There's Treasure Everywhere

Even though we've been taking it pretty easy, our summer is flying by as usual. Here are some of the things we've been up to.

My brother Timmy was here visiting for a couple of days at the very beginning of summer before he had to go up to Bruinwoods. The only bummer about his job up at Lake Arrowhead is that we don't get to see him that much. The kids soaked up the little time we had.

The kids had a movie night with their neighborhood friend, Kaia.

Somehow the movie night ended up turning into a wrestling party.

Hannah had swimming lessons for the first time. She really loved them, she just looks a little blah because we had one pretty cloudy day and she was really cold.

After swimming lessons and working with Andy in the pool, Hannah is now a little fish in the water.

Joey loved swimming lessons too.

He's very proud that he can now do the freestyle, back stroke and a kneeling dive.

A first for Joey this year was going to Kid's Games at a huge local church. Kid's Games is like VBS, but more active. They even had a bouncy house and big inflatable slides. He's already excited to go back next year.

Joey's newest obsession is Pokemon. He used his allowance to buy a big pack of Pokemon cards, and he loves to play with them.

Even Ellie is getting in on the action.

Speaking of Ellie, she's almost 7 months now and is getting more and more mobile (yikes!). Joey still gets excited when she rolls over (although she's been doing that for a while) and she's starting to scootch around. She finally sits pretty well on her own now too.

Joey: When I listen to Christian music it helps me keep my eyes on God.

Trying to reassure Hannah before her first swimming lesson...
Me: Hannah, teachers at swimming lessons are really nice!
Joey: Yeah, and if they aren't, they burn them in fire.
Me: (Busting out laughing) No they don't!
Joey: Yes they do! You told me that.
Me: What?! When did I say that?
Joey: You said they get burned!
Me: Burned? Oh, you mean they get fired.
(I do now vaguely remember reassuring Joey about the same thing last year and him asking what happens if the teachers aren't nice)

Joey: Ahoshta [a villain in the book The Horse and His Boy] is a really bad guy. Hey! I bet he doesn't obey the speed limit!

Joey: I don't like that noise in the bathroom.
Me: Daddy drained the hot water heater so the pipes are just full of air and are making weird sounds. It will go away.
Joey: Daddy already told me that, but thank you for telling me again!

Hannah interrogating Joey about his swimming class...
Hannah: Is Jackson in your class?
Joey: Yes.
Hannah: So, is Jackson your friend?
Joey: Yes.
Hannah: And Joey, this is important, are you nice to him?

For the past four days we've had our good friends the Logans out to visit us from Phoenix. It seems like every time they come to San Diego we have weird weather and this time was no exception. Since when does it rain in July?! Thankfully we were still able to have three fun trips to the beach. The strange weather actually seemed to help us out because we were able to get surprisingly good parking each time.

Connor is 15 months, and it was his first trip to the beach. He loved it and fearlessly marched right into the water.

Oh my goodness, that kid is adorable!

My kids are not quite so fearless. In fact every year they forget that they like the beach and don't want to go. Joey has already been a couple of times this year so he now remembers that he likes it. His favorite part is catching sand crabs. He still only likes to get his feet wet.

Hannah, on the other hand, cried the first day we took her because she didn't want to go. She quickly got over it when she realized she could just play in the sand and she didn't have to go in the water.

The next day, Andy, Joey and the Logans went during her nap time and she cried when she found out they went without her. I took that as an improvement in her appreciation of the beach.

This was her on the third day.

Andy randomly--and kind of jokingly--asked her, "So, do you want to go in the water with me?" She shocked us both by immediately saying, "Sure!" She wasn't even wearing her swimming suit at the time, but we packed it "just in case." She quickly got it on and she and Andy were off. I expected her to freak out as soon as the waves came up past her feet, but she loved it when the bigger waves came. She squealed with joy each time she and Andy got slammed. What a funny, unpredictable girl!

Joey had a turn too. He enjoyed it, but not as much as Hannah did.

Hannah went again and this time she let Andy put her down and just help her jump over the waves.

She loved that too!

I'm so glad my two southern California kids love the beach again. They'll probably have to fall in love with it all over again next summer.

Remember when I said that I wasn't a huge fan of the time-consuming process of feeding solid foods to Ellie. Well, problem solved. Joey has a new chore!

Unfortunately, this method of having Joey feed Ellie only exacerbates the messiness issue, but that's okay with me!

During the summers my youngest brother Timmy works up at Lake Arrowhead at a camp for UCLA alumni and their families. Before the first week of real camp starts, they have a "Parent/Family Night" where family of the staff can come up for free and enjoy one night at camp. My parents and other brother, Benjamin, went up last year, and we went up with my parents this year. It was fun getting to see where my brother spends his summers. He absolutely loves it up there and I can see why. It's beautiful and the staff are all a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, as soon as we got up to Lake Arrowhead, Andy, Ellie and I went to find a doctor because I had an infection in my finger that was getting worse and worse. Thankfully, the older two kids were able to stay with my parents and go swimming and on a boat ride. At the time, Hannah was not very happy that she got a little wet on the boat ride, but now if you ask her, she loved it!

Andy, Ellie and I got back to camp just in time for the free happy hour and dinner. After dinner, we put the kids to bed in our cute little condolet. Andy stayed with the kids while my parents and I got to enjoy the three shows that the staff put on for the campers. Of course, they normally don't do all three shows in the same night, but it was basically their final dress rehearsal to get ready for their first week of campers.

The next morning we had breakfast, and then we spent a little time exploring the camp. They have an adventure course, softball fields, this amazing hammock area (I would have paid big money to be able to stay there for a few hours with a good book), and a fun tree house that the kids played in. Here's Joey on the second level of the tree house looking down.

It was a short trip, but I'm so glad we were able to go!

Another "highlight" of our Fourth of July was Ellie's first experience with solid food. I say "highlight" because I always dread trading the easy convenience of breastfeeding with the messy, time-consuming task of trying to feed a baby. It's a loooong, grimy journey from the first bite of oatmeal to when they can feed themselves. It also makes diaper changing less appealing. My babies never seem to enjoy it either.

Here's kind of how it went: