After our trip to Lawrence, we settled into a pretty busy routine of swim team and packing our house. John was a great side kick at swim team. He found ways to entertain himself, or we would work on various pages together. In the above, he and Molly found a frog, and the poor frog was the object of their undivided attention for what must have been a terrifying 5 minutes. But, it finally leapt to freedom.
The thing about swim team is that it is held rain or shine. Unless there is lightening, there is no reason to cancel practice. So John got loads of opportunities to play with his umbrella.
Dom got the crew together to race a tour of the neighborhood. It was pretty intense. Two of the kids ended up throwing up after a couple of stages. Molly abandoned once the tour entered the 'mountain' stages. And, due to a mechanical issue on the front runners bicycle on the final stage, Will pulled out a surprise victory. They'll be talking about this one for years.
Will discovered The Dark is Rising and couldn't put it down for several days. Though, the 4th book did finally defeat him. Truth be told...I've never finished that one either. Fantasy is not my genre. Don't tell my mom...But, I'm sure he will tackle the series again and finish it. Just give him time.
For Father's Day, along with a few other items, Molly gave Eric some beach art.
These pictures are out of order, but at the beginning of July, I flew to Milwaukee to visit my sister, Mitzi. It was a glorious four days where I read a few books, watched a few movies and loads of episodes of Fixer Upper, ate awesome food that Mitzi made (Kale Salad with Bacon...amazing...who knew?), and walked around the beautiful neighborhood in which my sister resides. We would rate the houses and compliment the owners as frequently as we could. Oh!! And I went to a concert. Hanson. Yup. I knew a few songs from high school...Ok, I know one song. Guess which one. But, Mitzi loved it and it was fun to just be there with her. I should get some pictures from facebook to prove that I was there...but, I am just lucky I'm getting these up. Maybe another time.
While I was gone, Eric had complete control of the kids. There was definitely one all nighter with the Wii, and a trip to the beach, and a lot of take out. And a campfire. He is a pretty cool dad.
With swim team came a couple of swim meets. We only went to two. Dom loved the competition. I think Will was ambivalent, though the was pretty excited about the promise of candy afterwards. And the fact they only had to swim across the pool once. That beat the 30 laps they regularly did at swim team...if not more. I lost count. I was exhausted.
Mid-July, we loaded up a truck and headed to Alabama to drop off some of our things. Three of the kids saw the house for the first time. Luckily, they loved it.
We spent a lot of July visiting with friends.
See? These are our children being social at Eric's going away party. Life of the party are they. Actually, they did great. A couple of them asked Dom about the Tour and they were lucky to get away.
Some pictures of the campfire Eric hosted for the kids.
Will and Molly at the first swim meet. Molly wasn't suppose to race, but got put in a couple of heats by mistake. Her coaches were so supportive of her efforts. Actually, swimming is one of the first major challenges for our kids. It did not come easily to them and they were consistently the slowest in their lanes. But, they never gave up and their complaints consisted of expressing great joy over practice being cancelled. I was very proud of them for that.
John taking matters into his own hands when it came to picking an afternoon snack...or it might have been his breakfast of choice. Either way, the answer was no...because I am the worst mother ever.
Will getting pumped for his race.
John helping load the truck and Eric supervising. He's a Big Deal.
Dom and Will playing the first of what must be at least 50 games of chess by now. Will has won nearly all of them. But, Dom can totally smoke him on the mountains...so it is all good.
