August 2023

Jack is still obsessed with all things Japanese. He made plans with his friend Juno and her mom Minsun to make sushi using some of our frozen salmon from Alaska. They had to reschedule a few times due to travel and illness, but finally found a time to get together over the summer and make their dreams come true. The final report was that it was "too fishy," and msot of it got repurposed as fried rice. 

We had Jack and Hazel signed up for another week of volleyball camp. There were so many kids signed up for this session (right before high school tryouts) that they bumped the middle schoolers to an afternoon session. Then Hazel found out about a second volleyball camp happening at Livermore High in the afternoons and begged to do that one, too. So every morning I took Hazel to Granada High from 9-12, then I brought Jack down, left him there, took Hazel over to LHS, and picked everyone back up at 4:00. It was a ton of driving, but the kids enjoyed themselves. Meanwhile, Gemma had piano lessons, chess club, and play dates. 

Jack and Gemma were also hired to be the Zoerhoff's rat-sitters again, so they spent a good portion of their free time with that. 

The youth in the ward were invited to join another ward at Lake New Hogan for a boating overnight trip. None of the youth leaders could attend, so they reached out for parent helpers, and Todd was only too happy to volunteer himself for a boating trip. However, when they met up at the church Friday morning, there was only one boat for over 25 kids. (Several boat owners had backed out last minute.) Todd went into hero mode and impulsively rented two wave runners. He saved the trip. 

While they were out galavanting about and spending big bucks, Gemma and I headed up to the cabin for a one-on-one girls' trip. We had such a special time! I let Gemma take the lead and did whatever she wanted for as long as she wanted. We paddle-boarded across the lake, played game after game, read in the hammocks outside and upstairs, watched a movie, and snuggled to sleep in the same bed. It was a highlight of the summer for both of us. 

The Primary planned a night for the kids to show off talents or report on goals they'd been working on. Gemma has been trying to learn how to make waffles independently. She practiced with me, with Todd, and with her friends Clara and Lydia during play dates. When the Primary night came, she brought a platter of sample-size waffles and a sign inviting everyone to help themselves. 

Jack finished crocheting a tank top for Hazel. His work is just gorgeous and it is so much fun to see what he is capable of creating. 

Hazel had volleyball tryouts. She was invited to try for the JV team and was told by the coaches it ended up coming to a coin toss between her and another player. She ended up placed on the Freshman team. While initially disappointed, we have decided it's good for several reasons: she'll have more play time, she'll make friends with teammates in her grade level, and it will be a slightly lighter time commitment because the Freshman team doesn't have Friday practices. 

The same week, she also had Music Camp and Freshman Orientation. Two weeks before school started, and she was already spending all day every day on campus. It was a rude awakening for us of how little we are going to see of her this year. The week ended with a concert. 

Jack spent every morning that week babysitting the Robinson girls, ages four and one. Hazel had been asked, but Jack was the one with the time to give. I was thrilled he was given the opportunity. Every day he raved about how darling the little girls were and how much fun he had with them. When the week was up, the mom wrote a note that said, "Jack, just wanted to thank you for your help last week! We were super impressed with you, for how well you kept the girls entertained and even cleaning up the kitchen and playroom! We've had lots of babysitters before and you really blew us away, doing a better job than a lot of sitters we've had that are much older than you. Thanks again!" 

During the last two weeks of summer, Gemma and Clara had probably four play dates. Every time, they begged to stay longer and longer, going from a five-hour visit to a six-hour, and even a seven-hour-long adventure. Those two are such kindred spirits, they never have enough of each other. I wish so bad Clara lived close enough Gemma could bike to her house. They're so happy together. 

Gemma helped Todd change the oil on the van. 

We had a quick afternoon visit from the Turri's as they came through town. They're wild and fun. They love to make Napoleon Dynamite jokes with us. 

We've been having spectacular sunsets. I wish we could see them from our house, but we're too low and behind a wall of trees. But if we take the trail to the open space ... it's a feast for the eyes. 

