Activity Day Girls Camp: One of the first things I did this summer was volunteer at Activity Days Girls Camp for the Lynnwood Stake, a day camp for 8-to 11-year-old girls. I helped organize it somewhat and was on hand to help, but my job was not a glamorous one -- I worked in the nursery, which meant I watched the kids of the other moms who were actually doing things at the camp. So, some mom got to teach girls to sew and another mom taught girls to make pretzels, and I watched their babies so they could be kid free. I had the 0-2 age range and it was kinda tough. Babies and toddlers, including my own. We had a room full of pack-n-plays where we did nap time, we watched a Disney movie every afternoon for those that didn't sleep, we had snacks and LOTS of activities, crafts, storytime, music, etc. I did a huge schedule with a different activity every 15 minutes. Some days the weather was awesome and we spent way more time outside than planned, which great and meant I needed to entertain less :-) (Just to clarify, I ran the 0-2 tagalongs show, there was one adult volunteer with me, and sometimes up to 4 young women, like 13-year-olds helping, so I definitely wasn't alone! Plus we combined with the 3-5 class a lot, and that leader had lots of good stuff planned.)
At the end of the week, I was reflecting back on the exhaustion and chaos, and I was trying to decide if I had fun or not. I couldn't tell exactly. I was dead tired. I thought about this one girl in my group, her name was Cali. She wasn't supposed to be there actually, she was supposed to be on vacation with her family but the weekend before the camp she broke her leg. The vacation was canceled and the mom asked the Camp Director if she needed more help, and yes, we wanted her to volunteer. So I got Cali. Cali is so sweet, sweet as pie, oh I just loved having her in my group. I remember this one time we were playing "volleyball" with balloons. We were just hitting them around, and Cali was so sad she was struggling trying to get to the balloon with her broken leg. I was feeling brave and hoisted her up on my shoulders and walked around with her, so she could hit the balloon. I couldn't see her face, but I could hear her squeal with laughter and hear her clap. Others told me what a huge smile she had.
When I think about that, I realize that yes, I did have fun. It was fun being with those sweet little kids for three days.
Strawberry picking: June is strawberry season in Washington, and we made it up to Marysville to do some picking with a pregnant friend and her three girls. I want to say I picked like seven pounds? AWESOME. The best part of these u-pick places is it's all-u-can-eat while you're picking :-) Keeps the kids busy. I had to coach Laurel away from the moldy ones. Ewe. I froze a lot of them, made some freezer jam, and ate a whole bunch. Success!
Caspar Babypants at Silverlake: Every year we go see Caspar at Silverlake Park and every year it's awesome. This year was particularly fun since it was our friend Catie's birthday and she got to go on stage. Caspar is Chris Ballew, the lead singer of the Presidents of the United States of America, in his "alter ego" role as a children's music performer. It's loads of fun. We have a couple of their CDs and they are great to dance to. Our favorites: "Little Broken Truck," "Run Baby Run," "Googly Eyes," and others.
We finished the day by picnicking at the park, then playing in the sand and water. Note, this was Angela's STRIKE ONE, for having the children go into a nice warm body of water and forgetting swimsuits. Luckily I always carry a change of clothes with me for the kids. They were completely soaked. It was a beautiful day.
Picnic at the Temple: We try to do this every year. I love taking my kiddos to the temple, even just to be there and feel it. This year, at one point we were walking around and I asked Wesley what he thought, and he said his heart felt warm. Isn't that cute? I wish I could remember the whole conversation clearly. I was touched.
Swim Lessons: I got the kids registered for swim lessons at Forest Park this year. The stars aligned and I got into two sessions in the same 30-minute time slot, one where I went into the pool with Laurel (Tiny Tots) and one where Wesley was on his own (Minnows). Something happened on Day 3 of the 10-day lessons wherein Wesley completely freaked and from that moment forward refused to get in the water. Yes, for 7 days of the 10-day lessons he sat on the side of the pool, feigning fear, acting like a baby, whining uncontrollably, and being unreasonably obnoxious. Sigh. In the end, I'm thinking he did it for control, power? I wanted him to get in the water and he wanted to show me who was boss? Who knows. All I know is it was kinda annoying, and now I can't decide if I should give him more lessons so he can be accustomed to the water and be safe (and possibly waste more money), or give up until he matures more. I'm thinking the latter.
Anyway, Forest Park, in addition to its swim center, also has an awesome park, splashpad, and petting zoo, which we got to visit each time we had lessons. Well, we mostly played at the park. We did the petting zoo once.
