Soccer games and summer rains

 This week was Andrew's first full week back to school and so far he seems to be enjoying it.

We've also entered into the soccer season, which means anywhere from 1-3 games a week, plus Andrew's practice. We all turned out to watch Evelyn play earlier this week (Tuesday, I think). She still bounces a little, but she's starting to figure out that running after the ball is more effective.

 Andrew and Oliver both have a hard time staying focused on watching the game. (Hard to tell who has  harder time, actually).

Two of Oliver's favorite things: camera and hair. Poor Dan.

Dan and I spent part of the week in meetings, but since I only teach part time, he attended far more of those than I did (university meetings, college meetings, department meetings). For the record, I'm looking forward to teaching again, but I am very glad that I still get to spend most of my time home with these two:

 Evelyn starts kindergarten this week (they start K late because of assessment stuff, where each kid gets to meet individually with the teacher before class starts). She got a new haircut on Saturday and now she's all ready to go.

We really don't have much to report this week--can you tell? We've had more rain the last few days, which means our garden is again out of control. And I've perfected a kind of veggie casserole (Dan's been calling it ratatouille but I'm not sure it's quite that) using eggplant, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes from our garden. I took some to a ward party on Thursday and it was nearly cleaned out. In related news, we had zucchini and eggplant lasagna for dinner on Friday.

Classes start for Dan tomorrow, and for me on Tuesday. We'll let you know how it goes next week. (Now if that isn't incentive to come back, I don't know what is!)

Words on words

Last week, I got an early childhood intervention assessment to fill out for Oliver. Some of the questions asked about his communication abilities: does he use any recognizable words?

At the time I got the assessment, I would have said, "I don't think so." Sometimes he said "dada" and sometimes he said things that sounded like Andrew or Evelyn. But it was never directed enough for us to be sure.

Today, however, Dan and I both witnessed Oliver clearly applying specific sounds to specific individuals. I'm still not sure about Evelyn, but it's clear that Dan is "dada" and Andrew is "ah-djoo."

Oliver stayed home from church today because of a cold, but when I approached the house with Andrew and Evelyn, Oliver got really excited and started repeating Andrew's name.

To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that "Mama" wasn't his first word (it was for the other two kids). But if I have to play second fiddle, I'm really happy that Oliver loves his brother so much.

Mini vacations--and school

My apologies for the lack of a post last week--but we'd just started the first leg of our mini vacation to Richfield, UT, at the time that I usually post, so it didn't happen.

On the other hand, this week's post is bound to be longer than usual--and there's pictures! So stay tuned . . .

We spent the last full week of summer vacation enjoying a leisurely schedule. We finished swim lessons (Andrew was disappointed not to pass level 4, but as he still needs to get his side breathing down, I think this is probably okay.)

The kids blowing bubbles for themselves--and Oliver.

Evelyn and Andrew have started soccer for the season. Evelyn's team is the pink flamingos--they've won one game and lost the other. It's clear that Evelyn doesn't have quite the soccer experience as the other girls on her team (she tends to bounce after the ball rather than run, and she spends as much time cheering on her teammates as she spends chasing the ball herself). But she's fun to watch.

Andrew's team is the Thunderbolts (Andrew wanted to call them the Makos, but he was out voted. Personally, I think Mako sharks are much cooler, but whatever). Andrew plays with his usual intensity, but so far this year it appears that his team is better than it has been in the past. He scored three goals in this particular game--the first goal less than a minute after the game started, which made him extremely happy. (On an unrelated note, I've discovered that Andrew can't keep his eyes open when the flash is on. It makes for some interesting pictures).

Dan, unfortunately, spent much of the summer working. We managed to squeeze in a couple of days before school started for the kids and took a mini vacation to Richfield. After Sunday night at the hotel (everyone was up by 6 a.m., thanks to Oliver), we spent the morning up around Fish Lake.

A kind highway construction worker gave us a couple of tips about places to stop on the highway loop past fish lake: a spot where white pelicans gathered on the shoreline (just out of sight of the picture below), and a rest stop where wild raspberries grew just around the parking lot.

Turns out Oliver likes raspberries as much (or more--if that's possible) than his sister.

 We rounded off our morning with a trip to Cafe Diablo, in Torrey (just outside Capitol Reef). Dan's been dreaming of this particular visit all summer, so I'm glad we were able to go, even if the reality didn't quite live up to our expectations. Apparently the cafe has changed owners, so while the food is still good and unique, it doesn't have the same dramatic artistry of our first visits.

After an afternoon swim and a visit to Gary's shoes (Sarah and Poppy will be pleased to know that Andrew came away the proud owner of a new pair of Keen shoes), we joined up with some cousins. Jon and Jolynn were gracious enough to host us. Oliver had fun with baby Clara--the two of them crawled around (and over) each other the whole time we were there. (Clara also generously shared her cold with Oliver, but that's a different story!)

Jon carved some miniature boats for all the kids (and a couple of the grown-ups too), and then we raced them in the canal. Evelyn and Oliver refused to race their boats, as they'd invested too much time into decorating theirs.

 Oliver, who might be the only person who didn't care about the proceedings, won.

