Summer 2017

I can't quite explain it - these past two months have felt fairly normal, but for some reason I cannot get on top of things!  I keep waiting for life to slow down a bit, but we keep plowing on - full speed ahead!  The to-do list is never-ending, the days aren't long enough (neither are the nights, for that matter) and it never fails that someone always needs their mama...  It's been a great summer, but I am beat.  

We started off the month of June finishing up kindergarten.  One of Bruce's friends came over a couple of times a week and they worked on end-of-the-year review stuff together.  In some ways, having another "student" made the work a little easier for Bruce, but it brought along other challenges as well.  Overall though, I think everyone had fun and I'll consider it a success!  

we visited a camel farm!

playing minute-to-win-it at the homeschool group's end of year party

it had rained earlier that day... needless to say, this fella found every mud hole in the park...

We had some friends come and stay with us for a few days!  It's been really fun because this was the fourth time we've gotten to spend some time with the Godderz crew this year, so our kids are actually getting to "know" and enjoy each other!  They're PCS-ing to Huntsville, Alabama this summer - so I see some trips that direction in our future...

matching jammies with his bud Noah

the whole crew!

Early June had pretty reasonable temperatures - so we played outdoors a lot, and had the beginnings of a great garden!  Now, it's so hot that it's hard to force ourselves outside, until after dinner - and I have no energy to work the garden... there's still a lot growing, but it's ugly and weed-ridden and with Charlie being gone most of the summer for work trips, I haven't been cooking legitimate dinners and have neglected to use a lot of the fresh veggies... at least the bugs and birds are eating well this summer!

Halfway through the month, we headed to Texas for a vacation and a bit of a family reunion.  We rented an airbnb in San Antonio for a few days, making time to remember the Alamo and enjoy Fiesta Texas, among other things.  My mom and Rick, along with my brother, Leah and their girls all were able to join the fun!  We also spent a few days at my mom and Rick's house in Horseshoe Bay before coming back home. 

having a quick lunch at the Riverwalk mall

waiting for the riverwalk boat cruise... this is his new go-to picture face...

Abbs fell asleep on the boat - and wouldn't wake up even for ice cream!  I couldn't just let it melt... so... 

Bruce thoroughly enjoyed this gloriously vibrant cone.  I have no idea what flavor this is...

cousins crafting at the airbnb

secret cousin time

we were really hoping to catch some shows at Fiesta Texas, but learned on arrival that they only do evening shows on Tuesdays... oh well - there was plenty else to do!

this airplane ride - I think we rode it at least ten times.  Literally.

gratuitous screaming on kid's rides make them much more enjoyable!

Bruce and Charlie on round two of the log ride - one of the highlights of the day for sure!

Courtney braved the big swings with me!  More screaming!

a family that smashes together stays together

Leah really enjoying this impending crash, haha!

Ferris Wheel!

I hate this ride I hate this ride I hate this ride

Bruce really loved the Scooby Doo ride!

And to close out the day, we rode the carousel.  No less than five times.  

Abbs took this pic of us at the Chick-fil-a on the way back to my mom's place.  Thankful for sloppy kid photos - the only way we're ever together in one!

We hit up the Science Mill in Johnson City on the way back to Horseshoe Bay - so fun!

magnetic electric circuits!

robots!

K'nex cars!

Galapagos Tortoises! 

Giant Newton's Cradle

We had a good time playing around my mom and Rick's place while Charlie tiled the kitchen backsplash for them - and we ended our vacation with a trip to the pool!

playing with their new puppy Muffin

Papa's a good building buddy

visiting the macaws

do we look hot?  it was hot.

saying goodbye (old family friends the Bishops came for breakfast before we left - wahoo!)

we spent all week trying to find perfect souvenirs from our vacation...  we settled on scorpions found on Papa and Grandma's front porch...

The following week Charlie's parents had plans to be out of town and asked the kids and I to come take care of their animals for them while they were gone.  We happily obliged!  Thanks to the Summer Reading Program, we spent a lot of our time at the Ponca City library watching magicians and movies.  It was hard explaining to Abby why we couldn't check out any books, but she didn't give me too hard of a time, haha.  Over a period of days, we managed to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and a few others!  

they're still getting a lot of furniture delivered - box forts for days!