Mukilteo Lighthouse Park Cub Scouts Pack Meeting: Every year the Cub Scouts in the wards in our building do a s'mores night at the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park -- one of our favorite parks. Wesley calls it the "trains, airplanes, and ferry boats park," since we can see all three when we go :-) I should tell him the park has an actual name.
Anyway, I volunteered to help reserve a fire pit, so my friend Traci went at 2 PM and got a pit, I relieved her at 4 PM with my kids in tow, and the Pack Meeting actually started at 6 PM. There was playing in the sand, hot dogs, lots of chatter and laughter, and yes, marshmallows as big as my Laurel's head. We stayed until probably 8:30 PM. The kids weren't even cranky and it was the best summer night.
Jetty Island: Jetty Island is wonderful. It always is. I managed to swing it so TWO groups of my friends went on the same day. I felt like my various worlds were colliding. It was good fun. The day started out kind of chill but then warmed up. We stayed for hours and had a wonderful time. I did remember swimsuits. Unfortunately, my Mom Fail was forgetting to put sunblock on Wesley! We were out there for HOURS and he had no sunblock on his face. He got totally red, but it wasn't that bad. He didn't complain at all in the next few days. I got lucky. We were waiting in line for the ferry (you take a ferry over to the man-made island), and I got Laurel all covered, and I did Wesley's legs I think before the line started moving and we had to go. I totally spaced doing his face! Shane was seriously mad at me. It was an honest mistake and I don't think it'll happen again. We've asked Wesley to be more of an active participant in his skin care. Hopefully that'll help.
Jetty Island is wonderful because it's shallow and beachy as far as the eye can see...
Little pocket puddles are great for splashing and playing. On this day, mark the calendar, Laurel JUMPED for the first time. Both feet off the ground and landing solidly. It was so cool. She's such a sweet big girl.
Greenlake: At least once I wanted to make it to Greenlake! Greenlake is a big lake in Seattle with the best running trail around it. It's almost 3 miles so it's perfect for a leisurely run. I met my friend Vicki there on a Wednesday for one of our half marathon training runs, pushing the heavy kids in the strollers. Afterwards, we spent a short time at the playground and a LOT of time cooling off at the wading pool. STRIKE TWO for Angela not bringing swimsuits. What is WITH ME? The kids got soaked. I bring extra clothes, yes, but I always feel so terrible about Laurel in her soggy diaper and Wesley in his regular clothes wet as a fish. Sigh. Anyway, they had a blast. I did, too. It's a great little wading pool and soaking my feet felt so good after my run. (I will leave it up to you to determine what that says about the quality of the water, but we didn't drink it. We just walked around in it.)
On another trip, we got to see them feed the HUGE awesome Madagascar orb weaver spider, the one they have there in Bug World without glass. He's huge. I feel like I'm possibly over my fear of spiders. We got to see the baby giraffe -- so dang cute -- and the gorillas up close. Laurel actually freaked out when one walked toward us. I'm astounded at how close to humans they actually look.
We went with a huge group of friends. There were a handful of us in the morning, and we tried to stay together, then by lunch time (maybe 11 AM), there were like eight of us with our kids there. Which is actually a BAD thing. Too many people coming, going, etc. Luckily, we had seen enough and us and one other family went off to the Zoomazium (children's play area) and called it a day.
Of course our favorites are the penguins, flamingos, and the Willawong station where you get to feed birds on the popsicle sticks. We love the zoo. I will not go into detail about the time Wesley got stuck in the treehouse in Zoomazium and screamed for a good 10 minutes for me to come get him. I really wanted him to problem-solve, but another mom finally couldn't take it anymore and went in there to fetch him. Sigh. Another Mom Fail.
Evergreen State Fair: We don't always go to the fair (missed it last year), but I LOVE the fair so I tried to squeeze it in this year. I love seeing the award-winning zucchinis, cakes, and photography... LOVE the photography. The kids like the animals, and let's face it, who doesn't love a HUGE BLOCK OF FRIES and other assorted fair food? This year we went with Connor and his mom, and we ran into Zander our cool friend who lives up in Monroe now. It was fun. The best part? I got a Vitamix! Spontaneous buy. I'm crazy. But Shane has wanted a wheat grinder for awhile and we have done research and budgeted for one, and ta-dah, a Vitamix really wasn't that much more -- and it grinds wheat! So voila! Smoothies and wheat flour at my house! Come by anytime!
These are goats in costume. So cool.
The kids got to sit on tractors. Don't worry everyone has sunblock on.
