Summer Birthdays

A summer birthday means patio dining,

warm evenings that are perfect for a walk through downtown,

discovering new things,

treasure hunts with this cute Peanut,

Ah-MAZING peach pie made by Daddy-o,

hiking with these three,

and enjoying forests of redwoods.

(And just in case it all seems a little too perfect, not pictured is the arguing, crying, whining, chore-shirking, and grumpiness that is a part of every day life at our house--that stuff doesn't take a break for anything, not even birthdays.)

More Family Visits

It's a little sad to me that I didn't take more pictures when my mom and brother were out here--this is one of the only ones, haha. But we were so happy to have them here for a week. They wanted to see Bean and Bug swim, so they came for a meet.

While they were here, we took a trip to John Muir's home.

Beautiful house, outside

and in.

We didn't have long, so will have to come back some time to explore the grounds.

Monkey Friends

The kids always love it when they can bring friends along for a climbing day.

This summer, it's been pretty easy to find people to go along with us.

Even A got out there and did some climbing!

I'm not totally sure why Peanut was so worn out. The other two had been climbing hard, but we still can't get him to try anything more than the bouldering section. I think this little guy may have a fear of heights. 

But he is a great cheerleader. I finally tried climbing with the kids last time and on my first wall, when I was about to give up about 10 feet from the top because my arms were starting to shake, it was his cheering, telling me to, "Go, Mama, go!" that got me to finish. I just couldn't listen to that cute little voice and then let him down.

The Swimmers are Done!

Swim season is officially done. These kids have worked hard and had a pretty great end to the season to show for it.

They both qualified for championships in several individual events, and at Championships, Bean PRed in back and breast stroke (finally got under 40 seconds for breast!) and Bug PRed in all 4 strokes. They went out with a bang!

This girl is liking to fly!

Bug getting ready. He doesn't love the nerves before each meet, but once he gets swimming, it's all good. 

Our two swimmers. It's fun that their age groups are back to back, so sometimes we have them swimming back to back like this in the same lane.

And then there is Peanut, who spends the meets rolling around on the ground, hopping from lap to lap, and generally trying to kill time. He's been doing these most of his life, but he still doesn't love it.

Championships done!

Bean's group is always big--they had about 14 girls this year, which made for some good relay teams and some good competition to help her push herself.

Bug's group was small this year. There were a few more at the beginning, but Bug was the only one at the last regular meet. It'd be nice if we can recruit more swimmers so he can actually swim some relays next year.

Thanks to their coaches for the great year!

Summer Days

Summer has mostly felt busy, which it always does during swim season, but Monday was our first day of no swim practice and we had a pretty classic lazy summer day. I didn't even take any pictures to document it.

We had a slow start to the morning,

did a little reading,

made some Ooblek,

biked to the library,

checked out a game (I LOVE that our library has games and toys to check out),

made popcorn and played a round of Rummikub,

did some more reading,

ate dinner outside, 

and finished the night off with a little ice cream.

There were still little fights, and crying kids, and messes to clean up, and too late of bedtimes, but all in all, it was a perfect summer day.

Side Hustle

I found a way to get some doggy time again. I've been missing my sweet Molly, and having a canine walking partner, but our new house doesn't allow pets, so getting another dog just isn't in the card these days.

But Rover.com has helped me find some dog walking and pet sitting clients. These two sweet dogs were my first and it was so fun to have dogs to walk again, even if it was only for a few days. I hope I can pick up a few regular clients so I don't have to walk alone anymore.