Our route ended at the Richfield cemetery, where we spent a little bit of time looking for some tombstones of my great-great grandparents. Luckily, the cemetery had a list so we didn't spend too long looking, as it turns out that my great-grandparents were *not* buried there.

Oliver at rest.

The next morning I asked Dan if we could drive through Monroe, which is where my grandfather was born. We swung by the cemetery--and lo and behold, there were the missing graves: Moroni Hunt and Samuel Willard Collings.

My great-great grandfather Samuel was only nine months old when his family traveled west with the Martin Handcart company. Miraculously, his whole family made it to Utah.

Our final stop was the Fremont Indian state park, where the kids had the opportunity to explore some scale models of the pit houses of the Fremont Indians.

After a short hike on a hot morning, we were all glad to get back in the air-conditioned car and go back to Richfield for lunch before heading home. (It was, as I said, a *short* vacation).

Tuesday night, after our arrival home, my mom came down and she, Bubby, and I went to see Thoroughly Modern Millie at Tuacahn. It was delightful.

It was also a week of plays for my mom, who took Andrew to Peter and the Starcatchers, and then the two of us attended Anything Goes (also a fun musical).

Thursday, Andrew started his first day of second grade. We're very excited about his teacher, who has a master's degree in differential education--which means she focuses on teaching to the different abilities of all her students, both advanced and those who need more help. I'm hoping she'll be able to keep Andrew challenged.

 Oliver has recently discovered the pleasures of watching out the door for his brother to arrive home.

 Also, Oliver likes to "play" the piano with Andrew. (Not that either of them knows much . . . I'm hoping to start Andrew on real lessons this fall).

 This picture is a little blurry, but I love it because you can see how much Oliver likes his brother--this was his reaction to something funny Andrew was doing across the room.

All in all, we've been glad for a quiet weekend this week: we spent yesterday doing some cleaning, watching Evelyn's soccer game, and then in the afternoon Dan took the older kids to Planes while Oliver and I went grocery shopping and made dinner. (I suspect Dan got the better end of that deal).

Next week: meetings at the university.

Our summer is officially over.

Family, reprise

My mother-in-law commented today that it seems like we've spent more time out of town than at home this summer--and I think she might be right.

The kids (all three of them) started swim lessons last week, because that was the first time we could fit in a M-Th block two weeks in a row. Andrew may be the only one to really benefit from the lessons, though. Evelyn's repeating the same class she's had twice before (and passed) because they won't allow her into the next level until she's six. She does enjoy her class, though. And Oliver? We're doing the mommy-and-me class because I figured that would be easier than trying to keep him away from the water for the half hour his siblings are in class. He seems bemused by the whole process more than anything. He likes splashing, refuses to float on his back (arches his back, pulls his feet up, grabs my swim suit . . .), and otherwise hangs out during our class.

We've been trying to enjoy the bounty of our garden, even if this means trying out creative squash recipes (this week it was squash in a quiche and squash cakes--which Oliver devoured).

My mom came down Wednesday for a post-birthday celebration. She and Trisha went to see Love's Labour's Lost (which Dan and I saw the previous week), we made dinner, and then headed down to Tuacahn with Andrew to see Mary Poppins. It was interesting to see how they've updated the story I remember from Disney: most of the songs I remember were there, but the chronology and context was different (some altered to fit the stage, but most altered to make a more coherent story). Mr. and Mrs. Banks play a much bigger role in this story--and I liked that. Andrew most liked the fireworks, which he has limited (maybe nonexistent?) experience with, as we haven't (yet) let the kids stay up that late on the Fourth. Maybe next year.

Thursday, after swim lessons and lunch, I packed up the kids and once again headed north. (If this line sounds tired, it's because that's how I feel typing it. I love the people we see at the other end of our treks, but we've done this jaunt almost every other week all summer--and driving all those hours without Dan can get exhausting). I spent much of Friday at a retreat for the Segullah staff, which was delightful--in the three years I've been on the (all-volunteer) staff, I've met some really amazing people who inspire me on a regular basis.

Saturday, we had the chance to attend my niece, Emi's, baptism. It was a lovely ceremony--even if Emi did have to get baptized twice (her toe popped up). The kids especially liked running around with their cousins afterwards. Oliver, I think, mainly liked the strawberries from the post-baptism brunch.

I found I missed my husband, my bed, my house, and came home Saturday night instead of Sunday as I'd originally planned. This went pretty smoothly (my exhausted baby slept for 2/3 of the drive), except that I'd bought the kids strawberry milk in Scipio (since Dairy Queen, my original option, was closed--it closes at 7 p.m. Who knew?). Andrew waited until just past Meadow to tell me he really needed to go to the bathroom (those of you familiar with this drive know there is nothing--not even exits--for nearly twenty miles past Meadow). I was scanning the road looking for a good place to turn off when Andrew informed me that he didn't really need a bathroom any more. He'd sort of already gone. Blech.

Luckily, we had a suitcase with some clean underwear and shorts, so he didn't have to stay in his squishy seat for too long. And that reminds me . . . I need to put his laundry in the dryer! Signing off . . .