We had a nice loooong day there. Between buying the Vitamix, seeing baby pigs (literally some born just that morning!), seeing a sheep poop right in front of me, watching a crazy video on a cow giving birth, buying fair food for all the various eating preferences in my family, talking to the master gardeners, etc., I was absolutely exhausted by the time we left. We didn't even ride any rides.
Lake Goodwin: A friend of mine lives near Lake Goodwin, a man-made lake up north near Smokey Point, and another friend has a family "cabin" she frequents on the lake. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit them both. The lake was warm and wonderful and of course, I forgot swimsuits. This is Angela's STRIKE THREE (!!!) for forgetting swimsuits. Kids were soaked and I actually had to bum clothes off my friends after the extra clothes I always carry with me ALSO got wet. Sigh.
We got to go on my friend's family's boat, which the kids loved too. They had cute little kiddo lifejackets. Laurel held on to me for dear life with her cute little hands. It was totally fun.
Mukilteo Library Carnival: This was lots of fun and free. The library had a free small-ish carnival for the kids, with a little train ride, a craft, stickers, and a bouncy house, the latter being the highlight in that my kids went on it TWICE. I wasn't sure how Laurel would do so I went on it with her the first time, then I was confident she'd be OK and she went just with Wesley and other kids the second time. When it was time to get out she wouldn't come and I had to go get her. Stinker. Too much fun. I love little community things.
Jump Planet and Dumptruck Picnic Lunch: Jump Planet, this awesome indoor bouncy house place, closed at the end of August for good. We were all heartbroken when we heard the news. We went one last time with some friends (and saw some other friends by coincidence), but my favorite part was the picnic lunch I planned afterwards. There is a HUGE construction project going on nearby, and across the street from the project is this church with a grassy field and big trees. Picturesque, I tell you. We and our friends did a picnic in the field and watched the construction equipment! There were diggers and bulldozers and dump trucks and water trucks and on and on. There was a lot of action in the hour we were there. So cool. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Howard Amon Wading Pool and the TriCities: In August, my nephew Brett arranged to come see his grandparents (my in-laws) in the TriCities, and we didn't want to miss a chance to see Brett. He's um, brilliant and handsome and so cool. He works for SpaceX, run by the guy who invented Tesla. So yes, genius. We wanted some good fun while we were there, so we got to see Aunt Nicole's cool new house with the killer view and we decided to go to the wading pool. It was a perfect day. The kids loved jumping and splashing and having fun.
It's a wading pool. I'm sitting down in this picture!
My mother-in-law gets all these awesome pictures with her fancy camera and I need to copy more of them from her memory card. I know there are zillions more than this. We really had a blast. Visiting Grandma is always a treat!
Great Play Camp: I signed Wesley up for a sports-like team camp. I don't know what they do exactly. He didn't tell me much. But there's this place called Great Play, and a friend recommended it to me actually, she said it would be good for Wesley. They work together in teams and build confidence in their abilities. They like, run around and play games and jump on trampolines and more. Kinda like a cross between gymnastics and sports and storytime maybe? All I know is it was a three-hour drop-off camp and he went five times :-) I think he had fun. It was quite the drive to go to Redmond, but I am glad we did it. I wanted to give him a chance to be social, work on his confidence and skills, and thrive without me. That's what kindergarten is, right?
Space Needle: Our last hurrah for summer was a trip to the Space Needle. Wesley's been begging to go. We went the Tuesday after Labor Day, the day before school started. Unluckily for us they were cleaning up from a big music festival and the place was semi-shut down, plus there was some rain, but luckily for us we got to see the Space Needle and have our picnic lunch and be together. (I'd like to go on record saying that there is a huge International Fountain and although it was semi chilly, semi raining, and in fact the fountain was shut down for cleaning, I DID BRING SWIMSUITS because hey, I had three strikes against me which meant I now needed to carry swimsuits at all times. Of course we didn't use them.)
I told Wesley he could pick out any keychain in the whole gift shop and we'd put it on his backpack for kindergarten. He happened to pick out the cheapest one we found, a total shock, but he's in love and happy. We also bought Space Noodles (pasta! hahaha!), a chocolate Space Needle, a little resin Space Needle figurine (which did not survive the afternoon), stickers for Laurel, etc. I went on eBay later and have scored my first Christmas gift, a 2-inch metal Space Needle for Santa to bring. It's awesome. It was wonderful to make my boy happy. He loves living here.
And with that, summer came to a close. It was an awesome one, and now we do the Fall thing. Some people are excited, and yes I like Halloween costumes and caramel apples and butternut squash, but I love summer more. I'll miss it. Until next year!
