2016 :: week 32

August 7

Don't let that cute face fool you. This kid is regularly making church difficult for me. It isn't so much that he is trying to cause problems, he is just loud and always on the move. Sacrament meeting is a wrestling match. He likes to climb and explore, but isn't careful and will fall right off the pew, get stuck under the pew, or hit his head on the bench or Hymn book holders. It is cute when he notices Anthony and yells to get his attention, but it is very loud. Sunday School is a bit better because he can move around more, but his volume is still a problem and I often have to take him out. Six months until nursery, not that I'm counting down. ;)

August 8

Elliott is pulling himself up all the time. When I took the trash out Monday afternoon he crawled over to the door and waited for me to come back. He hasn't quite figured out that balancing on the door is problematic for me as I don't want to knock him over to get in the house.

August 9

I can hardly believe how much our garden grew (and flourished) while we were in Boston. The cucumber vines in particular are out of control. I had to spend some time weeding and redirecting some of the vines away from the tomato plants Tuesday afternoon.

August 10

My Facebook feed was full of friends visiting the new Roe Park Spray Ground while we were in Boston, so visiting it was high on my list when we returned. Wednesday seemed like a good day to go as it was nice and hot. Still, I was surprised at how crowded it was. We went right after lunch and there were still a fair amount of people there, including one fairly large daycare group. The park has some nice play structures adjacent to the water fixtures which the kids liked just as much as the water.

August 11

I wanted to do something fun for Elliott's birthday. It was too hot for a park trip, so I looked into indoor activity options. I decided to take the kids to Crown Center to visit the "Mr. Potato Head" playroom exhibit, something I had wanted to do check out all summer. It was better than I expected. Will and Lauren spent a lot of time in the mining area. Elliott liked the box of objects that floated when the fan was turned on.

August 12

Friday was Will's first day of first grade! A half day on a Friday seems so silly to me, but the half day at the end of the week was a nice way to ease back into the school schedule. It rained a bit in the night, but cleared up enough in time to walk to school. Will knows a few of the kids in his class this year, but most of his best buddies were assigned to different classrooms. He is excited to make new friends. When I asked Will if he had a great day afterwards he answered, "of course!" I love his excitement for learning and zest for life.

August 13

We set aside Saturday afternoon to be "Family Fun Time." Anthony went to the temple with a young man in our ward in the morning and was preparing to leave town for the next six days, and we wanted to squeeze in as much togetherness as possible before he did. He hasn't been with us to the KC Zoo since November and there were several new things at the zoo the kids wanted to show off. We rode the sky safari, saw the koalas, and visited the Tropics for the first time in several visits.

2016 :: week 30

July 17

No matter how much room we have on our pew, the kids and I usually squeeze together in a fairly small space. Will had really gotten into singing lately. He's pretty good at carrying a tune, and now that he can read he really belts it out. It makes me smile. He's a sweet boy.

July 18

Our garden is growing! There are several (green) tomatoes on the vine and we are now starting to see cucumbers and zucchini too. I am more excited about this than I should be.

July 19

We visited the farmstead during their extended hours Tuesday evening. It has been very hot and I thought we might enjoy ourselves more if we went later in the evening. It was cooler, but 97 degrees doesn't really feel "cool." It was pretty deserted, which was nice as we were able to wander around and explore without dealing with any crowds. Lauren has decided she isn't scared of feeding the goats this year, which is fun. She was very curious what the goats horns and beards felt like, and the white goat in this picture eventually obliged.

July 20

Will has started to seem a lot older lately. He has gotten very confident in the water this summer and usually keeps himself very busy when we are at the pool. He started to drive me a little crazy when he climbed up my back while I was holding Elliott and trying to help Lauren tread water. I love the lines he gets on his face from wearing his goggles.

July 21

It was so hot we went to the pool every six days this week. Will's classmate Delany and her little sister Caydee were there most days too. The two sets of siblings really enjoyed swimming together as their skill sets and interests matched up well. Delany and Will did a lot of jumping off the diving boards while Lauren and Caydee retrieved pool toys together. During the adult swim I let the kids buy a freezee pop (which I did about once a week this summer) and they enjoyed sitting at the table with their friends. They are getting very independent, going to the snack counter to buy their treats by themselves and wanting to sit without a parent, but are totally fine asking me for a quarter every single day.

July 22

Friday evening we saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Theatre in the Park. I wanted to take the kids to a play at TiTP this summer was so excited when I saw that this play was on their lineup. The kids have enjoyed listening the Joseph soundtrack ever since I bought it after Anthony and saw a production at Starlight back in 2014. It was a super hot night, but we had lots of water and a few battery-operated fans. We sat with the Chases who graciously saved us a spot and then shared their snacks with us.

July 23

Our Stake rented Splash Cove Saturday evening and we went and had a great time. Before swimming there was a potluck dinner, with the stake providing sandwiches and drinks and members bringing sides and desserts. For some unknown reason, Lauren had a meltdown while we were getting our food. She was clearly tired, as she had fallen alseep on the way there, but it put me in a bad mood. Anthony took her to the car to cool down, but made it back in time to swim. Will loved the tall slide and spent most of the night waiting in line to ride it. Anthony and I each went down it with him once. Elliott loved waving at Will and his parents while they waited in line. Lauren wandered all over the place swimming with various friends. Anthony got to participate in a hula-hoop contest with other leaders in the stake. He did not win, but the kids were proud. I did my best to keep track of the kids and fit in some visiting too. It was fun seeing friends from other wards. As far as I know, this is the first time our stake has ever done something like this. It was fun and I'd be happy if they did it again.

