Summer continues (June, part II)

Now, where were we.....oh that's right....we had just arrived home from our 'let's start summer the right way' trip.  One thing that is great about Ellie is she enjoys being home and playing with her toys and that is exactly what she did.  She got settled in to summer at home, staying up late, playing with her toys and watching little clips on her iPod.  She found a series of instructional videos teaching her how to use everyday household items to make little things for her dolls and barbies.  Remember, Ellie loves little things so these videos were a hit with her.  She started making the little crafts and some were actually quite impressive.  Others were a bit harder and she would get frustrated and we had to talk about how not everything turns out perfectly the first time. With crafts and other things in life sometimes you have to do it multiple times to get it right.  To be honest, I'm not sure our talk helped, but at least I felt better.   I should have told her about the treats I tried to make off of a Pinterest post and well let's just say my attempt was about as successful as this picture below.  Or the time I tried to make chocolate covered candy canes and got the chocolate too hot and melted the candy canes every time.



The crafts she did complete though were cute and really good.  She made a plate with steak, a baked potato, salad and a drink.  She made these little composition notebooks and a full set of colored and regular pencils to go with it.  She made lamp shades and a couple of wallets for her fake money.  Together (one of those where she got too frustrated so I had to help) we made a swing set for her La La Loopsy dolls.  We also tried umbrella shades which I thought were super cute, but she didn't like how they turned out.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of the completed items that I could find still in her room today.  The swing set I took back in June when we finished it.

She really enjoys making crafts - she has often said she loves crafts.  And she only gets frustrated when it doesn't turn out the way she wants it to or when I don't have exactly what she needs around the house.   Sounds pretty much like me when I make or bake or cook.  Anyway....lots of time was spent watching the little videos and then making the items.  I thought it was an awesome way to spend some down time this summer.

In June we also celebrated Father's day.  Ellie and I did some shopping for both Kevin and her dad.  We had  debated between a new TV or a drill for Kevin.  I think Ellie and I were both leaning toward the TV, but then Kevin mentioned something about it being a frivolous purchase (Um, hello - do you know me? And isn't that what presents are for?) so we went with the drill instead.  He was super excited.  For her dad we went with some shoes and a candle for their kitchen.  She wanted to get him some neon colored shoes.  She loves neon colors right now.  We ended up with some bright blue shoes but sadly when he came to pick her up for the weekend he already had some almost exactly like that on.  Ellie just looked at me like - oh my goodness!!! - but did a good job of not saying something right then.    I guess we did a good job of picking out something he would like!  I think they exchanged them for something else - which was great for Ellie because I noticed she came home with some bright neon yellow shoes.  :D

So I love this card.  Ellie and I often call Kevin, Kev.  I don't think anyone else calls him that and to be honest I don't think he used to like it until she started to say it.  So I love how she put "Dear Kev."  I also love how she taped four pieces together - so Ellie.  I'm not sure why she is blue and we are black.  It could be as simple as her ink ran out or something else - you just never know with her.

Monday, June 18 Ellie started summer camp at Thanksgiving Point.  Her first one was Sherlock Holmes.  It's always hard to go to the first day of summer camp all alone.  I felt a bit bad dropping her off as she just kind of sat there and looked lonely.  But I knew she would be fine and have fun - which she did.  Here is her happy face after I picked her up. 

That night Ellie wanted her hair in little buns.  She said she was now the evil princess Leia.  I asked her why the evil princess and she just thought that was how she was.  Ellie has never seen Star Wars and I think she hasn't because she thinks it is dark and evil.  We got a good laugh out of it anyway.  She is way too cute to be evil.

One great thing about summer is playing with friends we don't always see.  On Tuesday, my work friend Heidi had set up some time on our calendars when we could work and our girls could get together - so on June 19 they came over for our first play/work date.  Heidi and I attended a staff meeting and the girls played outside.  It was so fun to see them and even though the girls hadn't seen each other in almost a year, they quickly got acquainted and didn't want to leave.  We were supposed to do that every Tuesday morning in the summer, but we only managed to do it two times, the first on June 19 and the last a week later on June 26.  

