More swimming

 I signed the kids up for three rounds of swim lessons this summer.  They already finished one round and we're about to finish up the second round.   This time it's every morning for two weeks.  Sadly, Isaiah passed Level 1 last time so they have to be in separate, consecutive classes.  Passing Level 1 isn't sad I guess, just the fact that they can't swim at the same time.  Fortunately there's a playground by the pool for the non-swimmer to play on.

A friend of mine brought over a bunch of old swimsuits for Eliza.  I like to have her in a two-piece since she's still potty-training (removing a wet swimsuit takes more time than Eliza's potty warning system provides; putting it back on takes more time than my patience allows).  I've had a terrible time finding ones that fit--the bottoms are all too big.  I think they are made big to allow for swim diapers.  But once you take the diapers off you have a little flasher on your hands.  I finally found success by putting on a super old suit that I had already packed up (not pictured here); it's a 12-month size and fits perfectly!

Eliza hadn't been making a whole lot of progress.  She does fine except for the part where you get wet.  Which is the whole part.  But a couple of days ago she decided she wants to be in Level 2 with Isaiah, so she is being a lot braver now about putting her face in the water.

This time their lessons are in an outdoor pool.  It's been mostly fine, except for a couple of rainy days.  I had to suppress a smile when one of the other moms told me she thought they should have a cover over the pool so that on the rainy days the kids won't get wet...

Isaiah found a great big (probably 6' long) stick to play with.  There's another boy there everyday waiting for class too and he found an equally long one. His mom and I decided that since they were equally armed it was just fine.  Later on another mom told her kid to put down her stick because "WE don't play with dangerous things like sticks." with a glare in my direction.  I think I was supposed to ask Isaiah to put his down, but I don't usually respond to passive-aggressive comments like that.  If you want to ask me to please have my son put his stick down because it's making you nervous, then by all means I will.  If you want to talk to me through your child in a condescending way, then by all means I won't.  Honestly, both kids were just playing--they weren't using them as weapons and they were staying clear of the other kids on the playground.  Whatever.  

Later that morning, Eliza was sitting waiting in the rain wearing shorts & a short-sleeve shirt.  When she got dressed I showed her that it was raining outside and suggested she would be cold if she didn't change into something warmer.  She decided not to change, so I let her be cold.  Another mom asked if she was mine and when I said yes she said "Don't you want to cover her up?  She looks so cold!"  and I said, "No, she's fine."  I could probably just drop my kids off at the park by themselves; there are plenty of people out there happy to parent them for me.  It happened with Eliza at another park recently--she was climbing up pretty high and another dad lunged toward her, ready to catch her, and then looked over at me (I was watching from the bench) so I sauntered over "I thought she might fall," he said.  "Yes, she might."  I said, and returned to the bench.  I'm sure people think I'm a crazy neglectful mother, but seriously, kids have to learn consequences and I'd rather they learn them on a super safety proof padded playground while they're little.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service

Luckily pants are optional.  Eliza went through (or should I say "wet through") all the extra pants I keep in my purse.  If I was nicer (or if she was my first) I would have gone home to get some, or bought some at the store, or something else that would take time and complicate things.  Since she's my second, she got to go grocery shopping in her underpants.  I think she pulled it off nicely.

On a related note, I am becoming an expert at ignoring the odd looks I get, as well as the tender glances, full of pity, sent my children's way.

Sandcastle Contest

Sometimes I have really great ideas.  Frequently, actually.  If only they played out in real life the same way they do in my head...So I wanted to take the kids to the sandcastle contest this year.  They had a little class at the library that day as well so we couldn't head out until about 12:30.  Traffic turned out to be terrible!  What is normally a 1.25 hour drive took us 3-3.5 hours!  Of course, all those hours sitting in traffic just served to confirm my opinion that this was, in fact, an awesome event to attend (otherwise why would so many other cars be on the road?) and so Jerel & the kids weren't cranky at all.  Oh wait, that was how it played out in my head....in real life there may have been a little bit (and by little I mean lot) of complaining.  Anyway, we finally made it there and had a solid 30 minutes to run past all the castles before the police starting clearing everyone off the beach.  But there were some cool ones.  Isaiah really liked this one from the Lego movie.  I'm not sure which guy it is.  I thought it was Dumbledore, so you probably shouldn't go by what I say.

