Iowa Trip and School Starts

August started off with a final round of board game camps! These had pretty big wait lists so I got to add an additional class at the end of the week, which also filled up. Pretty fun stuff! And as always, half the fun was getting to teach with Bradley, Eleanor, and Patrick. 

Eleanor and I still fit in some rock climbing! 

However, it had been a little while since we had last gone and Eleanor got stuck about 40 ft up on a big wall. She hung out for at least five minutes at the same spot. She wasn't sure how to get down without jumping and belaying (which she really didn't want to do) and she also didn't want to go up any higher. It was a little traumatic for the poor kid. She made it down eventually!

So we sat and took a minute while watching other people climb. I commented on how insane the person we were watching must be to attempt the difficult climb he was going for and then I paused and said, "Isn't that your climbing teacher from the summer camp?" It was. Eleanor didn't think I should talk to him but I'm me so when he came down I waved hi and we chatted. He offered to do a top rope for Eleanor so she could climb one of the routes that wasn't already hooked up to an automatic belay system. Eleanor was SO happy about this because if you want a break on a top rope you can just dangle while the belayer holds you in place. You can also have a much more controlled and slower belay down from the top of your climb. Unfortunately for her, I don't know how to belay anymore and probably wasn't very good at it even when they forced me to do it as part of my summer job at a camp in high school. So this was quite the treat for her!

It was also really nice timing because she was feeling a little tender after getting stuck on the previous wall so this was a really nice way to end our gym time on a good climb.

Juliet loves playing with Grandma before our Friday dinners and enjoys the fuss Grandpa makes when she walks in and the first words out of her mouth are "Where's Grandma?!"

She really wants to play soccer but the local soccer clubs for little kids only meet on the evenings or weekends so she's sticking with gymnastics for now. An excellent indoor sport. I really only want my kids to play indoor or weather dependent sports for purely selfish reasons. Soccer is the absolute worst. Here's hoping she plays one season someday and then moves on. 

I hate Don't Break the Ice but the kids love it. I love it when they play independently and even let little Juliet play with them!

Basketball remains Patrick's favorite sport. It will be interesting to see how it goes for him when the season starts up again!

The boys started having very regular sleepovers during the summer and it turns out cuddly children like sharing a bed. It's rather adorable.

Nathan and I got to go to a Royals game together through his work! Date night!

Date night - shared with friends. Still super fun! The Royals even won against the Red Sox, which was a happy surprise.

Daniel and Stephanie and the kids came back to visit and Ethan got loved up within an inch of his life. I'm a biased aunt, but he is just so smiley and has the cutest face. It's no wonder he gets loved on constantly!

He was super cute at the pool in his little infant floatie. He's 9 months old and loved being able to push along the bottom of the pool because his feet just barely reached.

Bradley and Aunt Stephanie about to play an exciting game of Yamslam. 

The kids enjoyed a fair amount of tablet time during the summer, we broke down and got a fourth tablet which resulted in much greater harmony whenever there was screen time and each kid got their own device. Juliet also wanted to play Roblox like the big kids so I made her an account and lied about her age because curiously enough they don't think 3 year olds should have unsupervised time on a free build platform. She doesn't have unsupervised time, she has Eleanor to help her as they do a house decorating game together. 

Nathan got to go to Vegas to see Red Hot Chili Peppers.

He went with his friend Brian and his brother Jake. I was originally supposed to go on this trip but I don't particularly love Vegas or Red Hot Chili Peppers so it didn't seem like the right fit for me. It turned into a nice little guys' trip!

And it was especially neat that Jake got to go, brother time is rare for these guys.

Fortunately for Nathan, I had a really nice weekend with the kids so I didn't resent all his cool guy fun times photos.

And look - he found art!

I'm told the show was really great and it was well worth it so it was really nice that he got to go do this.

Red Hot Chili Peppers 2022!

Meanwhile, here is my happy crew at the zoo on a very hot Saturday morning!

And here is Juliet. The unhappy crew.

We met up with Annie Rutherford because she too was running solo on Vegas weekend. It was a good crew of kids!

A cute Patrick and a crabby Juliet. I dress her up cute to balance out the crabby.