That same night I had late meetings so Ellie and I took a quick break in the afternoon to run see the new arctic exhibit at the zoo.  It had opened in early June and we hadn't yet seen it.  Our zoo built an 18 million dollar exhibit and the animals that came to it were a 700 pound blind sea lion from Los Angeles, three seals from Oakland, three cuter than ever grizzly bears from Buffalo, NY and a 600 pound polar bear named Rizzo from Cincinnati.  We lucked out in the short time we were there because they were all active and out.  The polar bear was swimming and the three little bears were out and about.  The polar bear would dive and then when it reached the wall it would turn around and swim on it's back.  It was awesome to watch.  The zoo also got some bald eagles and this is Ellie as an egg and then a baby bird in a nest.  She is so funny.

And speaking of friends we don't always see....Ellie's friend Savannah was visiting this summer so we picked her up around lunch time and the girls played in the afternoon while I worked and then after work we met Kevin at the lake and enjoyed the summer night.  ANOTHER good thing about summer - long days.

Every year we take this same picture in the lake.  It is fun to see the change in Ellie from year to year.  But the best part is listening to Ellie convince Kevin he HAS to get in the water because we HAVE to take THE picture.

This picture isn't the clearest, but I love the look on their faces.


Like our Tuesday friends, we didn't get to see enough of Savannah, we actually only saw her this one time this summer.  Yet we had a fantastic time together and look forward to seeing her again next summer.

The night before when Kevin was getting the boat ready Ellie was out in the garage with him doing some poses.  Kevin told me about it so I had her do them again for me.   She is such a nut!

Earlier that same day, she took every belt and ribbon she could find and tied it on a tail.  She would come into my office with a new link and say it was growing.  She must have come in 15 times or more.  We ran to the store and she wore it there, but part way through she got embarrassed and took it off.  Have a mentioned what a nut she is?  And have I mentioned how much I love her creative, imaginative,  innocent mind?  

On Friday night we were so excited to go to the Strawberry Days Rodeo in PG!  We missed it last year for the first time because Kevin was working on the new house, so we were happy to be back on track.  The night ended up being more exciting than we had planned for.  On our drive down Kevin's car did something strange and the entire electrical system shut down and then just a second later rebooted itself.  We considered turning back to get my car, but then it acted normal so we just went on.   We arrived at the rodeo, found our seats against the back rail like we like and then Kevin and Ellie went on a nacho and strawberries and cream run while I held our seats.

Then of course we enjoyed the strawberries and cream and the rodeo.  I don't know if it was just because we missed a year or if it was just a good rodeo, but every ride seemed exciting and we had forgotten all about our car troubles.

This is Kevin and Ellie being tough enough to wear pink!

After the rodeo there was a band and a dance.  I wanted to stay to hear the band.  Ellie didn't want to but we did anyway.  The band wasn't that good so we didn't even stay for and entire song.  We went over to use the restroom and check out the bulls and then we were on our way to our car.   The good part was we waited long enough for all of the traffic to be gone.  The bad part was our car wouldn't start and there wasn't anyone around to help.  

One group of college students finally stopped, but the jump didn't work.  We called AAA and waited for a tow.  This is the wait.  Ellie had to go to the bathroom again, but I didn't want to miss the truck so instead she had to pee on the side of the road.  It was dark and pee got pretty much everywhere.  As if being stranded at 11:30 at night isn't enough.  Poor kid was probably traumatized.   

I know that seems like enough for one night, but the best part arrived with the AAA tow. Our driver was straight out of swamp people. He hunted gators in his off season and talked about not going to school until he was 12 and not knowing what shoes were until then. He said they ate whatever the could kill. The mother of his child left him after giving birth and he was also raising his friend's child whose parents were killed by a drunk driver.  We aren't sure if any of it was real, but it was colorful and fun for a late night tow.  A few times a bit too colorful for Ellie and she would look at me with wide eyes.  She was so worn out she was asleep by the time we finally  made it home.

On Saturday the car was repaired and we journeyed out again as a family, but this time a bit closer to home. We went to the Bee's game....the only one we made it to this summer. We had so many "one time things" I assume because we were so busy, but I'm glad we at least got a game in. Kevin was trying to teach Ellie the game a bit but really Ellie was only interested in the Dipping Dots.

I didn't have my camera so this was my attempt to get a good picture - they are such good sports!