Jack made ramen for us, with a special pork that had to be marinated for 24 hours. 

Our ward member, Irene Sanchez, teaches fourth grade and switched schools this summer, joining us at Croce. We spent a few hours helping her unpack her classroom (organizing books!) and she treated us with ice cream in gratitude. 

Gemma decided to try an acting class this fall instead of volleyball. She is excited to go each week. It's fun for me to chat with her about the improv games they do and the scripts they're working with. 

My friend Joleen hosted our game group ladies and their kids at her pool for one last summer hurrah. Hazel couldn't make it because she was at volleyball practice, but the rest of us enjoyed quite a party. 

Hazel had a sweet gig working at the Rhonewood Pool this summer. She only worked a handful of shifts and it was super duper flexible. There were always plenty of kids lined up to take her shift if she decided she'd rather go to the beach than to work, and the manager didn't blink an eye at how many days (cough, cough, weeks) Hazel requested off for camps and trips. They had an end of summer party for all the employees where they rented out the Vine Theater and showed the kids the Barbie movie, then treated them to frozen yogurt and an afternoon of swimming. Hazel and Kaitlyn went thrifting the day before for outfits to wear to the movie. Hazel dressed up as Barbie, and Kaitlyn as Ken. 

Jack had a couple more volunteering shifts at the library this month. He stuffed craft kits and helped set up and take down for a magic show. 

The young men went on a backpacking trip to Sword Lake. Todd went with Jack. They only hiked about three miles and spent the majority of their time playing in the water. It sounded like a nice trip, although one I was happy not to be on. I'd rather not carry a thirty-pound bag and sleep on the ground, thank you very much. Todd shared a tent with Ryan George and realized how grateful he is that I don't snore. 

Ideally, I would have taken the girls back up to the cabin. However, Hazel had volleyball practice on Friday until 4:30, and then wanted to go to a birthday party she'd been invited to. So Gemma and I had a movie night at home, and on Saturday we ladies went to Berkeley for an Art Day. 

We walked through the UC Berkeley campus wilderness area, ate scrumptious sandwiches, checked out some uppity thrift shops, walked up and down a street with poetry plaques inlaid in the sidewalk, checked out a game shop, and visited a hotel and women's club designed by the first female architect of California, Julia Morgan. It was a great girls day out! 

Then it was back to school, with three kids at three schools. Todd took Hazel day one and I biked with the other two and walked Gemma into her classroom. Everyone came home with happy reports which they spelled out for me over giant cookies. 

Gemma has Mrs. Valverde for her teacher, and has her buddies Imogene and Lydia as classmates. 

Hazel has friends in every class, is loving volleyball, and is doing an impressive job from the get-go of managing her time with more demanding studies than she has had before. 

Jack has got classes with a fresh batch of kids he didn't see as much last year because we chose not to take orchestra this year. He has enjoyed heading straight to the piano each morning before school; it's a happy way for him to start the day. 

Jack whipped up this cute kitty lovey for baby Zoe. We wish we could see her, but we know we will at least see Ryan in a few weeks at Chris and Jodi's wedding. 

We loved watching Hazel play her first game of the season. Her team was so synchronized. Hazel got to give the opening serve, and totally aced it. It was a great start! They won both games. 

Chris and Jodi came out for a quick weekend visit. Jodi had given Chris baseball tickets to see the Braves play the San Francisco Giants for his birthday, and they extended their trip long enough to hang out with us as well. We didn't have a lot of time, but they voted to go to the cabin anyway to see it and be in the mountains. We had a lovely afternoon at the lake and a fun evening playing hide and seek at the rocks. The kids begged for a movie, but I was not interested, since it was already past 8:00. They jogged home ahead of us, took fast showers, and had Princess Bride waiting when we reached home. Little manipulators! They couldn't have picked a better movie for me to have to say yes to. 