Bruce making markers

watching the Muppet Movie at the library... It was fun, but we didn't last long.  

the library hosted a Lego build time

there's a super fun park just down the rode from K's house!

That Saturday we met Charlie at a Lego Club meeting in OKC and he joined us for the rest of the weekend in Ponca City.  We almost didn't go because it was an hour and a half drive from Ponca City (compared to our usual 30 minutes from our house) but I'm so glad we did because Taylor - our favorite "Brick Specialist" said it was her last meeting!  We're sad to see Taylor go, but are so thankful for the way she has loved Bruce and Abby the past year and a half!  It's crazy to think we got so attached to a store employee - but we did - no shame.  

I had made the point to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to them this week because the day after we got home, our library was having a big "Alice" celebration!  We made sure to make costumes before we got back - Bruce and Abby both wanted to be the Cheshire Cat - no surprise, and I went as one of the Queen's croquet flamingoes.  We had a lot of fun!

Leading into our first week of the new school year, we made a trip to the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma!  We had planned to go camping here with our homeschool group last spring, but were rained out.  Since this park is on the list of state parks that are closing this year due to budget cuts - we wanted to make sure to visit ASAP!  Who knows what will happen when the park loses its funding, hopefully some entity will step in to ensure crystal digging adventures for years to come!  We didn't want to take any chances though, and it was a great intro to our unit study on Oceans!  

the potholes are dig sites - they rotate sections of the plains to make sure the crystals have enough time to form before people come and dig them up!  

Charlie dug us out a bathtub sized hole, only to realize there were no crystals there.   The kids had fun playing in the quicksand-like mud, but after an hour or so, we met up with some rock hounds who showed us where and how to find the crystals!

I have to say, I think this was my favorite family adventure so far.  We've experienced some pretty amazing things together - but my role has always been mom-first, participant-second.  This was the first time where I think I genuinely had just as much fun as the kids!  

some of the varieties of crystals we found

these hour-glass ones are what the Great Salt Plains are known for

We drove over to Charlie's folks' house after a few hours of digging to spend the night before heading back home.  Some of our friends met up with us there, and camped in the campgrounds across the street from the house.  

we had a burn pile and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows!

the next morning we walked the docks, hunted for crawdads, and played at the park

Charlie closed out the weekend with an impromptu trip to Missouri with his dad to buy a sawmill.   Yep.  That happened.

Mid-July, Charlie's brother Frank and his family came up for a visit!  We spent another week at Bill and Yvonne's place - but this week was much... louder, haha.  We all had a great time I think, and I'm pretty sure the cousins didn't stop squealing with laughter for the first two hours we were there...  

we found a tiny frog!

We hung out at the house a lot and went to the lake one afternoon.  Another day we all drove to OKC to see the zoo and the Science Museum.  We had intended on attending a free build at the Lego store that day also, but found out a few days beforehand that the store was closed because the mall had flooded!  I feel sorry for the store, but selfishly I was so disappointed!!!  We really wanted to share that with them.  (Nearly a month later, the store is still closed for repairs!)  We made sure to make time for a quick trip to the wheat farm in Kansas, too.  Frank's birthday fell during the week they were visiting, so we planned a party to celebrate!  Charlie had to work most of the week, but joined us the last day for a little bit of the fun.  I'm so happy that our kids got to spend time with cousins on both sides of the family this summer - they had such a good time with them all, I wish we lived closer together!

I think this was the only time all four of them sat still, together, all week!

Bluff creek was low enough that we actually got to wade down stream!

our semi-successful attempt at a cousins picture...

we ate out at the Mexican restaurant at the airport to celebrate Frank, and our last night together

Bruce started First Grade the last part of July!  After taking three weeks off, we jumped into a new school year!  If we weren't home schooling,  Abby wouldn't be old enough to qualify for preK this year (with birthdays one month apart, Bruce and Abby straddle the cut-off date - he's the youngest in the grade, she'll be the oldest) so I'm not forcing her to participate in school yet.  She goes back and forth still on whether or not she wants to "do preK" this year, and there's no reason really to push the issue in my opinion.  It seems like she's interested in counting and learning some letters, so I plan to just take her lead and go with it.  For Bruce, one of the state guidelines for first grade social studies is to learn about different communities, as well as identify the continents and oceans.  We're taking that seemingly small content standard and turning it into a year-long theme for us!  Each month we plan to study a different continent or region, and have planned out a lot of fun ways to incorporate our global community into our lessons.  I'm excited.  I think Bruce is too.     

