over the living room these days.
Eleanor at a sleepover at my parents' house! Circuits are fun!
And Nathan took Juliet and Patrick to our friends' fireworks stand at the end of the month. They got to meet the Crazy Goose mascot and have popsicles.