Monday June 25, I was back to work and Ellie went back to summer camp.  She was looking forward to this one though.  The theme was Angry Birds.  They built launching tools to launch ping pongs and got to go on the farm to meet some (angry) pigs.  I love how detailed and well put together the Thanksgiving Point summer camps are.  I hope we can get at least two more summers in there before Ellie gets too old for them.

Tuesday in the day we did get to see our friends Kira and Maia like I mentioned before.  And that night Ellie made up some new games in the yard and tried them out on Kevin:  Bally-Ball and Making 8's.  

At the end of the month Ellie went to Lagoon (The Lagoon) with her dad for her one and only visit of the summer.  And before the month ended we got ready for July by decorating our house a bit.  I made a new wreath and Grams stopped by to give us the new table runner she had made. She had made me one for almost every season.  I love them so much!   Ellie is always so proud of me when I make something.  It's the cutest thing ever.  She is sincere in her compliments and makes me feel like the kid that just did a good job on a school project.    

Just the other day (it is October now) we were riding in the car and Ellie was looking in the neighborhood for Halloween decorations. Ellie was disappointed by the lack of decor and told me ours was the best. (She may be biased.) She said, "That is because you LOVE decorating mom - you more than love it." It is true. I do. And I love the months she gets excited to decorate with me.

Summer!! (June, part I)

Summer of 2012 - I'm not sure why this one was so much better than any other summer.  Maybe it was because we had been outside in the yard most of the spring and were ready for freedom from the school-night routine.  Maybe it was because Ellie was ready to be done with homework.  Maybe it was because we had so many fun things planned.  Maybe it was because we spent it together and with some of our favorite people.  Or most probable - it was all of the above.   And it was one I am still thinking about on the first day of October when I write this.

The first week of June we had to hold on to the routine.  We watched our garden and before school and after school almost every day we went out to see what was coming out to meet the summer.  Our first little harvest was lettuce and strawberries.  Our first strawberry was so pretty and unfortunately the birds got to it before Ellie could - so Kevin built a netting around our berries so we could enjoy them instead of the birds.




That same night (June 3, 2012) Ellie lost her 9th tooth.  It was the easiest one yet.  She was in bed and with a little wiggle it came right out.  She called for me and I couldn't believe it, I didn't even realize it was that loose.


On June 5th, I had to go out of town for work. I really hated to leave Ellie on her last week of school, but I knew she was in good hands with both Kevin and Garred. The worst part for me was I missed her award assembly on June 7th. Not all kids get an award and Ellie received two. The first for achieving the national fitness level and the second a Certificate of Excellence for outstanding academic performance. Basically, she had all A or A- throughout the year and she achieved a 99% on her Iowa test. If it wasn't for the A- she got in computers she would have received a scholarship for the next year at Challenger. (She missed it the prior year by 1% on the Iowa test.) I am so proud of her and her accomplishments at school.


She loved the second grade.  She really enjoyed her teacher, had good friends (Alex, Anja, Alyssa, Ayliya, Olivia, Claire, Grace, Parker to name a few) and was a great student.  In second grade she read a lot of books including all of the Dork Diaries, Little House on the Prairie, The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Winnie-the-Pooh, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Charlotte's Web and A Lion to Guard Us.  She learned all of the state capitols and about all of the continents.  She learned to diagram sentences identifying the subjects, objects and pronouns.  She wrote short stories and gave class speeches.   She took second place in her class spelling bee.  In math there was multiplication, division, estimating, arrays, and so much more.  I'm sure I'm missing a lot of what was captured in second grade but she did it and she was amazing!

After school Kevin and Ellie took a little break to celebrate with some fishing (they ALMOST caught one) and then home to pick a couple more strawberries from the garden.  They sent me pictures and I was happy they were outside having fun.



On the last day of school I flew home from San Francisco in time do laundry and pack and pick up Ellie.  It was the first time I wasn't at the last day of school extravaganza.  I felt a bit bad, but I was a wiped out from my early trip home and we had summer plans I had to make sure we were prepared for.


Our summer fun literally started as soon as school ended.  Kevin got home from work and we got all of our stuff together and in the car and we headed to the airport.  We didn't waste even a second adjusting from school to summer.  We took ourselves to California to meet up with our friends the Vanderlinden's and to kick off summer the right way, on vacation!