Here's Isaiah in front of the other Lego guy.  I thought it was Emmett, because that's the only character from that movie I've heard of.  But apparently it's the bad guy, Mr. Business or something like that.  Zay really liked the Lego ones.

 

What on earth is this guy doing?  There are cars driving everyone and he's just getting a tan?

And a picture of our car.  Turns out the sandcastle contest day is the only day cars are allowed to drive onto the beach for parking (although there are other beaches nearby that you can drive onto every day).  I love seeing old family pictures and making fun of the cars in the background, so here's to you, Future Isaiah & Eliza, mock on!

Summer happenings

 Here's Isaiah at the library, getting started on Summer Reading.  I signed both kids up, and this year I also got around to getting a Multnomah county library card so I signed them up for that Summer Reading program as well.  I figured as long as I don't count the same book for both programs it's not cheating.  They actually both already finished the Multnomah reading program.  They went to get the first little prize and were excited that cars were one of the option.  When I told them that the guy said the toys go quickly, they were super motivated to complete the rest of the chart so that they could get more cars for their next prizes before they ran out.  And so they read lots of books and ended up with 3 cars plus a t-shirt each.  Not a bad deal.  Eliza, by the way, has started making progress on reading again.  Her progress seems closely correlated with the times I am not too lazy to work with her on it, and now that we've started "summer home school" she's getting back into the swing of things.  She's got probably 50 sight words down, and can make the letter sounds to try to sound out words, although she doesn't often figure out what the word is.  She's a smarty for sure!

Saw this dishtowel at Target and thought, "Wouldn't that make a darling little skirt for Eliza?"  So I bought it, cut it in half, added elastic, and she hates it.  Whatever.  I still think it's cute.

The plate Isaiah  made for daddy for Father's Day this year.  It's a picture of him with daddy; there is also a sun and some orange trees.

Eliza's drawing for daddy.  It's an abstract piece.

I finally let go of my obsession with the plates and actually let the kids do the drawing this year.  But first I wanted to show off my artwork from the last three years.

Life is good.

A visit from Grandma

 I think everybody's been waiting for us to have another kid so they'll have a reason to make the trek from Utah.  A couple weeks ago Trudy was able to come visit.  She came up once a couple years ago when Jerel broke his arm, but she hasn't been up since we moved to our new house.  We spent one day up at Mt. St. Helens.  Isaiah was pretty nervous about going there because it's an active volcano and he doesn't want to get blown up.  But we assured him there are warning signs before a volcano erupts and that we would be plenty safe.

 Ryan and Amy must have told Trudy about the 4T hike and she wanted to do it while she was here.  So I borrowed the backpack carrier for Eliza and off we went.  Jerel had to work that day, so he once again missed the 4T.  One of these days I'll get him to do it.  I like doing it myself, except that my back (and shoulders and neck) get sore from carrying Eliza that far.  Miraculously, this time she walked!  The entire way!  We've turned a corner!

 Being first is very important, even if it means shoving people out of the way.

 I'm not sure if this is the longest uphill stretch on the hike, or if it just seems that way because it's straight so you can see really far.  Eliza and I lagged behind Grandma and Zay on this part.

When you say, "Hey guys, let me take a picture!"

When you say, "Guys, remember there's a treat for cooperators!"

So I didn't do any editing on this picture but it is weirdly partly color and partly black and white.  Odd.

We stopped at Newport on the Willamette River for lunch.

 When we were almost home from the long hike, the kids suggested we go swimming.  I guess they forgot the part about how long hikes make you exhausted.  Eliza didn't last too long in the water, but Zay wasn't done, so I bundled her up and laid her on a lounge chair.  She fell asleep pretty quick, wet swimsuit notwithstanding!

 I love that she will hold still long enough for me to braid her hair!