Y.E.S. Summer Field Trip: Centennial Park (and some Miscellany)

This week was a little more low-key than the others this summer.  There were no camps, no birthdays, no big family days.  We had our nice afternoon at the park on Sunday, and then had a nice Monday at the Steeds’ house.  Before we left, however, I got a few cute pictures of Everley:

This was before and after we changed her for the day.

Since it’s about an hour to the Steeds house, I loaded the kids up with books.  I told Luke he could read his Nathan Hale, because it was historical.  But I banned Anna from Calvin and Hobbes, instead giving her a choice from old Sonlight books.  She found a couple she liked, and I haphazardly snapped this pic as the light was turning from red to green to note my continued appreciation of Sonlight’s literature selections:

I wish I could have gotten a better one that had Luke in it, but I had to put my phone down and drive.

We spent hours that day at the Steeds’ although as usual, I was too busy talking with Courtney to get pictures.

Then on Tuesday, we had our weekly Y.E.S. field trip.  I had bought kites and bubbles to take out to Centennial Park.  I figured that those, combined with the playground and the pond where we could feed the ducks, would be enough to entertain the kids for a couple hours.  We got there before the Y.E.S. kids, so Luke and Anna had fun pushing Everley on the swing:

I love this one of Luke waiting until she got high enough to kiss the side of her head.

When the Y.E.S. vans came, all the kids played for awhile on the playground.

I got Ev all sunscreened up, plus shod and sun-hatted.

She looked adorable.

Dessa tried taking her down the smallest slide, but she wasn’t too impressed.

After awhile, the Y.E.S. workers divided the kids into two groups. 

I took one group out to the green space to fly kites, and the other group went to the pond to blow bubbles and feed the ducks. 

I love the idea of kites, and the mental image of them flying against the backdrop of the Parthenon was irresistible to me.

However, kites are inevitably more viable in theory than in practice.  In reality, they are a pain to assemble (well, thirty of them all), tricky to keep untangled, and easily broken.  So they didn’t entertain the kids for long, but they really were fun while they (briefly) lasted:

Isabel’s kite flew the highest—she let her string all the way out:

Most of the kids were ready to switch groups when it was time to rotate.  Even more than that, though, they wanted water—which the Y.E.S. workers had forgotten to bring.  It wasn’t super hot, and I knew no one was actually going to die (though the kids were less convinced), but I was kind of frustrated by the lack of water because it was definitely taking away the kids’ enjoyment of the event—and who could blame them.

Thankfully, the change of scenery, plus the breeze coming off the pond—reinvigorated them.

They had fun feeding the ducks, although one girl accidentally got bumped into the pond, which she found mortifying.  I was able to comfort her through empathy because while she had soaked herself, I had knocked an empty bubble bottle into the pond and while stooping to fish it out, had gotten duck poop on several places on my jeans.  So that was fun…

Overall, though, I would say the field trip was a success, thanks in large part to the fact that the Belmont group from the week before was back with their face paint and parachute and games…and WATER.  When the pond group went to rejoin the kite group, we found the kite group had all been lured away to the playground (along with their chaperones, of course), drawn by the promise of rehydration.  I picked up the remaining kites, while our group joined them.  We ended on that note, and Daniel said the kids came home happy, so that’s what matters!

Everley took a big nap that day and woke up super happy:

And Greg got home at 4:00, so we all walked to the playground, and then that evening, he read some Harry Potter to the kids.

I absolutely love this picture.  He’s such a good dad!

Sunday Creek Fun

You may have deduced from reading this blog that my kids are big fans of creeks.  And also that Greg and I are big fans of both nature—and, for that matter, free things.  Thus, going to a creek is a form of entertainment that works for our whole family.  Yes, there are bugs, but we use plenty of spray.  Yes, there are snakes, but we make lots of noise and bank on the fact that they want to deal with us even less than we want to deal with them.  And what makes bug bites and snake encounters worth the risk for me is how much my family enjoys being out in God’s beautiful creation.  I love seeing my kids have fun in nature.  And that’s why, when we realized how pretty the weather was on Sunday, we decided to pick up some Bar-b-Cutie after church and then heading out to a nearby park.  It turned out that our friend, Viviana, had the exact same plans with her family (except substituting Captain D’s for Bar-b-Cutie), so we all met there to eat lunch and explore the creek. 

This post is mostly pictures, but I just love these memories and images.

I love Hadessa’s face in this one:

The kids started at one point, and then walked to down the creek with Viviana, while Greg, Genny, and I watched their approach from a bridge.

Eventually, we all ended up in yet another part where several other kids were playing.  One very nice boy had brought a tube, and let our kids take turns riding the very soft current:

Unfortunately the boy accidentally popped the tube with his stick, but he (and everyone else) took it in stride, and the kids continued to have a good time.

I don’t like them to go under too often in the creek, but I did let them duck their heads under at one point just for fun.

After a good long time in the creek, the kids played on the playground forever, in a great imaginary world with castles and royal horses and adventures, while we adults talked in the shade of the pavilion.  It was one of those really good afternoons where everything aligns:  weather, friends, fun.  It made me very grateful that we live in such a beautiful place surrounded by such good friends!

Weekly Wrap-Up: June 21-27

In my mind, I think of the week after Luke’s birthday as pretty laid-back, and in some ways it was—but we also had a lot going on!

