This might have been a mistake to save all of our summer tidbit pictures until the end of summer. There are more little stories that I was prepared to write about in one post. However, having them here as a glimpse into summer moments is better than not at all. So here we go!
Pools days! Naturally the kids always wanted more. It was a tough year for me to get the kids to pool very often because I still have two non-swimmers. Kelton will tell you he can swim. Well, he's close, but there's no way I can turn my back on him yet. Daxton is pretty content to sit and float, but he doesn't like cold water or bugs floating around him so he never floated long. One day we were lucky enough to use the passes the kids earned from the summer reading program to go to the Bay. It was called short by thunderstorms, but what can you expect from Colorado?
She looks like an Indian princess!
Park days! We spent a lot of time at a lot of different parks.
McKenzie also had a chance to babysit her first real hedgehog! She was over the moon excited by the opportunity to watch Luna. The first time she went over to the neighbor's house to check on her a couple of times and as I went over to supervise my heart melted a bit at the huge smile on her face every time she was over there. The second time she was able to watch Luna it was at our house. For a whole week and a half we had a houseguest that the kids could not get enough of! Every one of them wanted McKenzie to get Luna out so she could play. Even I liked watching her run around snuffling.
The girls got braces this summer. They were both excited, yet not excited at the same time. At least they can be in pain together. Both girls are hoping this round won't last too long.
I had a couple amazing training rides for Nice. I've had to ride up Flagstaff once a week and still can't get enough of the mountain air, the smell of the pines, the deer crossing the road, or the views both up and down. It has been incredibly tough yet rewarding.
The mailboxes are the signal that I have reached the summit of the climb of death.
One morning after Boulder though, my bike was in the shop so I pulled out Jeremy's mountain bike for a little different kind of ride on dirt!
We took a trip to Utah, which was mostly posted about. But I found a few straggler pictures from the trip. Pictures like this one taken at Little American on our drive.
And this of an amazing aunt playing with her niece.
Cambrie had girls' camp this year. I wish I had a plethora of pictures to record her experiences, but alas I have just one I snapped before they loaded up in the cars to head out. She had an amazing couple of days, but I gathered that a couple days later. The day she came home she told me that she had pulled her first all-nighter with a couple of the girls. She looked completely beat and was a zombie for at least a day. I eventually pulled some stories out of her, like the fact that she loved doing the secret sister stuff, she liked the activities, and that no one warned her that everyone cried at testimony meeting the final night.
Mostly though, our summer had a lot of fabulous moments at home. After running over Daxton's pedal bike we had to get him a new one. He loves his fire engine red bike and has finally learned the concept of pedaling. He really likes riding in circles out in the courtyard. Many afternoons I would look out to see that the kids had chalked up entire communities on the cement: firestation, police station, bakery, school, and roads. I love watching them play out there.
Now the stories get shorter and more snapshot captures of life. Cambrie is in a succulent phase and has almost 15 different succulent plants. One day as she was preparing her room for a visit from Nana and Papa, she turned her planter into a jurassic scene. I love how she impaled Reese's peanut butter cups on the spiky parts of the dinosaurs.
There's a little library near the preschool and pool now. One afternoon as we were waiting for the pool to open, we hung out in the shade reading the books and simply having a very relaxing time.
The boys climbed into their stuffed animal basket one night planning on sleeping there. The next morning Kelton told me it was way too squishy and he had to move to his bed to fall asleep. Why am I not surprised?
Popsicles! Holy cow, Daxton is obsessed with popsicles! While I generally like them the kids know they have to eat them outside. I occasionally find popsicle sticks or Otterpop wrappers in the grass, but I can deal with that-mostly. But Daxton has been a little more lax as the summer has gone on. One night he left an entire box of grape popsicles on the front steps. No matter how hard I've scrubbed, there is still a perfect rectangle stain on the cement. Another morning I awoke to see a perfectly melted popsicle on the banister by the front door. You know, it almost looks like a sunset.
Silly boys wrapping up like burritos.
McKenzie's gymnastics team is more competitive that before, and that means...slicked back helmet head buns. She was so excited to see herself as a "real gymnast" with "real gymnast hair," that she practiced her routine on the hard wooden floor until it was time to go to practice.
My kids can get crazy creative. One afternoon they turned a box into a spaceship. Since there was only room for one astronaut at a time, the other became mission control.
I was a little surprised one day to find our upstairs being invaded by little critters crawling down the walls.
Kelton really wanted to make money, so one night he set up a plum stand to sell plums for $.05 each. It was an incredibly hot evening and no one was out walking, but he still managed to sell about eight plums (to family and neighbors) and was very proud of himself.
One day McKenzie was set on making a house of cards. It took her all morning but she finally made three stories.
Daxton has been loving the lazy mornings where he doesn't have to get dressed at all during the day.
Cambrie has been loving her new roller blades. Luckily Sabrina also has a pair so the two of them cruise through the neighborhood and make the occasional stop down at King Soopers for succulents and candy.
Sometimes when I worry that Cambrie is growing up too fast, she goes and does something like this: As she jumped out of the car at a friend's house, she put her frog sitting on my hand to keep me company. Silly girl.