Then we went shopping for a replacement lava lamp light bulb because I'm a competent human and surely can handle stuff like this while Nathan is gone and while we were at Lowe's we found the absolute best chair. Side note - Eleanor is the competent human and took care of changing out her light bulb on her own. I also told her that she was responsible for assembling or fixing anything else that needed fixing while Nathan was gone because she was now the most competent member of our household. She liked hearing this, although she shouldn't have treated it as a joke because it was a factual statement. 

I have a new photo with which I can threaten my enemies. Fun story - a bird hit the window and landed on the deck, stunned. I told the concerned children that the best thing to do was to just leave it alone and let it recover so it could fly away. Then we didn't go out on the deck for a few days and by the time we figured out that the bird did not in fact recover it was a bit past decent burial time. Also, the fact that our cats did not eat the bird is further proof that they would not make it in the wild. 

Eleanor and Juliet went to Oceans of Fun with Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Katie so I got to have a special morning with just the boys. We went by the Cardboard Corner Cafe and played some games and ate yummy lunch!

Coconuts was a super cute dexterity game. Shocker, I did not win.

Waffles for lunch!

Followed by King of Tokyo decimation by Bradley. Patrick was in tears after a tough loss (it's a battling game - not great for siblings) but his spirits rose considerably when we went next door to check out the used Lego store. Checking out the incredibly expensive classic Lego sets was very exciting and awe inspiring!

The kids often complain when I drag them all outside but then we invariably run into friends and they have a great time. We ran into the Howertons and even found a water snake. Park time is fabulous!

Then Bradley got to have a tablet time play date with Luke. Summer time is the best time!

We got a new game out for Juliet to try and even though it was a dog themed game Sookie helped her play the first time through.

Bluey Scavenger Hunt game! The big kids are always good sports about trying out Juliet's games with her.

Then we took the whole crew to Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun with cousin Katie and grandparents and Uncle Daniel. 

Juliet was a bit of a naughty about having her photo taken.

And Uncle Daniel got lots of loves before we parted ways and the preschoolers went to the water park while we went to check out roller coasters.

Bradley and Eleanor were adrenaline junkies and there was no coaster that was too big or too scary for them. Surprisingly, Patrick professed to a sudden fear of heights and didn't want to do any roller coasters. This from the kid who routinely climbs 50 ft walls when we go to the rock climbing gym!

To be fair - this is what the first roller coaster looked like. You went upside down a couple times too.

And then we discovered that Patrick and Bradley loved all the spinny rides and Eleanor wanted nothing to do with those.

So it's really good Bradley was there. Patrick and Eleanor took turns riding with him depending on the type of ride.

I joined for a couple very wobbly roller coasters (the wooden ones knock you around a bit) but my favorite ride was the water ride I went on with my dad and the big kids.

My dad deserves this picture for making this face on purpose. 

Then Patrick and I went on the ride again while the older two went on the biggest, baddest roller coaster in the theme park. I was rather surprised when my dad told me that he went on it too. Apparently he got peer pressured by a 9 and 10 year old. It was quite the intense roller coaster and I would feel bad for him except he has eyeballs and could see what he was getting into. Of all things. Maybe now Grandpa will finally not default to yes answers to everything his grandchildren ask of him?

Meanwhile, Juliet and Katie had a fine time at the water park and Daniel sent me this picture of them cheating by standing on tippy toes by the height ride measurement thing which was somehow place on the outside of a door that employees were supposed to go in and out of. They got to wait for the three year olds to clear out before they were able to leave their office. Yes, this is a very good indicator of how things are run at Oceans and Worlds of Fun. 

Because there had not yet been enough water time, we met up for pizza at the pool for dinner that night. Juliet insisted on sitting by Ethan in the wagon when she found out he might try to steal her pizza. Makes it extra fun!

Snack buddies!

Eleanor has come a long way for someone who once insisted that all babies were gross. 

Juliet is naughty for pictures and wouldn't do a fun pose in front of Urban Air so Grandpa did it instead. I love this picture. 

We went out for Chick-fil-A for lunch afterwards and this was the only photo where it didn't look like Juliet was kind of punching Katie in the face. 

In an excellent indicator for future time together, Katie seems to thrive on chaos and loved it when everyone was simultaneously trying to snuggle on baby Ethan for a photo. Ethan was a little less sure about this much affection but he hung in there. We'll train him up in no time. 

