4th of July (Catch Up Post)

The 4th of July has turned out to be one of my very favorite holidays. It could be because it gives us a bit of reprieve from the insane desert heat of summer by giving us justification for getting in our swimming suits in the early morning hours and not getting out of them until evening. It's a day of water here in Boulder City. Water, water, water. 

It starts with the Boulder City parade where we all wait patiently, watching the first floats go by following the 'Non Water Entries' banner. We cheer for the mayor and the local businesses, we clap for the horses Rotary Club Members and cheerleaders, and then a gap in the procession and a glimpse of the 'Water Entries' banner causes the crowds to go wild, pick up their water guns and explode into a town-wide water fight. We spray each other, we spray the parade entries, we spray the sky and the trees and the streets... we laugh and drip and go back for more.

Most of us anyway.

Some of us hide far away from the intensity of the action. And some of us cry when the stream of water is a little colder than we were expecting.

But it's impossible to cry for long because it's just so dang fun.

After the parade this year (and last year) we went to the Larsons to play in their big pool.

Kyle had bought a big floating mat and in an effort to make it a bit safer, tied it in a way that it would stay far from the edges of the pool. Because he knew that the kids would want to stand on it.

And push people off of it.

Which they did.

Most of them, anyway.

Carson and his little broken foot were great sports about the whole thing. I let him take off his boot and float around in the water with his friends, and he was grateful for that (I was a bit of a nervous wreck about it though because I knew one little jolt to that foot could displace the broken bones and mean surgery. But he knew that, too, so I decided to trust him). But it was hard for him to watch the fun and not be able to participate fully.

After the BBQ and pool party at the Larsons we went to the Calverts to eat dinner.

As always, the soda was the favorite part for my kids.

And then we were off on our way to watch the Boulder City fireworks on the golf course close to their house. We packed little Liza in her stroller and I couldn't help but grin at her for a few minutes before strolling her along her way.

She's just so easy to please. Which pleases me.

Once we got to the golf course we spent a ridiculous amount of time setting up our chairs and blankets, packing up our chairs and blankets, moving down the fairway a bit, setting up our chairs and blankets, packing up our chairs and blankets, moving across the hill a bit, setting up our chairs and blankets... you get the idea. We moved four different times because we kept placing ourselves right in line with the next set of monstrous golf course sprinklers.

The kids didn't seem to care one little bit.

All except for Carson, that is. It was a little more difficult for him to maneuver around on his crutches, and by the end of the night he was sore and ready to be done moving for the day. Eventually the sun set all the way and we pulled out the sparklers. 

And shortly after that, the Boulder City fireworks started. Which really are some of the best fireworks I've seen. There were unique ones that I'd never seen before, and I caught myself exclaiming out loud over and over at the beauty of them.

How delightful it is to live in Boulder City on the 4th of July.

Shark Reef (Catch Up Post)

When my good friend, Alycia, asked me if I'd be interested in buying a Pogo pass, my first thought was, "What the heck is a Pogo pass?" Then I learned that it was a pass you could buy for a small price that would get you admission to all sorts of cool things to do in and around the Vegas area and I decided that, "Yes! For sure we want to do cool stuff this summer!" So I bought six of them. One for each member of the family.

And then Carson broke his foot.

So out went the trampoline parks. Out went the museums. Out went bowling and race car driving and water parks.

It took some scanning through the app to find a fun place for us to go on this completely open day in July, but Shark Reef ended up being the right answer.

We went with the Calverts and most of our time was spent at the Pet A Sting Ray tank.

They were slimy and friendly and always looked like they were happy to see you (which they probably were because most people have food for them (or which they probably weren't because who wants to be looked at and fed all day every day anyway?)).

The sea has always drawn me. I know many people have that same story in their hearts, and I'm happy to share that with all the people who love it as much as I do. It's so mysterious and beautiful.

That year we spent on the beaches in Miami will always have a space in my Favorite Years of All Time box and while most of our year was spent looking on the surface of the beach and the ocean (of course), I'm so in love with aquariums that give us a glimpse of what's underneath the surface.

I'll look at fish like the ones below and they almost don't seem real to me. It seems like they're taken straight out of an animated movie... yet, it's the movie that was taken straight from them.

Here's McKenzie with her friend, Emma. Which is funny to me because McKenzie's middle name is Emma. So, here's Emma and McKenzie Emma.

I don't really understand why there is a long, creepy snake at the Shark Reef. He doesn't really seem to fit with the theme. But here are a few brave kids anyway:

Ethnie and Carson make me laugh. Ethnie is full of spunk and fun, and Carson is full of humor and gentleness - they make a pretty great team.

Along with the out of character snake, there were birds:

Cute and beautiful and happy birds that were pleased to sit on my hand and pick seeds from my palm. Charming.

They were also glad to pick at Miles's flip flop. Which wasn't so charming.

Timothy felt extra special every time one of them came to his little outstretched hand.

And was a little irritated that not more than one would ever come at a time. I tried to explain that the size of his hand might be playing a part in the birds' lack of interest, but he remained irritated.