High school has been a hard adjustment for me. I'm overwhelmed with the emails, schedules, sports, homework, bus schedules, you name it! But Hazel forgot her away-game jersey the other day and asked me to bring it to her during lunch. As I pulled up, I could see her in the courtyard, long hair swinging as she ran around, hitting a volleyball in a circle of friends. She looked so confident and happy. It helped me settle down. New phase of life, here we come! 

July 2023

We went to Manresa Beach with some friends on the 4th of July. We left early n the morning with plans to leave around 3:00 to be home in time for showers and fireworks. I assumed we would have a chilly, overcast morning, but I'm so glad I was wrong. It couldn't have been more perfect. The clouds burned off within the first hour and we enjoyed a gorgeous, sunny day. The kids played their hearts out. Jack only left the water once, for a quick lunch break. We didn't do a good enough job of reapplying his sunscreen and he ended up with a vicious sunburn on his face and hands - but thankfully nowhere else, since he had a wetsuit on the whole time. Gemma was in and out, varying her activities between bodyboarding, sand digging, and sunbathing. Hazel was similar, although she spent more time in the waves than Gemma did. 

With our early morning departure, we skipped our traditional flag fruit pizza, but I did make red, white, and blue parfaits for us to enjoy in the van. 

Gemma, Hazel, and I also all had patriotic nail stickers for the celebration. 

The city fireworks were moved from the downtown parking garage to Robertson Park. We watched from the church field instead of the middle of Railroad Avenue. Between the new location (which was far quieter and more subdued) and the absence of both the George and the Haupt families that we usually gather with (they were both out of town) it felt quite lack-luster. We all left feeling underwhelmed. 

However, a phone call from Chris and Jodi on the drive home pumped us back up. They were calling to share the wonderful news with us that they are getting married in September! We are thrilled for them! 

Sunburns. They're a little difficult to make out, but you can see Hazel's red cheeks, Gemma's red under- eyes, and Jack's ... lobster-ish face. 

MK was back in town for a family visit and we had a game night reunion. It was awesome to have her back - it felt like she had never left. We wished April could have joined us as well. 

Things to note that don't have pictures:

We had a heat wave in Livermore and went up to the cabin to escape it. We couldn't go up until Saturday morning because Hazel was just coming home from FSY, and we ended up coming home Sunday morning in time for our home ward church because we found out during the day that Hazel's school friend Connor was coming to our church to check it out and bringing his mom and brother with him. We decided we wanted to be there and were all glad we made the effort. 

Pete Andrus took his daughter Ella and Jack and Hazel up to Japantown in San Francisco. Jack and Ella have bonded over their love of all things Japanese (boba, sushi, anime, koi, etc) and Pete was a good sport about giving them a taste of it all. Turns out it was basically just a Japanese mall shopping spree. They came home with chopsticks, yarn, and I can't even remember what else. 

Hazel and Jack went to a four-day volleyball camp at Granada High, and in the afternoons, Hazel ran her own volleyball camp from Pound Park. 

Jack has been a mother's helper for the Blumer kids a couple times this summer,  I love that he's getting old enough to grow into babysitting jobs, especially since Hazel is still being asked but is usually too busy to accept them. It will be nice to offer Jack as an alternate choice when those opportunities come up. 

We had cabin week and loved every second of it. We had exciting plans to have Chrissy's and Suzanne's families both at the cabin for the first few days. Unfortunately, Chrissy had a bad vertigo episode that has left her slowly recovering for over a month, so the Dix family ended up not joining us. Our dream reunion will have to happen some other time. We missed her family and felt their absence. 

The Hopes arrived Sunday afternoon and stayed through Wednesday morning. We packed that time in with plenty of adventuring. We took them on a short hike to the rock climbing area, where Todd, Dan, Nova, Hazel, Jack, Griffon, Gemma, and Ezra explored their way back across the rocks, while Suzanne, Zel, and I looped back around on the trail and met them on the other side. 