We met up with them the next morning in Ocean Beach so we could enjoy a relaxing day at the beach and of course so we could eat at Hodad's.  This was Ellie's first visit to Hodad's and although she doesn't yet have an appreciation of how amazing the cheeseburgers really are - she did love the chocolate shake.




After lunch we walked down to the beach and weren't really prepared for the amount of fun that was about to be had.


The girls started quite timidly with the water - just letting it get to their toes.  Then they got a bit braver and let it get below their knees.  They would run in and out of the tide.


Pretty soon as you can tell by the dampness of their clothing they were up to their necks in the water, surfing from the side taunting the water to hit them.  It did take Brooke and Reagan both for a good tumble when they weren't expecting it.


Ellie pulled a bunch of seaweed out of the water and I showed her how to pop the little bubbles on it.  It was heavy so she got Paige to help her.  A few minutes later I was helping and then when we were all done, she got Kevin to help.


After the water and seaweed they moved on to the sand.  They made sand castles.



And before we left, they were all literally up to their necks buried in sand.


Up to your necks in water and then up to your necks in sand is a perfect recipe for a quick trip to the closest tourist store for clean and dry clothing.   Please note they are all in different clothing than when they arrived.


And they weren't the only ones who walked away in something new.   At some point while playing in the sand Ellie thought it would be funny to bury one of Kevin's flip flops.  But after two hours of playing at the beach she forgot where she buried it and it was nowhere to be found.

Thank goodness the same store that provided new clothing for the girls also provided Kevin with a brand new pair of $3 flip flops.  Not quite the same quality as the $30 pair we left behind - but - they worked.   It was pretty funny and one of those times where I wasn't sure if I should just laugh or be upset.  I struggled somewhere in the middle but thankfully the other adults all just laughed.  Because looking back, it was super funny and I assume watching the four adults search the sand was just as funny.  The fact that it got lost was purely accidental based on all the fun they were having at the beach. And really, who should be upset about that?

We ran back to our hotel to clean up and a short hour later we were back with our friends enjoying Old Town, San Diego.  We walked around the shops and Ellie bought a mini tea set she was excited about.  She had wanted a mini doll earlier in the day at one of the antique stores but after the beach we forgot to go back and buy so she was excited to get the tea set instead.  She loves "little" things.

Then we dipped candles, looked at some butterflies, checked out some rocks and decided we had worked up an appetite.



At dinner, the girls got their own serenade.  I can't remember what he said in the song, but it had the girls giggling which in turn had us laughing.  It was pretty much a perfect first day of summer.


The second day of summer was a bit cleaner, but no less perfect.  We met our friends in the morning at the San Diego Zoo.  We started with a family picture - one of my better shots, don't ya think?


And then we were off to see the animals.  Anyone that goes to the zoo knows that some days are just better than others with the animals and we were lucky to have an AMAZING day with them.  The white wolf was howling.  The girls would howl and he would howl back and then they would giggle.


The huge brown bear was literally doing the grapevine with his front feet, dancing back and forth right in front of us.   The other brown bear was on a search for peanut butter spread out on his walls.


There was a new baby giraffe, only four days old!


There were baby cheetah cubs and we just happened to be RIGHT there when they were taking the cheetah from one location to another.


We saw the panda on the move, we saw the koalas getting cozy, the hippo was swimming in the water for us and one little monkey had us entertained for over 15 minutes.  He was swinging and running and playing with a long piece of bark. Then one of the others came to take away his game and he would run and then run back.  It was an awesome day.

Our little animals had a great time.  There was a fake snake on a rock and I thought it was real.  I totally jumped and screamed and Brooke thought that was the funniest thing ever.  She had some good laughs on my behalf.


We ended the zoo day together with a zoo tour from the bus. When Brooke gets tired she likes to hold on to hair.


So while she was holding it, she and Ellie decided to do each other's hair during the bus tour.


After the ride and some shopping, our friends left, but I wasn't quite ready to go.  I didn't get enough us time, so the three of us stayed behind and took a quick ride over the zoo and tried to stretch the fun out a bit longer.


I always hate to see fun days end but we had a bit of a drive to prepare for our third day of summer in.... ...Disneyland!  In the morning when we were getting ready Ellie pointed out that Pluto is a dog that barks and is on all fours.  Goofy talks and walks on two legs.  She had us all asking why??


