Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Last week, Michael's parents came up for the week. It was great having them! As part of their visit, Michael took them up to Gettysburg to see Bob's parents, then to Philadelphia for a night to attend the temple, explore the city, and see some spots where his dad grew up outside of the city.

 Michael with his grandparents. They are growing more feeble but are still in good spirits. His grandpa is 91 now.

 They headed over to the new Philadelphia temple that evening, where they performed some temple work for their ancestors which Michael had found in his family history research. Super cool. They also enjoyed dinner (and breakfast) at the Reading Terminal Market and brought home some yummy treats, too.

 The next morning, Michael went running along the Schuylkill River (pronounced "skoo-kul," apparently) and then he and his parents headed over to the Museum of Modern Art to see Rocky.

 And of course, Michael ran up the steps and did some jumps and punches to complete the pilgrimage.

The day after they returned, Michael and I left on a little getaway (see next post). But then when we returned home, we got to spend some more time with Grandma and Grandpa. We headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick a couple of pumpkins for carving.

 Clara wasn't too thrilled with Grandma for some of the time we were gone (because Grandma was following my instructions), but fortunately she forgot her frustrations and had fun, too.

 Different varieties of pumpkins--both living and not.

 What a great-looking couple!

 Robbie sure looks thrilled. These are my favorite people!

 Henry loved being up on Grandpa's shoulders. He also likes to fall backward while his feet are still being held. Fun but scary!

Ready to do some exploring!

Daddy with his boys.

We were grateful to have Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday as well, and look forward to seeing them again at Thanksgiving!

A birthday surprise

On the 7th I turned 34. Woohoo!

 Michael got this delicious cake from some fancy farm in Pepperidge. (Guess who likes making forts in the living room, btw?)

 Half-naked boys helped me blow out the candles.

The week before my birthday, Michael surprised me by informing me that he had gotten me a plane ticket to fly out to Utah to see my family for a few days. (He hadn't officially bought the ticket--he wanted to get my okay first, but he'd researched everything and contacted my family, etc.) I was so pleased and surprised.

So for my actual birthday, the kids/Michael hid little travel goodies around the house and I played "hot and cold" to find them.

I was nervous to leave, especially with Clara dealing with homework in middle school, etc., but I knew Michael would be fine and everyone would have a good time with Daddy.

I arrived in Salt Lake safely and was met by my parents, who are serving an eighteen-month mission in Salt Lake in the interpreting department of the church. Their office was in the Church Office building but was moved for six weeks over to the Conference Center to prepare for General Conference.

Here's a chart of the 95 languages that conference is translated into--my parents are over 27 (?) of those languages. A lot of the languages I have never even heard of!

 You can see little plaques with the name of a language on each of these cubicles.

 This is the monitor that the interpreter looks at as he interprets. He typically has the talk in advance to prepare. He is supposed to stand while he's interpreting and really do his best to be like the speaker. I like the thoughts on the yellow posters above. There is also someone sitting next to him to jump in/help as needed.

Pretty exciting and amazing! One fun thing is that there were two different water fountains by the interpreter cubicles--one for cold water and one for room temperature water. Since people in some countries don't like ice/cold water, it is a thoughtful touch.

 My parents worked hard before my arrival so they could take some time off of their mission to hang out with me. We enjoyed walking around temple square and had a yummy lunch at the Lion House Pantry. We took a brief tour of the Beehive House and I even got to walk in the tunnel that goes underneath the temple to the Conference Center--that's how the General Authorities get around without having to go above ground. They use little carts. Pretty cool.

The lower two windows on the first floor of the building behind me are President Monson's office. And all the flowers everywhere? So beautiful and peaceful.

In the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, there is a really neat family history center with interactive screens where you can visually learn about your ancestry. It was really fun!

After temple square, we drove around to see the houses where my parents grew up in Salt Lake. I don't think I'd seen any of these places before, so it was neat to imagine my parents playing here as children.

 The house my dad grew up in as a young man.

The house my dad lived in as a young boy.

My mom's grandparents' house--she played here as a girl. I couldn't get a good shot of her house on G Street--there were lots of trees in front, unfortunately.

