On the last official day of summer vacation, we did that thing where we don't waste one idle minute. All the summer favorites were played out back to back.
The kids spent the morning with the surprise activity of "Lego Wars".
I'm not sure what that means, but they played legos under the tree and on the porch for hours.
After lego wars, we played at the beach.
The water is starting to get extra cold, so they spent more time in the sand.
After dinner we rode down to the state park for some ice cream.
Near the end of August, the sun goes down sooner than we expect, so we ride our bikes home in the dusk. By the time we get to Sagebrush Lane, it is dark and we are happy to be home.
The next morning we had a soft start to school: the elementary kids did a one on one chat with their teachers, and Avery had a full day (8:20-12:00 of "school"). I didn't even get a first day of school picture because it didn't feel official. I'll take one Monday.
It feels like we are in a summer hybrid because the kids are done by noon and we still have all day to play in the sun.
We rode down to the Bookmobile (the library on wheels down at Birch Bay) to check out some books.
I think this will be our Wednesday ritual. It is our only source of fresh books now that we don't have a school library.
I wonder how I will feel about this distance learning once the novelty wears off and the doldrums set in, but so far Avery loves it. She feels like she's in a classroom with peers, but there isn't the awfulness that comes with being a 7th grader.
Life is so different that it was 6 months ago. Can you even believe it?
Also, I'm in a bad mood today. It feels like sticky tar inside my guts. I'm not sure why. But it's making this blog recap a slog. The boys are fighting and Evan just asked asked me what my favorite Star Wars is and the answer is: I hate Star Wars.
I also hate fighting children. It's soooo annnnnoyyying. "Andrew said I'm not good at devices".
That's what they are bickering about.
That's why I have tar on my insides.
Anyway. I think this view from the bookmobile is so pretty.
Here's what our church looks like:
medicine cups for home sacrament,
and we watch David Bowman do "drawn in".
He follows Come Follow Me and pulls out good stuff from the Book of Mormon that kids can understand. He explains the context and the timeline and the characters, so it turns out I've never understood the BOM more.
A pretty sunset on a pretty bike ride on a pretty summer evening.
The whole family worked so hard to get this wonky front tooth out.
They did the door slam and the string pull and the dad pull.
I hate tooth extractions. If it were up to me, the teeth would fall out on their own without any intervention. Yucky.
Andrew wanted the tooth out so bad because he wanted the tooth fairy money.
He is currently obsessed with making easy money.
One time Gus paid him $5.00 to ring my doorbell and moon me.
Ok, I wasn't going to tell you this story, because it's gross. But it's also legendary. And Psychotic and baffleing.
On the first day of school, when all the kids were at "recess", they started daring each other to do dumb, silly things. Then Andrew volunteered his own dare: "What if I pooped in a box?!"
This is where it gets weird.
So.
He ran over to our garage and got the empty costco sized granola bar box from the recycle bin,
took it between some bushes, and pooped in it. Then he tried to show everyone.
Evan said he tried to stop him, but was laughing too hard.
Avery ran and told Jim.
I just don't even know. He got in a lot of trouble. We had just got done talking about trust and earning and losing it. I even used the example of "we let you go have unlimited access to roaming the neighborhood because we trust you..."
And then he went and did this and now he's "lost our trust".
Look how big this dog is.
We got a bark/shock collar for when she's in the back yard acting like a maniac and it works SO WELL!
I love her more than ever now that she doesn't bark at NOTHING for NO REASON.
Jim built himself a new bike.
It started pouring down rain, Florida style.
We have revisited the Padden adventure with the dogs. It's new and improved because the boys go around the lake on the regular trail, and the girls go around the upper horse/off leash trails.
Do you know how pleasant it is to not have the boys with their crazy boy energy buzzing around us? And do you know how pleasant it is to not wrestle a dog on a leash, letting them run wild and free?
Earlier in the month G and G Larsen came to visit. You can always tell when we have visitors because I'm in the back seat with a child. Ha.
We ate a lot of good restaurant food and picked berries and made a pie and explored Berthusen park and played at the beach.
It's crabbing season. Friends show up at my door with crab, and I drop everything and eat it.
Andrew is my quirkiest child. You just never know what he's going to say, what is going on in his head.
It's mostly hilarious, but sometimes he's so far away in la la land it gets frustrating when I need him back down here on earth to clean up his MESSES.
Earth to Andrew. Come in Andrew.
One Sunday, Jim had left over waffles for sacrament bread, and as Andrew went to take a piece, he asked "can I have syrup on it?"
He was dead serious because he doesn't eat breakfast foods unless they are SWIMMING in syrup.
My home when school is in session doesn't usually feel so busy and chaotic, but we are in a summer/school hybrid.
Thursday, after all the school was finished, street recess went on and on and on.
Kids were racing all around and Lisa was here for hours. The laundry sat in the middle of the room all day. The kids created some kind of society out in the yard. It involved costumes. Gus was the president. Christopher was the mayor. Andrew was a bodyguard. Evan was someone who wore a tie.
Recess went on and on until we had to scrape some dinner together.
The girls (7th graders!) played legos for 8 hours straight.
I have a love/hate with all of this madness. It feels good to be in our own Sagebrush society, but also: remember a quiet, clean house? Remember that?
But also, there isn't the chaos of soccer this fall.
It's a brand new kind of busy and messy.
Jim and I are still able to sneak away to Galbraith though.
At least we have that bit of peace.
I ran up to this old crumbling cabin on the north side.
Yesterday, Saturday, was a beautiful day full of Padden and birthday parties.
I love when we do birthday parties at Semiahmoo.
Any excuse to have a fire and a sunset out there on the water. It makes me so happy.
Look at this weird drift wood. It looks like a squid.
Look at this weird child. He looks like a psycho.
Earlier he drew all over his face to indicate that he "isn't fancy".
That is one long bull kelp between those two boys. Cool!
After this we went to one more neighborhood birthday party.
There was a stampede of children on the street, and I'm so thankful no one lives on Sagebrush who complains of the rumble of children.
(besides me. I complain about it sometimes)
