Life As We Know It: July adventures

Lots of fun was had in July.

As has happened the past few years, the garden zucchini look amazing for a few weeks, we get two or three zukes, and then squash borers get to them and they die. Sigh. But we did have a good crop of peppers this year as well as green beans. I tried spring onions, the tomatoes got anthracnose (a fungus) which also spread to the cucumbers, and we planted strawberries. Never a dull moment in the garden.

Henry and Robbie read the book Wonder aloud to each other for a few days. It was super sweet. Then Henry got into the Harry Potter series and interest in anything else was lost.

The boys finished up their swim season well. Benjy improved on the junior barracudas team and I'm hopeful he's ready to move up to the transition lane next summer!

Robbie turned twelve! We took him out to Cuban Burger.

He requested crepes--Nutella + banana and strawberries + cream as well as bacon and orange juice. The boys have gotten wise and no longer simply want their favorite cereal on a tray. Wahh!

Gift opening!

The day after Robbie's birthday, we left for our Weiler family reunion in Wyoming.

The kids were super excited. And super cute with their caps on.

I was very nervous about flying with Clayton because he was in a very strong screaming phase and could scream at such high decibels I literally thought my ears would pop. Last summer when we flew out to Utah, he was crying and screaming and a man yelled at me, so I felt a little traumatized about this flight, especially because we had a layover. I prayed before the trip that if possible, Clayton wouldn't scream. But if he did, that the people around me would be patient and understanding.

The first leg was fine and Clayton was a champ. However, during the layover, Clayton needed to poop and was at the stage when he was very aware and always wanted to find a place in private (not yet potty trained--I wanted to wait until this trip was over!). However, we didn't have time before we had to board the plane, but once we got on the plane he began to get even more distressed and started crying and screaming loudly, "I need to poop!!!" I tried reassuring him that no one was looking at him, etc. as he yelled and the plane began taxiing down the runway (even though he was supposed to be buckled). I felt like I was helping him through labor as he had both hands on my knees, sweating, pushing, and crying. Finally he did his business and Michael whisked him to the back to change him on the floor of the plane right before we took off. The rest of the flight was okay, until about 45 min before landing when I hear, "Yuck!" and look over to see Clayton's hands by his waistline with poop on them. He'd blown out of his diaper. Awesome. I wiped him off as best I could, took off his shirt, and decided to just wait until we landed. Everyone else de-boarded and Michael cleaned him off at the back of the plane. Phew! We made it!

As he's crying, a sweet mom across the aisle reached behind her and gave one of our kids a note for me. It was so kind and an answer to my prayers, despite Clayton's crying.

David and Char were the masterminds behind the reunion--Char had this fun cup system for everyone.

Beautiful hike with the whole crew. Clara even came!

The girls.

The kids went on a tubing trip down the Snake River (?). Benjy and Phillip and Isaac--all the same ages and buddies!

Robbie has Adam and Samuel his age. So fun.

Clayton adores babies and tries to hold them any chance he can. Here he is with Joseph and Jenna's baby whose name is currently escaping me.

One night, we enjoyed a sweet devotional from Grandpa about Great-grandma who recently passed away and learned more about his own childhood and his parents' upbringing.

Family conversations are the highlight of any reunion.

We loved our hike at String Lake in the Grand Tetons. Michael stripped Clayton down in the cold water. It was refreshing, I have to say.

Char did so much to make the time a success.

Cousin Clark loved Clayton. And Clayton loved him.

Weilers + wrestling = essential combination.

Some of the dads and a couple of sons made an early morning tough hike.

Brothers! Plus Clark.

All ten kids together. Hasn't happened in so so long.

My parents were able to come visit, too!

It was so wonderful to see them and we had a great time talking while Clayton was napping one day.

Had fun playing a little basketball with some of the sisters at a rec center.

Robbie and both his grandparents. Three Roberts in one place. Pretty special!

Henry and his good buddy cousin William.

After the reunion was over, we drove up to visit Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. To my surprise, the spacious twelve-seater van we had rented didn't prevent fighting in the car, but Harry Potter on audiobook did.

We visited Old Faithful. I didn't have very high expectations (no pun intended), but it was actually super cool!

The Sapphire pool. Crazily enough, there was an unexpected geyser eruption very close to this spot just a few days after we left the park and part of the boardwalk was destroyed. Glad we weren't there when it happened. Or maybe that would have been cool, actually.

The Grand Prismatic Spring had tons of mist that evening because it was getting cool, but it was still quite impressive to see the rainbow of colors.

Throwing rocks in Yellowstone National Park.

There were so many bison.

More rock throwing. The weather was just gorgeous.

Yellowstone Falls!

It was a bit stressful to hike down to this spot with tons of crowds (not to mention hiking back up with varying hiking abilities), but we made it.

Michael and R and C did a short hike to another overlook while the rest of us waited in the car.

A favorite highlight of the trip was Jackson Lake in the Grand Tetons. The water was gorgeous and the lake wasn't very crowded.

Henry loved throwing giant boulders.

Taking a moment to sun himself on some comfy gravel.

Right before we left the park, we saw a moose! Yay! We also saw some elk on another occasion, which was cool.

No excitement on the way home. Phew! We made it!

Another highlight of the month was Adam and Wendi's family coming to visit. We spent a couple of days at the lake house and then they came to visit us in Harrisonburg, which was so fun. One evening the cousins stayed home and watched a movie while Adam and Wendi and us went out to Smiley's for ice cream. We didn't have enough time to glean all their wisdom from them.

Hanging out on the boat with Uncle Adam.

Clayton loved pushing his cousins off the dock. They were all so patient and sweet with him.

Michael took the older kids up to Hawksbill Peak in SNP. It was a beautiful night for it.

Benjy loved Uncle Adam.

Pete helped me clean off the garlic that I'd harvested (planted last October and harvested in May/June, then cured for several weeks). Check out the giant clove and the teeny one.