July 2017

We signed Jack and Hazel up for swim team for the summer. They had practices five days a week and meets every Saturday for a couple of months. That was too intense for us, so we went about half the time instead. Overall, it was a good experience.  Jack liked it the most. Hazel loathed wearing a swim cap (which she only had to do at meets!). We got them into it for the exercise more than anything. They improved on their strokes and definitely on their endurance. We'll probably do it again next summer.

We've been boating a couple of times with our friends from church, Richard and Karen Anderson. Jack tried wake boarding for the first time, and Hazel crossed the wake for her first time. Todd had some fun and tweaked his neck, and hasn't stopped complaining about it since, but still thinks we need a boat of our own someday. (Not till I have a convertible!)

We stayed local for the Fourth of July, attending our church pancake breakfast, making flag fruit pizza, going to the movies, and meeting up with friends to watch the Livermore City fireworks. Nobody even seemed to miss the Half Moon Bay parade we usually attend. It was nice to skip the drive, for sure.

Me with my friends Elaine and Katie at the fireworks. 

My plan to make the kids do all the work with the bunnies has not made them want to get rid of them. Everyone is still in love with the little fur balls. All the kids love to snuggle them, and Hazel and Jack are always willing to clean the cage and refill the hay. Todd built a new hay rack that sits inside the cage, so now all the hay drops inside and my floors are staying a lot cleaner. Maybe I can stand to keep the guys. Maybe.

Gemma has been on a major writing spree this summer. She is very self-motivated and recognizes almost all the capital letters now, as well as a handful of lowercase ones. Her favorite thing is to grab a paper and pen and write, write, write. It'll keep her entertained for an hour straight and is so fun to see. She often asks me to read what she wrote and seems amazed when I tell her her messages says, "I love my family," or something similar. "Does it really say that?" she asks in wonder, so excited that she has the power to convey messages. She's right on track. She's big into looking at chapter books instead of picture books, wanting so badly to be like Hazel. It's funny when she gets in the car and opens up her novel, then is disappointed that there are no pictures, and we're on the road and she can't switch books. (We have a lot of early reader chapter books that do have pictures, so it makes sense that she thinks she can get away with having the best of both worlds.) 

We flew to Utah again a couple of weeks ago for the Bingham family reunion. The kids were invited to the cockpit. The pilots were so friendly, sharing their hats and showing off all the buttons, passing out wing pins and posing for pictures. It was a little embarrassing to have the pilots think they were giving the kids such a unique experience, then have my kiddos reveal that they already did this a few months ago on a competing airline. Eek. 

Everyone was able to make it out, which was so nice. That made it the perfect opportunity to try for an updated family portrait, so very first thing, we headed to Mack Park to take pictures. Lucky for us, it worked out! 

Since we were all dolled up, I asked my mom to take our family pictures, too, and I think we got some really good ones. Yay! 

Back at Mom and Dad's house, we had a nice party, complete with some yard games, karaoke, a Mario Kart tournament, and lots of good food. 

We went to the Logan Aquatic Center, where the kids had a blast on the water slides and diving boards. Hazel did a flip off the high dive, ending with a massive belly flop - ow! She was a good sport about it. Jack went off the high dive for the first time; I was so proud of him! He's really learned to take some risks and try new things this past year. Gemma went down the twisty slide independently over and over again, and wowed all the lifeguards and moms with how she could swim all the way to the wall on her own afterward. She is turning into such a mermaid!

We visited each of my living grandparents. The big hit at Grandpa Bingham's was his darling barn cats. The kids were in love - especially Hazel. She truly seems to love animals. It was also fun to hear Grandpa recount how he met and courted Grandma. Apparently, she wasn't expecting his marriage proposal and they broke up for a while, which was awkward because they'd signed up for several classes together that semester (at BYU). Luckily, Grandpa tried again later, and all's well that ends well. 

We all had a good visit at Grandma Holley's. Somehow the story came out that Jack had been playing with a girl who is one of his buddies, and she wrote him a note asking if he was secretly in love with her, to which he replied emphatically, "No!" It got everyone talking about crushes from their childhoods and we shared some fun stories all around.

Kathryn asked Grandma to share the story of the time she and Grandpa stole a Christmas tree. Grandma seemed affronted! Apparently the story goes that by the time they got to the tree lot on Christmas Eve, the owner was home with his family and the trees were all doomed to be burned the next day. They would have paid for the tree if there had been an attendant there to take their money!

Todd followed it up with a story of his own, when he did steal a Christmas tree, and shared with everyone his adventure of hunting for the only tree in Afghanistan, and his Christmas with a decorated olive tree he and some buddies secretly brought back to base in the helicopter!

All the cousins: Gemma, Ethan, Jack, Hazel, Isaac

I love that my kids have just as good a time with my parents and siblings as they do with all their Bonner cousins. Family is family, and love is love.

Todd allotted himself a very generous budget for fireworks this year, and even went so far as to rent a truck because he could visualize how ridiculous it would be and how much space he would need for all his party supplies. He was out of control in the fireworks tent, with eyes like saucers, a kid in a candy store, reaching for items with no plan or reasoning. Literally, the kids were running up to him with random items in their hands, asking, "Dad, can we get this?" and Todd would answer, "Sure, put it on the table," without even glancing at what they had. It was ridiculous. He even found the legendary Iron Dome, which we searched for everywhere last year to no avail.

He hosted the show at an elementary school near Beany's house, and told her to invite some friends. Probably 30 young adults showed up. Todd had his products lined up all across the blacktop so he could be constantly lighting something off, aerials and fountains going simultaneously. There was a continuous light show for a solid thirty minutes. It was out of this world! Only one firework went awry (and singed two spectators). That freaked Hazel out, so I spent half the show holding her hand and preventing her from bolting. That was unexpected. Jack was working the crowd, making all the girls giggle at how cute and funny and excited he was. Gemma mostly snuggled Nana and oohed and aahed.

Probably my absolute highlight from the weekend was this moment I caught after the fireworks show. While all the adults were cleaning up, my kids gathered around the popcorn bowl and shared "stories from their lives" with each other. It was an adorable thing to catch and witness! I hope the three of them will be buddies for life.