We left the next morning to go to Iowa to visit Colleen and Kerry and we planned things nicely this time and were able to visit a nearby water park on our way to their place!

It's a pretty nice little water park. A few big water slides and a wave pool and a kiddie play area. Good stuff!

We also went out for a very delicious dinner at a Mexican restaurant while we were in Fairfield. 

Eleanor and Nathan have matchy eyes.

This was certainly the "fun" part of the meal. 

Bradley trying to do the big eye thing but doing big mouth instead.

And as usual, Patrick blazed his own trail. 

Kerry pretended to eat Bradley's dessert and I think this is the nicest smile we've ever gotten out of him for a picture.

Some post-dinner cuddles! It was a very nice time.

Juliet shoving her way in to Grandma Colleen cuddles.

A Juliet sized bench at the entrance.

Pool time that evening!

And morning cuddles with Juliet. Lucky Eleanor. 

We spent that morning hanging out in Grandma Colleen's garden. So much harvesting to do!

Group shot with the kids for the trip!

Colleen was very wise and got bubbles and chalk for the kids to play with. I don't know when they'll outgrow bubbles and chalk, it certainly hasn't happened yet!

Time for an outdoor craft!

Oh, looky here. Patrick climbing a tall tree and shouting at me to notice the dangerous thing he's doing. Delightful. Although to be fair, if I stopped rewarding him with attention and photographs of his exploits maybe he would stop doing this.

We returned home and I took the kids to the zoo the next day. We couldn't believe how cute the little monkeys were when the kids showed them their snack items. 

We are loving having a zoo membership again. 

We had meet the teacher that evening and I remembered to get photos with at least two of the children with their teachers ... sorry Eleanor. Patrick has Mrs. McAtee this year and he was an imp for the photo with her and refused to take his sucker out of his mouth so at least she knew what she was getting into. 

Bradley was THRILLED to have Mrs. Clayton again. Kindergarten and 5th grade! So neat!

Juliet tapped out after a morning at the zoo and exciting teacher business and fell asleep in my arms. This happened not infrequently over the summer, poor kid. 

I'm having to do "research" on games for Christmas lists and the boys thoroughly enjoyed celebrating some Christmas in August.

The day before school started we ran an errand at Costco and it so happened we were there at lunch time. If there's a place where we can afford to do fancy lunch for everyone, it's Costco!

Some adult men were very happy to see the boys fill up their soda cups with a little bit of every kind of soda in the lineup. Le sigh. Like they needed any additional encouragement. 

A little more Ethan time before they had to leave. He's at such a cute stage and all of my children love babies so he's getting a fair amount of attention on these visits. 

There were some epic foosball games with Uncle Daniel. 

Can you tell which side just scored a goal in this photo?

More Ethan loves. 

Katie has taken to wearing very impressive princess dresses on a regular basis which we enjoy and respect. 

Eleanor with her squad.

Katie has gotten really used to all of the kids which is a nice change from when she seemed overwhelmed by the amount of love this crew had to give. 

My favorite of the photos we tried to take of the kids on their last evening together.

And this was probably the best photo in terms of being able to see smiling faces. It was a very active crew for photos. 

The big kids were off to school the next morning! 2nd, 4th, & 5th grade!

Juliet loves the Wildcat mascot so much. 

I've prepared the kids for school by checking out loads and loads of books all summer long. We call it preparation although I'm a little afraid of the knowledge they are getting access to. Because of the show Murder She Wrote we were talking about murder at lunch one day and they discussed the importance of checking closets for bodies. I said, "Ooh, like Blackbeard! Or is it Bluebeard?" They informed me it was Bluebeard and they already knew all about his wives in the closet because I had checked out a book for them which contained this info." I'm deciding to call it culture and I'm going with it. 

Patrick's teacher has already uploaded a few cute photos of his class. 

He has a lot of buddies in the class. It's going to be a good year. 

Bradley had this photo up in the hallway when we visited for parent night. So cute and so Bradley.

Juliet has only been medium bored being home with me every day. I like to think we have a good time but I'm definitely more boring than any of her siblings. 