At the end of the day we tried to pose for a family picture. But somehow we only managed to get two of the five children in the frame.

The rest were off chasing the sharks.

It was a great day!

Scrambled Thoughts XXI (Catch Up Post)

1) Where did this kid get his fashion sense anyway?

Miles is sporting a great look at his friend, Chelsea's, baptism. The pocket square, the fitted pants, the shoes... he looks so fashionable that I'm thinking there might be hope for our family after all.

2) Poppys are the best pool toys

At first I worried whether or not Poppy was having fun being attacked by all the neighborhood kids. But then I saw his face and he looked just fine.

3) We weren't planning on sleeping out on the sports court in the middle of a school week...

But when the house starts smelling like rotten eggs and you're pretty sure you didn't leave any sitting around anywhere you've got to take precautions. Right after all the children fell asleep in their snug little beds, Brian and I started smelling an intense rotten egg smell coming from the vents on the main level of the house. After a quick google search, Brian called the gas company while I rounded up all of the drowsy children and their bedding and funneled them outside for some fresh air.

Thankfully it was an absolutely gorgeous night and after the initial wave of excitement (and complaining from the teenager about how she was ever going to survive her finals the next day without a proper night of sleep in a regular bed (poor girl)), they all fell asleep quickly while Brian and I waited out front on lawn chairs, chatting and waiting for the gas company to come out and give us the all clear.

Which they did.

It's still a mystery as to where the rotten egg smell came from in the first place.

4) The whole backside of the mountain burned

And it gave us all a pretty helpless feeling. We were driving up to Utah when we passed the smoke and we saw helicopters loaded down with water coming from the lake - little dots in the sky - doing their part to help.  To my eye it didn't look like they could possibly be making much progress on that giant fire. But I suppose, if they truly weren't making much progress they would be asked to stop using their fuel for such a futile purpose. They must have been doing good after all. Life can be like that...

5) Daughters with strong fathers have a better chance in this world. It's a thing.

My girls are lucky that way.

6) Can you even get enough of this face?

I seriously can't.

Utah Trip - Great Grandpa Alder's House (Catch Up Post)

We love to visit Great Grandpa Alder whenever we can. He is genuine and good and simply being in his house rubs that off onto all of us.

We stay for a few hours to visit and relax.

We'll have a meal,

maybe take a nap,

play games,

and tell stories.

That's three generations of great men up there. 

Carson handled the whole broken foot thing pretty well. And I noticed that his siblings toned their own energy down to match his. 

Not every child gets to have a great grandparent in their lives. 

I hope mine will carry into their adulthood the stories, the feelings, and the faith of this great man.

Utah Trip (Catch Up Post)

Well, that was fun. 

We'd only been at Grandma's house for a few short hours before Carson jumped from the top bunk and cracked a bone in his foot. 

I knew something had gone wrong by the urgency in his voice. "Mom, mom, mommommommom," he said in a panic. "Come 'ere come 'ere come 'ere," I rushed to his side and he collapsed into tears while holding tightly to his right foot, and soon Brian and I were wrapping it in ice and tucking him into bed, talking in hushed tones about how we were going to work out the details of the following day, which now would need to include a visit to InstaCare.

Just a few hours before, on the drive up to Utah, our car had started flashing its 'check engine' light loudly in our faces. So that needed to be attended to as well. Thankfully, with Grandma and Grandpa, we had four adults around to help take care of all the things, so early in the morning I left the little kids with Grandma and Grandpa, loaded Carson into Grandpa's car, sent our own car away with Brian to the car repair shop, and drove Carson to the foot repair shop.

X-Rays confirmed the break and he was given a boot, crutches, and instructions to avoid all that is fun for the rest of the summer. Or, I'm pretty sure that's what he heard anyway. But even though we had to cancel our trip to Lagoon the following day, we tried to fill it with fun.

And what could be more fun than a boys against girls Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Contest:

Timothy and I got to be the judges,

and we took our job very seriously judging the taste, the texture, the appearance of each cookie, and the presentation of the platter as a whole.

The girls came out victorious, but the boys handled their defeat well.

While the bakers were baking, Timothy and I went to the park across the street. Grandma and Grandpa live right across the street from an elementary school, so our kids love to go over there and play on the playground after school hours.

Eliza and I hung out in the shade of a tree for the most part. And tried to ignore the fact that there were hundreds (thousands?) of honey bees roaming around in the spring flower buds above our heads.

We took a day to introduce Eliza to her cousin Olivia.

Olivia tolerated the whole ordeal and even gave Eliza a few kisses. Cute.

This particular trip was all about the Alder family. But we snuck a night in with my family to see Amber in an outdoor Shakespeare play. And introduced her to Eliza.

We all enjoyed the play very much, even the children. That might have had something to do with the candy we kept dishing out, though.

Other than that, most of our time was spent hanging out at Grandma's.

Which is really a favorite place to hang. Her backyard is beautiful, relaxing, and fun.

Miles perfected his catching skills,

Timothy perfected his multitasking,

and his baby loving,

and his sand playing.

And we all enjoyed the perfect weather.

We love it here.