We played in the river for a while. Mostly, the kids skipped rocks and waded. 

Everyone enjoyed the new features we added to the cabin: the slack line and hammocks in the yard and the air hockey table up in the loft. 

We played a bajillion games. Loved it!!! 

Todd also made his dreams come true and added a fireman pole from the loft balcony to the deck below. 

We took the kayaks and paddle boards over to Utica Lake so everyone who wanted to could try cliff jumping. I think Dan, Zel, and I were the only ones who didn't attempt it, although Todd spent an unsuccessful ten minutes trying to persuade Ezra to jump a second time. Apparently, it's more scary when you know what to expect! Either that, or Todd just pulled him over with him the first time and Ezra wasn't falling for that trick twice! 

It felt so amazing to be with Suzanne again! 

We went to the field to play kickball and four corners, but the place was swarming with summer camp kids. We chatted with the bus driver, trying to find out when the field would be available, and she told us about a natural rock waterslide we could hike to, so we decided to give that a go. It was pretty cool! We had to hike over some rocks for maybe a mile, and were sort of guessing where to go because there wasn't exactly a trail that led directly to our goal, but it was well worth the exploration. Everyone who wanted to gave it a try, and no one got a rip in their swimsuit, so it was a grand success and a fun adventure. 

We were together over Suzanne's birthday, and the Hopes left the morning of Nova's birthday. We made a rice crispy cake (so Nova could eat it) and took it down to the lake Tuesday evening. Suzanne set it afloat a paddle board, Viking-style, then waded out into the water, dunked herself to wash away the old and welcome the new, and then blew out her candles. 

I totally bawled when the Hopes drove off. There was a heavy ache in my heart, not knowing when I'll see Suzanne next. She is one of those hand-picked sisters I can trust with every thought I have, who completely accepts me, warts and all, and I love her kids fiercely, too. I just wish so bad she didn't live so far away. 

We had Todd's high school friend, Jack Rose, and his family up for the second half of the week. They live in Florida but were out for a family reunion/road trip. Todd has only seen Jack twice in the last ten years, and I've only met him and his wife Rachel once, about a decade ago. It was a different feel from the Hopes, who we know like cousins. They were super nice and we had a good time, but it was more cordial, less familiar, for sure. I took far fewer pictures. I think it was a satisfying visit for Todd, though. 

We set up the zip line at Bear Lake. Todd is always nervous that the HOA is going to get mad at us, but so far, everyone on the lake just tells us they think it's awesome and asks if they can use it, too. 

We played Mario Kart at night. Sadly, this is the only picture I have of Todd and Jack! 

We hiked around Lake Alpine. Some of the group got in the freezing water and swam to an island and back - Todd and Hazel, Jack Rose and his daughter Fiona. 

We found a small waterfall to explore on the other side of the highway. Unfortunately, my Jack slipped and scraped his ankle pretty bad. It's taken several weeks to heal. We didn't do a good job of helping him clean it that night, and we had to scrape off the new scab and start fresh the next night. 

We had one final day at the cabin without guests before heading home. Besides relaxing and cleaning, we tried mountain biking. Hazel loved it and was disappointed the rest of us were having a hard time keeping up with her. I would have much rather hiked the trail we were on, personally. 

We made it home in time for Hazel and Jack to go with the youth from the ward to the temple to do baptisms. Then we busily packed again, because bright and early Monday morning, Hazel was off to girls' camp. She was at Camp Ritchie Monday through Thursday. It went by quickly. We wish she could have had one more day. The boys from the stake took their place - including Jack, going for his first year! - and were there from Thursday through Saturday. That definitely wasn't enough time! We are hoping our stake finds the boys a different location for next year so everyone can have a longer experience. 

Jack got home Saturday afternoon, and that evening, we went to the Temple Hill Auditorium to watch a community performance of The Music Man. It was very well done. We have been singing the fun songs now for weeks. Seventy-six trombones in the big parade! 

