Well, summer is just about over. Besides swimming and vacations, we did quite a lot, though we dialed back on the camps a bit from last summer, at the kids' request. As you can see from our June calendar, we still stayed pretty busy. There was a lot of swimming in June, and Owen also started going to the high school's Strength and Conditioning (SAC) Camp every M-Th in preparation for school athletics. I didn't get a picture, but we carpooled with friends and their junior high slot was 11:30-1:30. They spent time in the weight room, ran bleachers, and practiced football, all in the sunniest part of the day!
Owen also got to dabble in some of the youth programs at church, now that he finished a year of junior high. One of these programs is Bridge, where they spent a weekend helping out a small town community ~1 hour away. They cleared out overgrown landscaping, cleaned, and painted at a crisis center, while fellowshipping, bonding, and sleeping at a church at night.
We did a quick weekend trip to Austin to see some out-of-state and old friends. Austin in June is wicked hot, so we spent time in a friend's pool. The next day, we went to a new-ish brewery, Meanwhile, which had a farmer's market, food trucks, a soccer field, and big box fans in the shade of a cedar grove. But it still felt like 100+!
Hadley attended maybe her last VBS; she's pretty 'meh' on the whole thing. She's an old soul in a kid's body and doesn't appreciate mindless coloring or rambunctious, immature elementary boys' humor anymore! At least Owen enjoyed the photo props.
We finally participated in the neighborhood's 4th of July parade, following the fire truck around the block in patriotic colors and decorations.
Hadley also attended T Bar M Camp at church and had a great time! This is a traditional week-long camp based in New Braunfels, but they also have a group that travels to various churches during the summer for those that don't want to do a sleep-away camp. The kids are broken up into small groups (tents) and spend the day in Bible studies, fun activities, and worship.
Her counselors were Bacon (yes, that's her nickname) and Ava, and she was given the Maturity Award, as once again, she showed herself to be an old soul.
She followed the next week with a theater camp put on by one of the local high schools. They were doing Seussical (the Musical) Kids, with high school students directing, stage crew were junior high students, and elementary students were on stage. In keeping with the theme, Hadley wished she was doing set design with the junior high kids instead of being on stage.
The theater teachers took professional headshots as part of the camp. Hadley is at the end of the second row in the closest triangle here and full headshot below.
Somehow they put on a whole musical show with only 4 days of camp! This included songs, dances, and stage directions. It was a great show for such a short time investment.
Hadley landed the much-coveted roles of Jungle Citizen #3 and Accompanying Monkey. That's her in the monkey hat and purple shirt.
She wants to go back in a couple of years when she can be in the crew. 😁
I'm starting one more year as the Philanthropy Chair for the local Texas Exes chapter. One of my favorite events is the Student Sendoff. The last couple of these have been virtual or very limited attendance, so it was fun to have a "regular" one where students got to eat, learn, and mingle with future co-Longhorns!
We took the kids to play Bingo as a family at the local Catholic church. They were skeptical, but I think they ended up liking it. They were all business with the daubers when the next ball showed up on screen! Sadly, we didn't take home any winnings, but it was for a good cause.
Some other Youth Group events that Owen attended over the summer were a Beach Retreat and a lock-in at the trampoline center. I chaperoned the latter, so I got a few pics from that event (that's him on the wall), but I don't have anything to show from the beach, though he assures me he had a good time and dug a really big hole on the beach. 😎
Hadley and I volunteered with our church at Brookwood. We held a small carnival for the residents, and our station was rock painting to create rocks to put around their garden. The lady next to me here was legally blind, but a great conversationalist.
I was floored when one Sunday Hadley requested that we wear our matching dresses! She was never one to want to be like her Mama, so of course, I appreciate these moments when they do happen. I don't have a picture, but Hadley kept a list of all of the books she read this summer, and it came out to over 40 books! Most of them were large (several hundred pages) chapter books, so this is quite a feat for 11-12 weeks!