obligatory first day of school picture - Bruce's friend is joining us for the summer, but will head back to public school in August

One of our on-going projects is that we read the book Flat Stanley and have made our own "Flat Bruce" and "Flat Abby" characters that will go on adventures to all of the continents this year.  For our Ocean Unit, we shipped Abby off to a friend stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - and Bruce linked up with a school in Perth, Australia.  They sent us one of their Flat Stanley characters, and we've been having fun showing him around our neck of the world.  I've made a facebook page called "Bruce and Abby See the World!" - you can look it up and follow them on all of their adventures!

Bruce has been super interested in jellyfish lately, so we made some!

we also started a Lego Robot club!  Bruce and three friends will meet one afternoon every week to learn the beginning basics of coding using Legos!

For field trips this month, in addition to visiting the salt plains, we also spent a day at Lake Thunderbird - the closest "beach" around - and took a tour of Wet Pets, a hobby aquarium store in town.  

 

We've had a lot of fun participating in the Summer Reading Program through the library this year!  We had the opportunity to be a part of so many different presentations and performances, and they wrapped up the summer with a hot dog party and book give-away!  I love our library.    

NASA came and did a fantastic show for us!!!

Miss Maureen had several special "campfire" story times!  

Bob made several appearances as well!  

Bruce's tower at the finale!

We got zoo season passes for Christmas this year, and we've been putting them to good use this summer!  It's nice to just show up for an hour or two, and not feel obligated to see everything.  Sometimes we hardly see any of the animals at all and just play in the splash area!

racing leaf boats down the "stream"

the herpetarium has been a favorite place this summer!

the lorikeets on the other hand, have been super grouchy all summer!  Maybe it's just too hot... I can't blame them

 

Other big changes for us this month have been that both kids graduated to the next level of beds:  Abby is now in a toddler bed and no longer in the crib, and Bruce is sleeping in a loft bunk bed now.  It's been an adjustment for everybody, but I think it's been good.  Also, Bruce and Abby saved up all of their money all summer long, and bought... parakeets!  I know, just what we needed.  But they've been fun, and so far the cats haven't been too naughty...

 

Bruce's is the blue one named Bluebonnet, and Abby's is the yellow one named Banana

I can't say enough how hard it is to believe that Bruce is such a big boy now.  Sometimes I'll catch myself looking at him, thinking, man - he's really growing up!  He's using power tools, starting to read, swinging in a swing himself, taking showers on his own, you name it - this is really happening.  It's been exciting to watch him start to interact with his world, and the things he's learning, in a more sophisticated way.  

Bruce is all about his scooter these days!  It's been great for building his coordination, too!

I'm not exactly sure anymore what this is.  It involves a hot-glued crayon into a hole he drilled into a piece of wood, with some repurposed LED light strands thrown in for fun...  

A penguin Bruce cut out, nailed together and then painted all by himself!

one man's trash, another man's treasure

Abby, wowza.  I was reminded recently that when I was pregnant with Abby, during church one Sunday a friend of ours said that when praying for Abby God gave her the word "mighty" to describe who she would be.  Abby has been a wonderful addition and gift to our family, but she has been incredibly challenging as well.  It's been helpful to try and think of Abby with a God-given "mighty-ness" frame of mind.  I pulled an according to Webster's and laughed when I read, "possessing great and impressive power or strength, especially on account of size; fearsome, ferocious, tough, robust, dominant, influential, strong, powerful" - that's my Abby.  She's a mess of mighty these days, but I'm doing my best to help her know how to rein in her ferocity, because as hard as it is, if this is what the early days of a girl destined for powerful influence looks like, I'll take it.  And I'm happy to help.  And in between displays of impressive, robust dominance - she's pretty great.  She's always playing one character or another in "movies" she's created, is an incredibly detailed storyteller, loves painting, and can't get enough when it comes to animals.  She's one-of-a-kind, that girl is.  

"Quick!  Take a picture of my Bingo dog!"

We spent the last weekend of July hanging around town!  We took the kids to OU's campus for some scooter practice!

getting a hurtz donut to recharge our batteries!

Well, I guess when I lay it all out there like that - these past two months haven't been fairly normal.  Always an adventure, and more to come next month I'm sure.