Gemma lets Ginger inside when it's hot out, and he loves to nap on the beanbag in her bedroom. He is definitely her cat! Everyone else pretty much ignores him in the morning until Gemma wakes up and feeds him. 

Todd's feet have been especially atrocious the last few weeks. Miracle of miracles, he agreed to go get couples' pedicures for our date. The lady who helped him out said she would do what she could, but it was definitely a situation that couldn't be solved in one day! It certainly helped, however. 

Jack made his own labrador tea, using leaves he brought home from Alaska. 

Hazel went to the beach with some friends from church. She is starting to benefit from the larger youth group. It took a while for them to find their groove, and there are definitely more kids she still doesn't know well than otherwise, but it's been a good thing to add Noah Lloyd to the Springtown kids, if nothing else. 

Jack has been volunteering at the library, helping assemble craft kits, clean books, and set up for programs. Gemma has been inviting new friends over to play, learning to lead more socially. Gemma and Jack were hired twice by the Zoerhoff family to care for their pet rats while they were away vacationing. They received a garage door opener and a code to the house alarm, rode their bikes over almost daily, and would spend nearly an hour at a time playing with the rats after checking that they had enough food and water. They even made them a new obstacle course. It's been a fun job for them. 

Hazel has been participating in summer training for volleyball, basketball, and cross country with the high school teams. Her favorite days have been packed with back-to-back activities. She has even been going with Todd to Wednesday night church ball and playing against the adult men. She has occasionally had a work shift at the Rhonewood Pool, but it's turned out to be quite the dream job, because they over-hire all the interested teens, and then don't care how much time you ask off and have 20+ kids available to take your shift if you decide you'd rather go to the beach than to work. She's probably worked only 10-15 hours the whole summer, and we're thrilled about it. It hasn't cramped our style at all but has given her somewhere to go and earn some cash if she doesn't have anything better to do. 

We had a smaller-than-usual Bingham family reunion up at our cabin. We loved having the far shorter drive and enjoyed hosting. We had Emily's family down from Portland, and my parents and Kathryn over from Utah. Everyone arrived Thursday evening and left Sunday morning, so we had two full days to fill with fun. 

Thursday morning we hiked around Lake Alpine - and saw a bald eagle! Friday morning we went to the field for kickball and four corners. The library was having a book sale, so we went and filled up a box with treasure. 

Kathryn requested a campfire, so, of course, that meant we needed s'mores! 

We spent both afternoons on Bear Lake. Everyone was in heaven, soaking up the scenery and floating on the calm water. 

Isaac was on the air hockey table pretty much constantly when we were inside. He was the reigning champion. 

The music festival was going on in the evenings, so we walked down, checked out the art gallery, and then sat outside and listened to the music. It was a Wild West themed band and orchestra; my mom especially loved it because she recognized some of the songs. Hazel had an adventure that night: She needed to use the restroom, but there was a long line at the women's rooms and when she glanced through the doorway, she only saw one stall. Making a quick decision, she grabbed Gemma and went into the mens' room instead. Gemma kept guard and had to fight off an adult man who tried to enter while Hazel was washing her hands. There was lots of giggling - and even some arguing - afterward, which compelled me to take this photographic evidence that there were, in fact, two stalls in the women's room after all. (I'd gotten fired up when Hazel stated the men's room had a stall and a urinal and couldn't rest thinking the women had twice the line and half the facilities.) 

There was plenty of time to enjoy the slack line, the hammocks, the swing, and the fireman's pole. We also played plenty of card games. 

Everyone's favorite, though, was the lake. It was so easy to please the group. It was my mom's first time on a watercraft since she was a little girl. It felt good to make a dream come true! 

Doug brought a snorkel mask and braved the cool waters. 

Isaac and Jack mostly chased everyone around like sharks. 

We missed everyone who couldn't make it out, but we will see everyone at Chris and Jodi's wedding in September!