End of July in Utah 2015

My broken foot and pregnancy malaise motivated me to pursue Houdini actually taking his promised summer week with the kids.  He told them he would take them either to Disneyland or Hawaii.  They hung around his house and went to Calistoga instead.  

But Lou and I flew home where we met Hush and went on a quick trip down to the Canyon part of UT.

 Bryce Canyon.  More driving than walking around, but it was still pretty cool.

 Friend Melissa's house in the tiniest town in America.  Went on some adventures and played a rousing game of Apples to Apples for horrible adults or whatever it's called with Melissa and Fae.  Reminder to self: babies only like to sleep in their own beds.

 But little Lou was a darling sweet girl, as per usual.

 Hush climbing things.

 Kids came back and we roasted S'mores in our nearly finished new backyard structure thing.

 This outfit is why everybody should have a baby girl.  She's delectable.  BL 11 months.

 The kids made it back in time for us to have a legitimate Pioneer Day.  We kicked it off with a Campout in our backyard with all of our buddies.

 Pioneer Day parade had amazing floats but the crowd was dead.  Insufficient enthusiasm by the overall crowd, though we did our best to rouse them and make it fun.  It didn't help that it was a million degrees.

BL and the dad going on a little hike.  We've become a bit of a hiking family.  The kids and I hiked a few times every week this summer.  We carried Betty Lou in the subpar carriers until we finally bought a Baby Bjorn.

Ferguson Canyon little hike.

 Church with toddler.  Not easy.

 My four kids learning to barbecue.

 At the Sugar House food trucks.

 Lisa falls.  We've found the perfect little hike, not too steep with a great payout waterfall.

 Baby Lou marches around that waterfall like she owns it.

 Baby's first shoes!  LouLou is my earliest walker at just under 11 months.  She was tippy until I got her some converse with the flat bottoms and they helped her balance.  She was so happy!

 My girls and I have been going through a lot of changes on the home front.  Rebekah's baby is moving in in a few weeks so she needed some help room painting.  (I did very little).  Christine inherited three extra people in her house and has been renovating.  Our families are all expanding.

 BL and Dad blue eyed darlings.

 Mimi begged and begged to carry Lou, which lasted exactly 30 seconds, but it was a cute 30 seconds!

And Jude's birthday.  I promised him a school friend party when school started so we spent the actual day with our neighbors at the bowling alley.  How could he be 7 already?

July in California

Since we moved to Utah we like to go back to California for a few weeks every summer to party with our family.  The Fourth of July wouldn't be the same without the parade and baseball.

 Lou 10 months, Silas 5, Jude 6, Mimi 8 me freaking 34 and three months pregnant with baby 5.

 LouLou's first baseball game

 Bea, Teddy, Alice and Mimi

 In efforts to make myself completely useless (being a zombie from pregnancy and barfing) I went ahead and broke my toe on Pam's aggressive couch.

 Cousin day.

 Standing and trying to walk. Definitely my earliest walker.

 And super dangerous, although she does seem to have a healthy fear of the stairs.

 Trying out for the Rockford Peaches.

 SF excursion with Ellie and kids.  We went to Clement Street (real Chinatown) and ate food, shopped at the weird asian stores and hit the crazy aquarium/fish store.

 Danger baby showing off.

 SF excursion with Camille and Pam.  We went to Telegraph and hung out.  Cam's area is so beautiful.  She's living on Belvedere, one of the most attractive streets in SF.

The Grateful Dead house on Ashby.

The Summer List of Crazy Activities

This year my children made a list of things they wanted to do that they would ordinarily not be allowed to do.  Because I am just that kind of anarchistic mother I have made their crazy list our summer agenda.

The primarily feature of the list is "All Day". The things they want to do they want to do All Day Long.

Ha. Fools. Nothing is fun all day long.

So our list is just as much fun for me as it is for them because I enjoy moderate torture and lesson learning.

Here are our adventures:

Screens All Day. 

Unlimited screen time is the holy grail around here, so I scheduled Screen Day for the first day of summer. If they took their eyes off a screen for more than a minute they would be grounded.  They also did not have to get dressed all day.  To me that sounded hellish but they were in pig heaven.

Little did they know that at the end of Screen Day they would be handing over all of their iPads and remotes for doling out at my convenience for the rest of the summer.

The next day they needed a screen detox so it was a good day for Outside All Day.

Outside All Day meant that they were ushered out in their bathing suits as soon as they woke up. They ate all their meals out there and drank from the hose.  They were not allowed to scream into the house.  If they needed something inside they had to hold their breath and run while inside or they would be grounded.  (I don't know why grounding is a punishment, but the sound of it is awful for them. To me it sounds like paradise).

The beginning of the day was rough but once they figured out all the fun to be had outside they were happy to be out there. 

Since it was a 24 hour outside plan they also needed to sleep outside, which was also on the list. For Backyard Camping  the kids recruited our dear neighbors to join them in camping in the backyard.  It was a success and nobody woke us up nor snuck inside during the night.

Our next adventure was to Stay at a Waterpark until it Closes.

This activity was made possible by trading one baby for three neighbor kids who could swim. Jude always bursts into tears when he has to leave parks before they're kicking us out. He doesn't like the fun to end.  This activity was mildly successful -- we stayed until it was getting cold and nobody wanted to do slides anymore. But it was tons of fun! At least I think it was. I took a two hour nap while they played.

