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. 

June 2017

June saw us through the last week of school. Besides plenty of parties, field trips, and graduation ceremonies, the kids had their hoe-down, a tradition Hazel hates, but Jack seemed to like. Each grade level learns a square dance and performs it outside for the school and parents. They encourage the kids to dress in cowboy clothes. It's cute!

Hazel gave me a fresh ray of hope bringing home this essay about what she imagines her life will be like 20 years from now. It sounded a lot like my life, and made me feel like she likes and admires me. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing such a poor job with her, so it's a relief to see that I'm not doing as badly as I think I am. I really am trying so hard with her.

We said a sad goodbye to Mrs. Allen, who was such a fabulous kindergarten teacher and retired this year. It won't be the end of her, however. She picked out a new labradoodle puppy, named her Hazel (yes, in honor of my kid!) and invited us over to meet her. She has told me I need to learn to call her Elise. I'll work on it! She's a good friend to our family, and made such a positive impact on my kids.

I was touched to see Hazel's teacher, Mrs. Bernal, giving each student in her class a personal goodbye on the last day of school. She called them up one by one, gave them their report card, and shared some quiet, private words of encouragement and love with each and every child. I'm so impressed with her. Hazel had a good, strong, challenging, and happy year in her class.

Hazel grew close to two girls in her class, Kaitlyn and Aarna. The three of them were inseparable, and even had rotating playdates each Monday at one of their houses. We have continued to see them into the summer. It has been so good for Hazel's confidence to have a set of true friends. I think Hazel is like me; she doesn't like being a part of the crowd, but rather needs one or two sincere friends she can share everything with. 

We decided to try out a new last day of school tradition, and set up the tent in our backyard. We played lots of games, Hazel made us scrambled eggs and toast for dinner, we made a bonfire and roasted s'mores, and the kids slept outside. They stayed up late, but they made up for it the next night, so it turned out to be well worth the memories and fun!

That first Saturday after school got out, we had the Hope's and Dix's up for a summer kickoff. We barbecued and let the kids run wild and visited all afternoon long. It was satisfying to use the new backyard; there was plenty of space to play and entertain, and people wanted to be outdoors more than inside, which helped with the noise and the amount of people we had, and made it really fun to have everyone over.

Nova, Spencer, Hazel, Griffon

Suzanne, Angie, Chrissy

Summer hasn't felt too lazy yet. Hazel and Jack are doing swim team practice nearly every morning, and all three kids are still enrolled in their fun gymnastics class. Hazel is still doing piano lessons. We've got a couple of friends with HOA pools that have been so generous to share them with us, so we go swimming whenever we want, usually once or twice a week. We've hit a nature center and a handful of parks, and my game club is still up and running. We've had a couple of potlucks and birthday parties, Hazel had a piano recital, and the kids had their first swim meet.

Oh, and we got a couple of bunnies. Yes, you heard me right. Somehow the kids guilted me into our first pets. I did a million hours of research, trying to find an animal that would be simple to take care of, not too much of an investment or an inconvenience, and we came up with bunnies. Two weeks down now. Ask me how I feel about them... They are so, so cute, but more work than I thought they would be, and while they don't stink, they do have a smell, and there's always hay falling out of their cage onto the floor and whenever I see them in the cage, I feel a mixture of annoyance and guilt. We got a dog pen to keep them contained and let them run around, but they can fit through the bars, so that's not working yet. Maybe in a month or two they'll be too big to squeeze through and then that'll work better? In the meantime. I'm finding I'm a lot happier if the kids take them outside to play, so my floors stay clean. I'd rather have them run away and get lost than have them chew up my computer cords and leather couch, so there you have it. So far, so good. They like to munch on our grass, but the kids have to be on bunny-watch all the time when they're out of the cage, make sure they don't eat the flowers or get lost or anything, and I'm kind of hoping it'll get so annoying they'll eventually admit they don't want bunnies anymore. Who knows? But they are very, very soft, and it is mentally soothing to sit and pet them. It really is. I think if I really stay hands-off and make the kids step up to the job of keeping the cage sanitary, I might be able to stand keeping them. Maybe. We shall see.

Carmel and Cocoa

We went to Utah for a couple of days for a Bonner family reunion. It was short and sweet and tons of fun. Lots of cousin time, with the kids running around in Ellen's backyard till late every night, playing night games, and the adults inside playing games as well. The whole gang was there, except for Erika's husband Steve. 

the traditional tractor ride - happens every time all the kids are together

Gemma with baby Luna

We ran amuck at Seven Peaks water park day one, and Todd and I took our kids on a grand tour of BYU before heading back to Midway. Gotta make them fall in love with that place!

Day two was boating at Deer Creek Reservoir. It was a great set-up, because I don't really like boating, but Todd loves it. I was able to hang out on the beach, read my book and hang out with all the peeps, and there was only one ski boat, so the group rotated through the day. There was also a paddle boat that was fun to play with, and Laura brought up her kids' paddle boards and kayak. Man, Jack loved that kiddie kayak! 

Todd loves boating, so much

Hazel and Gemma with Shaylee and Rylee

Jack on the kayak

Jack with his cousins Carly and Kenley

And I'm not kidding when I call it short and sweet. We flew, so there wasn't even the exhausting drive back and forth. It literally felt like we'd just had a couple fun day trip days at home. We were gone about 72 hours total. Everyone had a good time. I wish we could travel that way always! Seriously, so much easier than driving! The kids each packed some pajamas and swimsuits, a book and one toy for the plane in a backpack, and called it good. So. Easy.