For one thing, that Sunday was Father’s Day.  Gaga left just after we left for church that morning, and we had to duck out after Sunday school to have a Father’s Day lunch with Papa, Gigi, and Chris’ family, who had all gone to early church services.  Of course, the cousins loved being together, and the adults all enjoyed catching up.  I told the girls to smile for a picture, and this is what I got:

What in the world?  The boys did better.

Blurry, but cute.

Cousins are so fun!

After lunch, Greg dropped Luke and me off to see Inside Out at the Hollywood 27.  He and Anna had raved about it the day before, so we decided that we just had to see it, too.  It was so good—and also a tear jerker!

On Monday-Friday, the kids had their first tennis camp at Centennial Sportsplex.  I had high hopes for this camp, and I was not let down:  both kids had a blast. 

Anna entertained Everley on Monday morning while we waited for the kids to be called back.

I was grateful that the camp took place on indoor courts; it was a HOT week! The first day, I lingered a little but finally left during the warm-ups, which looked fun but were very thorough.  I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go home or not, and I finally decided to hang around since it was the first day.  Centennial Sportsplex is right by Centennial Park, so Ev and I walked the mile loop that goes around the park while I waited for her to fall asleep in her stroller.  Though it was hot, it was a beautiful day.

I loved seeing the flowers and trees on my walk.  By the time I was done, I realized I had forgotten to eat breakfast, so I loaded Ev up and drove to Noshville, a nearby restaurant I’d heard about but never tried.  I honestly wasn’t too impressed, although I did enjoy having a nice, quiet meal by myself with a sleeping baby for company.  I drove back to the Sportsplex afterward and finally decided to walk to a nearby Five Guys and use some of the gift card Luke had gotten for his birthday to buy the kids lunch.  By the time I’d walked back, the tennis camp was wrapping up.  I was able to snap a few pictures, but they aren’t that great because the courts are all surrounded by nets:

Luke and Anna were in different age-groups, and Anna was playing on half a court with the youngest kids.  They both seemed to be enjoying themselves, and sure enough, they came off the courts tired but happy:

I was all ready to take the kids over to the playground at Centennial Park to eat their Five Guys, but Luke reminded me we had speech therapy.  Whoa—thanks, Luke!  They ate on the way to therapy, and then convinced me to take them to the splash pad at Charlie Daniels’ Park afterward.  So after a quick stop by Everley’s house to get her bathing suit, swim diaper, and sunscreen, we were off on the fairly lengthy drive to Mt. Juliet.

I didn’t get too many pictures at the splash pad, because I hadn’t thought through the situation very well.  For instance, I was not wearing a swimsuit, and thus, was not allowed to get wet, per the rules the lifeguard shared with me upon arrival.  That made it very hard to stay close to an exploring Everley, so finagling that took most of my concentration:

Just after I took those last pictures of Luke and Everley, she slipped and bumped her nose, thus ending her splash pad adventure.  The kids tired of it shortly afterward, then played for a little while on the playground before we loaded up and headed home.

On Tuesday, I decided to stay near camp again, since I had enjoyed it so much Monday.  This time, Ev and I walked to the nearby Barnes and Noble for some Starbucks and book-browsing before heading over to the playground.

I had planned to let her swing, but she was asleep before we got there!  So instead, I walked my mile loop before settling in to read some of The Bully Pulpit on a swing in the shade while Everley slept.  It was a good way to spend the morning.

I also decided to walk to Five Guys again, and this time, we were able to picnic at the playground at Centennial:

So Ev ended up getting to swing:

A mission-oriented camp at Belmont University had a group of campers at the park to lead the area children in games and do face-painting and stuff like that.  Luke wasn’t interested, but Anna liked playing with the giant parachute:

You can see her running underneath with the other kids.

Luke and Anna both also liked the Bible verses the Belmont kids had written in sidewalk chalk:

Wednesday, of course, was Greg’s day off, so he went with me to drop off the kids.  I finally got a “tennis camp” picture:

Pretend this is Monday:).

I love brunch, so after we dropped the kids off, we decided to try a restaurant in the Gulch that we heard great things about:

I think we must have ordered the wrong things, because neither of us was very impressed by our meal:

However, we loved getting to spend time together.  Afterward, we walked around Centennial Park before picking the kids up.  On the way home, we were able to give them some good news that I can’t share yet, but I still love their expressions upon hearing:

More on that to come!

That afternoon, we really just hung out around the house.  Luke and Greg worked a little with Luke’s new tools and some spare wood:

That evening at church, we had game night and played volleyball.

We played a few rounds with the kids before sending them off to play and then having a couple of adults-only games.  It was such fun!

On Thursday after I dropped the kids off for camp, Everley and I went to meet the Y.E.S. kids for their weekly field trip.  This time, they went to a showing of the play, Alice in Wonderland, at our downtown library:

It was a cute show, and the kids all seemed to like it.  Afterward, I picked up a quick lunch before going to get Luke and Anna:

Then, we had to rush home for them to eat lunch before going to piano lessons.  While Anna had her lessons, the rest of us were silently goofy:

I can’t remember much of what we did on Friday, besides that we finished the 4th Harry Potter book, had spaghetti for dinner, and then had a movie night with “frozen Butterbeer” (really, cream soda floats with Redi-whip and butterscotch topping):

Luke wasn’t feeling very well on Saturday, so we ended up kind of having what we called a “bum day,” where we just bummed around the house.  After a big week of camp, though, it makes sense, I guess, that the kids would be tired.  In any case, it was nice to have a day to relax to close an eventful week!