We had to take a few weeks break while we went to CA and had a few day camps.  But when they got back we were back on the list.

The first activity was Stay Up All Night.

Ugh, this one sounded brutal.  But I was surprised at how much fun we had!  Not having to think about bed time was freeing for me.  Anybody who has been around my house knows that bedtime is the finish line for me and when they're down I'm off duty.  So there was no off duty for me this night BUT I found that there was also less pressure and we could play games and do puzzles until they were done.  The highlight was playing ghost in the graveyard at midnight downstairs.  I schooled them. Always hide in the bathtub.  Hush and I left them to their own devices after midnight and when we went down to check on them they were out by 1am.  They slept and slept the next morning and two of them took a nap in the afternoon. 

Candy All Day was the next event.  This morphed into Junk Food All Day because it was more practical.  BL and I ate normally, but the big kids consumed pie for breakfast with chocolate milk, kitkats, gas station candy, whole cans of coke each for themselves, more candy, donuts, ice cream sundaes for dinner and whatever garbage they could get their hands on.  Silas would ask, "Can I eat this or is it healthy?" They did great until about 6:30 when they started to have sugar rage.  When I told them we would be continuing to eat Junk Food for the next three days they very clearly and wholeheartedly objected.

Finally Silas was the last man standing and not in a sugar spaz so he was rewarded with noodles.

The next day, of course, was a much welcomed detox.  Eggs in the morning, healthy sandwiches and veggies, etc.  It was a good sugar break.

We still have a few things left on our list but we have all of August to accomplish them.  That is assuming I have it in me to Wrestle All Day as is waiting on the list.

The Summer List assessment and review:

This has been an amusing and accidentally educational project.  It gives us something to focus on during monotonous summer days with nothing planned.  The kids have thoroughly exhausted the activity that they had been vying to do and don't look back when the All Day whatever is over.  They enjoy being grounded for things that are normally good behavior: eating healthy, peeing inside, falling asleep early.  It's made summer topsy turvy and fun.  I highly recommend letting the kids have what their hearts desire IN EXCESS so that when they are expected to live like rational human beings they understand why good things are good.  They know what they feel like when they eat junk all day and they're no longer interested.  They appreciate being locked outside occasionally.  They know that screens can get very boring and sunlight is desirable.  

I think I'll make this project a summer standard.

Invitation Accepted

Dear Baby Five,

We are delighted that you have accepted our invitation to become part of our organization!  After some deliberations between the founding members it was decided that our youngest member needed a cohort, thus the invitation.  Between us I don't know which co-president is more excited to welcome you.  We will both be there for your imminent arrival, one of us ideally more drugged than the other.

From experience we've calculated the best time for you to come on board will be at the end of January, 2016.  That way the current junior member will be 16 months -- providing us with all the benefits of creating "Irish Twins" like unto the age difference between team members Jude and Silas, and Mimi and Jude. 

 We've since informed the junior members of the team that we'll be adding to their ranks and, because of the overwhelmingly positive reception of the addition that occurred last fall, they are thrilled at the news you will be joining us. At present they are referring to you as "Tiger Uppercut" but we highly recommend you come with your preferred name on a business card, perhaps, or maybe via bolt of lightening. Barring that we will be pressed to choose a name for you, a process we find very stressful.  We've decided to respect your privacy regarding your sex until the day you arrive.

By accepting this invitation you will now be entitled to unconditional familial adoration and affection upon arrival and throughout your journey with us, regardless of behavior, attitude, or personality.  In the first few years with us we pledge to selflessly monitor and foster your growth and development as well as keep you safe and well loved. Co-Presidents will do our very best to run interference between you and your adoring fans. 

In the years following we will hone your behavior into an intelligent person palatable and desirable by the larger community.  You will be exposed to culture and inundated with music and theater, which you will eventually be expected to perform.  At your fingertips you will have access to literature and media that we hope will teach you about the world and its people.  The committee will do its best to encourage mathematical skills, but we cannot promise aptitude.  We will make it our life mission to prepare you -- spiritually, emotionally and physically -- for the challenges that lay in the world outside our immediate network.

I'm sure you've noted in your research that our projects thus far have had fairly successful results, but so that you can see the current status of our members I give you the following exhibits:

 A. Girl, 8.

B. Boy, 6.

C. Boy, 5. 

D. Girl, 10 months.

In choosing our organization you will be joining Mimi, Jude, Silas and Betty Lou in their daily routine, but you will have some grace period before you will need to add your abilities to theirs.  They are excited to have you and see great potential in your arrival.  Do not let them trick you into doing their part.  In the meantime, your duties include first, growing to a viable human, then once arrived you will be expected to smile, coo, and generally delight us with your very presence.  Rely on Betty Lou to show you how to wrap every single one of us around your finger.

Needless to say, we are excited to officially meet you, though your transportation unit is somewhat daunted by the physical task ahead. By the way, it has been much appreciated that you've been considerate in not causing too much turbulence in the first few months.  We consider our team so fortunate to be able to invite you into our lives -- to have the means, the inclination, and to be granted the blessing of corporate expansion.  

Eagerly awaiting your arrival!

Your Family