 We also visited my dad's parents' graves. They died before I was born, and I can't wait to meet them someday.

That night we drove down to Provo to do some sealings in the Provo City Center temple with Heather and Bryan and Emily. Sadly, they stopped doing sealings at 7pm (we missed it because we were taking pictures outside, haha!), so we drove over to the other Provo temple and had a great time being in the temple together. And fortuitously, I ran into Susan Wilson, a woman I sang with in the Augusta Collegium Musicum down in Georgia--it was wonderful to see her.

 The next day I hung out with Bryan and Emily. Emily and I went to BYU and I got to see one of our former Laurels from our ward, Maddie Allen. I really enjoyed just hanging and talking with Emily. Bryan showed me around the house they are renovating (check out the view of the mountains!), which is a lot of work but will look awesome when it's done. I also had a great time just sitting on the porch and hanging out with him.

He got a box of Dunford Donuts, one of which is a meal in and of itself.

On Saturday morning, Michael's brother, Joseph, and his wife Jenna, made me a yummy waffle breakfast and we went on a hike to Slate Canyon Park. I had forgotten about this place, and it has a beautiful view.

I am so blessed to have such great family as my in-laws.

Later that afternoon, I hung out with Heather. Here's Heather with her youngest, Duncan (age 11) at his soccer game. It was great just talking and being together and hearing and learning from Heather throughout this trip.

Hanging out in the sun at the game.

And then later, we all went out to Cubby's for burgers/salads/fries. Really good! Here are Bryan and Emily. I sure like them.

Four of my nieces and nephews--Duncan, Grace, Caroline, and Clay--and you can see my sweet parents in the background.

On Sunday morning I flew home. Here's the Great Salt Lake from my airplane window around 7am. It was a wonderful trip, and I was missing my family and ready to go home. Michael and the kids all survived and I came home to a clean house with roses on the counter.

Such a generous and thoughtful birthday gift from my favorite person.

Outdoor fun

It's been pretty hot, but we have enjoyed some fun outdoor time so far this September.

 Over Labor Day weekend, we hiked in Hone Quarry (in the George Washington National Forest, part of the Appalachian mountains on the border of West Virginia and Virginia) to Lover's Leap. It's probably a mile up, so it's a manageable time for three kids. Henry was happy in the backpack.

 We made it! Robbie was a champ and hiked the whole way without much help.

Clara had gone on it twice before, and this was the first time she'd done it without any piggyback help. That was a great feat.

Then a week later, we went camping with our ward at Camp Shenandoah.

Clara enjoyed being out in nature, and especially loved the marshmallows.

Henry enjoyed his first s'more, too! Robbie had a blast playing in the woods with the other kids who were there.

Henry was a pill in the night. Even though this was his third (!) camping trip since birth, he apparently hasn't gotten the message that nighttime means sleeping, even when you're in a tent. I took him out of his pack 'n play around 1:30 and tried to get him to sleep with me, haha. Finally about 3am I gave him to Michael, who said a prayer and got the distinct impression to "keep his back on the ground." He did so, and Henry finally fell asleep. My internal response was, "Hey! How come I didn't get that idea when I was awake with him for two and a half hours?" And then I realized, maybe it's because I didn't think to pray for help! Live and learn.

The picture above is at about 6:30am when the kids were awake but Henry was sleeping in. Good thing he's so cute.

Taking it easy.

We did a service project afterwards, helping the camp take down tent platforms and loading up the bricks. It was a fun, albeit exhausting, weekend.

And now the weather is finally starting to turn a little cooler and less humid--looking forward to fall.

Michael's mud run

Michael and a couple of his staff members participated in the "Dayton Muddler" a couple of weeks ago with an oral surgeon's group in town. It is a 5K where you also have obstacles, mud, heavy items to carry, and walls to climb. He had a great time. Maybe we'll do it together next year!

It was a super hot day, and I wasn't even sure if we'd be able to find Michael along the race, but we did. Yay! We made signs for him to cheer him on. They were good sports.

Just surfacing after an ice bath in a giant trash bin. Brrrr!

Finishing a lap carrying a big heavy sack and crawling under some netting through sand.