And she's pretty good at entertaining herself. It's easy when you are a creative and slightly naughty little girl.

I've actually played pretend with her a few times. That's how guilty I've felt. It was quite the treat to play My Little Ponies with her, she decided all the ponies are girls (even the ones that are clearly boys) and ponies come from two mommy households, which is apparently the ideal. 

She's so ready for preschool. She just wants to play and do arts and crafts. She can even do perler beads, which requires a fair amount of dexterity! No idea how she learned this, I can take no credit besides leaving craft supplies out while I do the dishes. 

I'm starting to play tennis with Bradley every Friday afternoon after school before we have dinner with my parents. Patrick got to join in because my Mom came to play with us too. So fun!

Bradley is a bit of a natural, I'm excited to get to do this with him as long as the nice weather holds up!

Nathan took Eleanor out for errands and a fancy food date on a weekend while I cuddled up with a sick Juliet on the couch. 

We watch Miyazaki movies whenever kids are sick. It's what we do. Usually it's Totoro but Juliet wanted a kitty so we watched Kiki's Delivery Service. They're such sweet movies and I love how much the kids like them. 

Nathan ran an errand down to our lake lot and Juliet was ecstatic to see our neighbors had walked over a cool swing for us to have. 

Meanwhile, I hosted a play date with Bradley and the pastor's son and Rawlins from across the street. And by hosted, I mean I told them to play outside and I cleaned the house while they played and ran out once to take this picture. They were flipping through Bradley's collection of Pokemon cards and talking about the various traits and abilities of all the Pokemon, it was incredibly cute. 

Eleanor had an evening Girl Scout event at the school so I brought a couple bonus children with me to play during the event. We were very excited to see hot air balloons going by!

Meanwhile, Eleanor was the only representative from her troop there and thoroughly enjoyed helping teach younger kids how to properly fold a flag. She keeps talking about it, this girl loves being an expert and teaching things. 

Meanwhile - Patrick never stopped moving and played Gaga Ball and basketball with a much older boy and got incredibly dirty. Am I surprised? This child has to take showers most nights these days. 

Fun Patrick story: he was riding bikes with Harper from our house to the nearby playground and back. I gave him a lecture about cautious biking on pedestrian paths which worked ... for the first two rounds. By the third round he had a need for speed and went as fast as he could and promptly wiped out. He got a few proper battle scars and managed to rip a hole in the middle of his new soccer jersey that he had decided to wear for fun that day. He could barely walk the next morning so I kept him home from school until about noon and he had a picnic lunch with Juliet. We carefully drove him in and I even sent him with a game he could play during recess. He came home and announced he had made a miraculous recovery and played Gaga Ball at recess. In flip flops. Sighhhhhhh. 

I'm a bit of a maniac about outside time for the kids, I'm aware of this. But how cute were the girls doing art together after school?

Eleanor had an overnight Girl Scout camp and had about the time of her life. 

It was crazy hot and the cabins did not have AC. I'm told it was still worth it. 

My friend Annie got this cute picture of her making s'mores. 

Juliet is 100% ruined for church preschool and I don't know what to do about it. Bradley is playing Among Us with her and he's dead in this photo. She's the imposter. 

Juliet, "I'm gonna mess you up!" Where did she even learn this??

Juliet will often shout out, "You're the worst!" and stick her tongue out at people who displease her. She also tells me on a regular basis that she only loves me when I have my hat off, which is bad business for the summer because I generally have a hat on. 

More Juliet quotes:

Nathan (at dinner): Did ... you just throw something on the floor?

Juliet: How did you see me?!

Patrick: You know what you're supposed to do!

Juliet: No I don't, I'm only a little kid, duh!

Juliet has recently become obsessed with My Little Ponies and Eleanor has been asking to learn how to sew. So I got some plain articles of clothing from Kohl's and Eleanor and Grandma made some fancy pony clothes for Juliet! She's beyond delighted and is wearing them on repeat. 

A pretty amazing job! Lucky girl!

And I'm not allowed at Patrick's soccer games anymore because at his first game he scored a goal in the two minutes of game time before I arrived with the rest of the gang and then when I left early to go get Eleanor from her Girl Scout sleepover he promptly scored two more goals. None while I was there. Of all things.