2016 :: week 31

July 24

We got a good deal on some nail polish and I let Lauren pick out a few colors. She chose red and blue so she could have "USA" nails like she did when Aunt Laura painted them on the 4th of July. I painted her before church Sunday morning and she was very pleased with the results.

July 25

The public affairs committee in our area organized a "Mormon Night" at the Royals game Monday night. They bought a block of tickets and we were lucky enough to be right next to our friends the Cooks. There was a pre-game tailgate and games, Andy Reid (KC Chiefs head coach and Mormon) and his wife threw out the first pitch, and Alex Boye sang the national anthem. We had a great time! The Royals had a very bad first inning, but made a few come-back attempts that got the crowd going. I love watching Will get excited at baseball games. He is so genuine in his excitement it's infectious. We left the game after the 6th inning to make final preparations for our flight to Boston the next morning.

July 26

Tuesday morning we flew to Boston! We had a direct flight and no real problems on the plane, unless you count wrestling Elliott for the entire duration. Like his brother and sister before him he does not nap well out of his bed. Even though he was a nuisance in the air, he was pretty sweet when we got to Nana and Papa's house. He took to them right away and made himself at home in the new room (or Papa's office as Lauren called it) while we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

July 27

Tina watched our kids for us while Anthony I spent a day and a half on the Cape. Wednesday morning we took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard and spent the day exploring the shops and riding bicycles along the coast. Ten years ago we spent a few rainy days here on our honeymoon and I thought it would be fun to come back again. We had such a fun time together.

July 28

As soon as we returned from the Cape we got back in the car and headed up to Maine for dinner on the Marginal Way. Ogunquit, Maine, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We spent about an hour on the beach, ate dinner at the Oarweed Restaurant, then walked along the Marginal Way until the kids were too tired to behave. The Marginal Way is a paved trail along the rocky shoreline and it is so magnificent. It rained while we were eating dinner, but it quickly passed and the kids (especially Will) loved climbing on the rocks and exploring the coast.

July 29

Carly and her three girls arrived in Boston on Wednesday while Anthony and I were in Hyannis. We took the kids the Boston Children's Museum Friday morning. We've visited this museum before and the kids were really looking forward to going again. Armed with snacks, we were able to stay for about three hours. Elliott and Millie were even able to really enjoy themselves.

July 30

Sadie turned 7 Friday, and Nana arranged for us to go to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate. It was fun watching each kid and what attractions they were drawn too. The older kids liked games where you could compete and earn tickets. This picture makes me smile because it really captures their interaction. They both really wanted to win. Will is intently focusing on his target and Sadie is checking to see how Will's doing and if he will be able to catch up (she was much better at this game than he was, Will did a bit better on skee-ball). Lauren and Elise went back and forth, sometimes playing games, sometimes riding rides and sometimes playing in the playground. Elliott and Millie liked the rides and also wandering around with an adult at their side.

2016 :: week 32

July 31

Sunday evening we took a walk to Burbank Elementary School, where all six John kids went to school. Elliott mastered climbing up the stairs while we were there. When he reached the top we helped him go down the slide by himself for the first time too (on his belly). He loved it! I could listen to Elliott's joyful, happy laugh all day long.

August 1

Monday was a busy day. In the morning we drove down to Providence and visited the  Roger Williams Park Zoo. That evening we went to Castle Island Park (located in South Boston on the shore of Boston Harbor). We wadded in the water and the kids played in the sand. Then we ate dinner and walked around the fort. It was a perfectly pleasant evening. I often forget that Anthony grew up close to the ocean, and I was fascinated by water, ships and picturesque vistas.

August 2

Tuesday was our last full day in Boston. We said goodbye to Anthony and he flew to Kentucky for work. Carly and I took the four older kids to the Boston Science Museum while Tina and Doug watched Millie and Elliott. Without the little kids we were able to last over three hours! There are so many cool things to do in the museum, our favorites included the light house (above), electric show, running in the park, and creating pictures with magnetic beads. At Carly's suggestion, we bought AMSE family passes for $40. Our memberships got us in to this museum as well as the Children's Museum on Friday for free. Without it the cost of the Science Museum alone would have been $65 for me and my two kids! If you are going to do any traveling and are interested in visiting a facility on this list, you should get one.

August 3

We did a lot on this trip! Wednesday morning before we flew out we went into Boston to visit the Boston Public Garden and also the Common. We stopped and took some cousin pictures at the Make Way for Ducklings statues, rode the Swan Boats, then walked over the Frog Pond and water fixtures at the Tadpole Playground. We flew home that afternoon and our flight was rather uneventful until I didn't have gum during landing and Lauren got very upset with me.

August 4

Our first morning back was pretty quiet. I put the kids to bed at 7:30pm the night before (8:30pm Boston time), and told them they couldn't get out of bed until 8am. They both slept in until almost 8:30am! I tidied up from the trip, did laundry, sorted mail and paid bills while the kids played quietly. I caught Will helping Lauren with a 'hidden picture" puzzle in the Friend magazine. I love it when my kids get along well, are patient with each other and help each other out.

August 5

We harvested the first two tomatoes from our garden! We planted our garden a bit late (early June), so we've been anxiously waiting for our vegetables to ripen. Anthony grilled some burgers to perfection for dinner, and the juicy tomatoes were the perfect addition.

August 6

Our neighborhood pool closes this weekend. I'm always so sad when it does. This pool is holds so many happy memories for me. We spend a lot of time here every summer, and this summer has been especially fun. We see friends most every time we come and the kids have gotten to be such great swimmers. Thanks for a great 2016 pool season, Bluejacket!