Climbing the big net wall.

Michael crawled through the mud under that net for about 30 feet and didn't let his knees touch once. Serious shoulder strength.

 And then he got to enjoy slogging through more mud before the finish.

Good thing it was all for a good cause!

Summer 2016: an overview

Each April and May, I start planning the summer: what I want to accomplish and how I am going to balance fun and flexibility with structure and responsibility for the kids. This was also the first "real" summer with three kids, since last summer Henry was born and I don't really remember much of it through my sleep-deprived state. So that in and of itself was an adjustment.

It's helpful for me to look back and think about what went well and what didn't go so well after a season is over. 

Things that went well:

1. Keeping to the morning routine.

I made these morning routine charts and put them in sheet protectors. It helped us all to remember what we needed to do each morning and to make sure we got the day started off on the right foot.

2. Doing fun activities. As I put other summer blog posts together, I realize that we did do a lot of good things. We went to the library about every week, and I don't feel like the kids got too much screen time. Robbie got 30 minutes each afternoon after quiet time and cleaning up his toys, and Clara got that plus some more screen time at night before bed after Robbie was in bed so I could have some time.

3. Taking a break. I was grateful to have babysitters come over sometimes so I could go to the office to get work done or run errands by myself. That is a luxury, and I was grateful (and felt a little guilty, let's be honest) to have some time to myself occasionally.

4. Camps for Clara. She did three camps--Camp Stillmeadows, an American Girl camp at the Children's Museum, and an Activity Day camp. She loved all of them and wanted to do more.

5. Michael's good balance of work and play. Michael was super busy with work this summer, but he did a great job of taking time to take the kids to the pool and take days off for our little excursions away.

6. Laps around the house. After one of many frustrating days with the kids hitting each other and going to time-out, I had the idea (inspiration) to have them run a lap around the house each time they are unkind to each other. They both have to go take the lap (sometimes two or more), and it helps with resetting the situation. They still go to time-out for other reasons, but it was great because it got them outside, was active, and was easy for me to enforce.

Things that didn't go so well:

1. Goal completion. I had goals for Clara to work on school review or computer typing daily, but that didn't really happen except for a couple of times in June. I also wanted to help her be more physically prepared for middle school PE, but we went to the Montevideo Middle School track only four times, and the one or two laps we only did were hot and full of complaining. I also wanted to have the kids each help me fix dinner a night a week, but that didn't happen except for one or two times in June. Robbie still likes to help me sometimes anyway, but I didn't spend one-on-one time with Clara in the kitchen, sadly. I feel disappointed in myself that I didn't stick to my original goals in that regard.

2. Sibling contention. This was one of the hardest parts of the summer (and is challenging whenever all the kids are home together)--I feel like I'm at a disadvantage because I am the youngest and didn't see a lot of the squabbling between my siblings. Michael tells me it's normal, but that doesn't mean I like it. It was challenging keeping everyone occupied with varying levels of ability, interest, etc. One of the things I am trying to learn is what is in my control and what isn't--I can't control whether they fight or not. I can only control my reaction and attitude. That is so hard for me to accept!

 Here's the bucket list I made--didn't get it all done, but we did a lot of other stuff that wasn't on there, too. I think the bucket list concept is good because it's a visual reminder of things you want to make sure you do, but it's also bad because it can make you feel guilty for not doing something. I learned that I shouldn't put something on the bucket list unless I am actually really excited about it. (Like Michael and I were both not really excited about bowling, for example.)

The only real regret I have is that we didn't stay up late and catch fireflies. By the time I wanted to do it, the fireflies were already gone for the season.

Plan for next summer?:

1. Stick with the morning routine/chore plan.

2. Find more camps/activities for Clara.

3. Somehow find more structure so the kids don't have as much downtime to fight??

4. Have a freezer-meal fiesta before school starts so that I don't have to deal as much with dinner planning, etc.

5.  Make sure I get time with friends as well so I can feel more fulfilled.

6. Decide whether I want to try to have "summer goals" or not.

7. Do a bucket list but include the kids in the planning and do it for an FHE activity.

8. Go to the pool more often--even though I don't love it, the kids do and it's a great active activity.