We got to the park a little bit ahead of our friends so we took advantage of the empty park and rode Star Tours and then we went to Captain EO.  Ellie loves Michael Jackson and Captain EO turned out to be one of her favorite spots.  She said, "It's better than just sweet!"



We then rode Space Mountain and I am happy to say that SHE LOVED IT.  She has finally gone from not wanting anything to do with it to it being her second favorite ride (after Thunder Mountain Railroad but before Pirates.)  I told her in a few more years she may finally be ready to love the Tower of Terror and she said, "That will never ever EVER ever be my favorite ride."

The rest of the day we rode everything we could with our friends.  We went to Autotopia and Ellie didn't want to drive at first.  I talked her into it and after she got comfortable with it, she had so much fun, but wasn't about to show it.  At the end of the night she admitted how much fun she had but just didn't want to admit I was right.  While we waited for our shuttle home (which didn't arrive) I made a video of her admitting it.  It was cracking us up.  We had such a great day!






This cute kid was in line all by himself and he started talking to me.  He was there with his mom and her new husband (because his dad hit his mom and got deported) and they were with the smaller children. He wanted to ride more so he was alone, but had a cell phone so they could check in.  Anyway, he was a terribly polite and cute kid and heard Kevin talking about his sore back and offered to help him out.  He knew how because he went with his grandma to her place that helps her back and he did it for her all the time.  Anyway, Kevin said it did actually help and even Kimese got in on the back action!


Over lunch we saw Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. We hadn't seen this before and we loved it. It was so funny and entertaining.  I love Disneyland and how there is entertainment for everyone and there is entertainment  everywhere!


Ellie wanted to make sure she saw Mickey Mouse and wanted to make sure he saw the shirt she wore for him. She was too shy to mention it, but I'm sure he saw it.


We got back to the hotel that night pretty much exhausted.  Our shuttle didn't arrive when it was supposed to so Kevin tracked us down a taxi.  It was another night I didn't want to end.  I didn't want to leave the park but both Kevin and Ellie convinced me it was time to go and assured me there would be more fun tomorrow.  I can't help it - I don't like fun days to end!

But of course there was more fun the next day.  We went back to the parks and spent some of the day in California Adventure and some of the day in Disneyland.  We again got there a bit before our friends so we went through the castle and took turns reading the story to each other.


Then we stopped so Ellie could make a wish.


We then spent a couple of hours with our friends in the morning riding Splash Mountain the The Little Mermaid and Soaring over California, but the rest of the day we split up to make sure the little girls could do little things and Paige could do big things with her dad and we could do our things.

Ellie wasn't too excited to split up but I was happy to spend time just the three of us.


Ellie was not excited about California Screamin' - until she rode it, and LOVED it!


We actually ran out of our normal things to do so we did some thing we had never done before.  We went to the Aladdin show in the theater and finished up at California Adventure (well almost.)

Then we went back to Disneyland to do some shopping.  


We stopped in the little theater in Disneyland where they show old black and white cartoons and watched a few.


We caught up with a few characters and then while eating dinner Kevin and Ellie ran to see Captain EO one more time.


We did go back to California Adventure for two last things.  Yes, the Tower of Terror.  Which took quite a bit of convincing and some focus on state capitals while we were in line.  Ellie was so brave and I think she even liked it a little.


And finally, we caught up with our friends again to see the World of Color.


While we waited for it to start the girls were happy to be together again and made the most of their last hour together on the trip.


Brooke asked everyone that had fun to raise their hand. Of course we all did!  Thanks for a great trip friends!!


That night when we got back to the hotel, we were again exhausted.  Ellie took off her shoes and was shocked at the smell. "Oh, DO NOT smell my feet!", she cautioned all of us. But she wanted so badly to play with her new mini Minnie house that she couldn't stop to wash them, instead she just wrapped them in a blanket and started to play. We all got several good laughs at that.


On June 13th (the fifth day of summer) we had to head home, but before we did we spent some time in the morning swimming. Kevin got his usual mo-hawk. (Mo-honk this time,because that is what Brooke calls them.)


And then we stopped in to see Titus, Logan and Mason...


..and to meet Ellie's newest cousin, Reagan.


On our way home we continued to have fun. This is Ellie doing her impression of the Statue of Liberty.
 

It was a great start to the summer and of course the fun didn't end there. Only this blog post does.

Check back soon for June, part II.