And finally, his and hers dental cleaning appointments to get ready for the new school year! These kids are both still cavity-free! Woo hoo! (And Owen nearly hangs off the pediatric dental table!😆)
This is pretty unusual for February, but the kids returned to playing outside for an hour after lunch today. Hello sunshine and 50 degrees and no jackets! The sandbox is making its reappearance! The kids were so excited.
Needless to say, most of the snow around town has melted with this warmth, so last weekend we headed over to Driggs on the west side of the Tetons for the end of the Great Snowfest. Unfortunately, they'd had some snowmelt and rain, too, so the snow sculptures were not as impressive as they had been the opening weekend. :(
But we did enjoy the Geotourism Center, where the kids could pretend to dogsled with a video screen portraying what it really looks like from a dogsled.
And fishing in the Tetons...
We met up with Owen's friend Brady and his parents at the dog sled.
And walked down to see some snowmobile races. The boys were entranced!
But then we ventured out of the foggy valley up to Grand Targhee Ski Resort where the sun was shining.
The local ski club had bargain-priced ski lessons going on that day, so we had signed Owen up to do that after lunch. Unfortunately it was a bit chaotic, and it didn't seem like he got much guidance. After an hour, he came in crying because he had apparently run into a soft fence. Hopefully that doesn't scare him off of skiing forever! Anyway, here he is before...
Anyway, Owen is also old enough now that he can be dropped off for playdates without me. It's pretty amazing. When I went to pick him up from one, this is how I was greeted! "Captain America! Have you seen Owen?" (His friend, Everest, is very into dressing up as super-heroes. Something Owen has never really been into, so I had to get a picture.)
Hadley has been dressing herself for a couple of months now. It's great, but now she even picks it out herself, which can be interesting. Pink shirt and backwards pants with bright green socks? Sure, that's fine, dear. Sometimes Owen has the time and inclination to help her get dressed, even combing her hair! And sometimes, when on her own, she comes running with her huge head stuck in her shirt, "I need helllllllp!" It always makes me laugh, so I thought I'd share.
The other morning she hadn't had her coffee yet, apparently. (See her wild morning hair?) She was not making eye contact and holding the comics up to block prying eyes. It reminded me of Owen doing this at about the same age. By the way, the big girl bed is going pretty well! She's stayed in there just fine at night, but has been dropping naps, singing to herself and reading books instead.
Lastly, Owen and I went to a "Mom and Son Date Knight" at our local Chick-Fil-A. It was cute; Owen got to hang out with his best friend Carson and have his first ride in a limo! They were jumping up and down when they saw the limo, marveled at the changing lights inside, and helped themselves to some chilled, bottled water they found in the seat-side cooler.
FYI, I think I failed to mention that he had his 5-year check-up a month ago. He's 43.5" tall and 43.5 lbs, so a lb/inch correlation. Ha! He also got up-to-date on his immunizations because we'll be registering for kindergarten in a month! Can you believe it?!?
Every time I'm on a mountain, I see little kids whizzing down the mountain on their skis. I hoped to give my kids that opportunity, and this weekend I took Owen skiing for the first time. There's a small ski hill about 40 minutes from our house, and I signed him up for an hour lesson. His 20-something, surfer-dude-instructor's name was... Hadley! Seriously! I thought that was a good sign.
He learned pizza and french fry (that's when your skis are in a wedge to slow down and parallel to go faster, for you non-skiers),
and went on the tow rope with assistance (that's him in the deep squat on his way back to the tow rope).
I don't think he enjoyed the lesson much (they seemed to be pushing him for speed and he was on the ground a lot), but he did like the tow rope and skiing back down. I hope we can go back a few more times this season before he forgets everything! This video was from the beginning of his lesson, so he was a bit better when I went to pick him up. Just didn't video it! Maybe next time. :) In other news, Hadley went to the doctor for her 18-month check-up with Daddy while O and I were skiing. She's pretty healthy at 22 lbs, 5 oz (50%), 32.5" (75%), and 19" head (90%). One shot later and some milk for comfort, and she was good to go. Here she is doing those block stacks I mentioned last time. She's gotten up to at least 7 on her own!
