An Epic Summer

When I wrote up our Summer Bucket List, I asked each girl about her hopes and dreams. We weren't going on any extravagant vacations but I wanted to throw in some new adventures with the tried and true traditions. Try the staycation philosophy, if you will. Especially with the girls getting older, it was time to think outside the box a bit. Here's how it played out:

Tried and True- MOSI

Epic- we avoided the bigger attractions and found some fun little corners of the museum. Like this one where you can try to beat your time milking a cow.

Epic- bringing a new friend along. She really loved it.

Epic- we finally used the fire pit in the backyard! I was worried it would be horribly hot and humid but the trees provided a lot of shade and there was a slight wind. The girls loved their hot dogs and s'mores. The best part? Unlike camping, we all showered the smokey smell right off and then slept in the air conditioned house.

Tried and True- I gave the girls free reign to play with my makeup. This kept them busy for hours!

Apparently kissy faces are requisite once you're all dolled up!

Tried and True- MOSI (again)

This time there wasn't such a crowd around this display and the girl actually got to have some fun with it!

Epic- We put a blowup mattress in the back of the truck and invited our friends to meet us at the drive-in to watch the live action Lion King.

Epic- We became Hotel Chicago and hosted so many guests. Sooo many guests! There was family coming in an out all summer long, nothing new there, but then we had a bunch of people who have never stayed with us before. Half of them we knew and loved (like sweet Madilyn here) and half of them were complete strangers in town for festivals or to visit friends and needed a safe place to crash.

Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Epic- We attended the reception for this adorable couple.

Tried and True- We went to a handful of parks. Fewer than in years past when the girls were younger, but we fit some in!

Epic- Well, not really epic but I did try "warm" toned makeup. Still not sure it's the best look on me but I tried it!

Tried and True- The girls all attended American Ninja Warrior Camp. Even better, I regained my sanity for a few hours every day that week.

Tried and True- My parents blew through town on their way to a Model A tour up north.

 Epic- On their way back, Dad used his welding skills to help us repair our lawnmower. When he was done, he fine-tuned the girls bikes.

Tried and True- We met Brent for lunch at Costa Vida. YUM!

On that note, Sydney learned to ride a bike! I wish we could take credit for helping our daughters with this rite of passage, but most of the girls were taught by the neighbor. And she's younger than Ireland.

Epic- While Liesel was getting her bearings at the middle school, we tried our hand at mini golf. Ireland was willing to take some pointers on her swing...

...while Brigitta played what can only be described as Drag A Ball Into the Hole...

... and Sydney rather enjoyed losing her ball in the myriad of water ways.

In many ways this was a hard summer. My time in Iowa City was particularly hard- it always is when I'm dealing with the girls alone and I can't tap out when Brent gets home. Something about this year made it even harder.

In many ways this was an easier summer. Sure the kids drove me bat crap crazy, but it wasn't as bad as past years where I didn't even want to get out of bed to face motherhood and those endless days of summer. I kept thinking about how I'd be able to enjoy the peace and quiet in the fall when they were all in school full-time. I lived on that thought often. I'm really proud of the new things we tried in spite of the challenges of summer.

Lake Michigan

The older girls noted they hadn't really gotten their fill of the beach. We tried out the Indiana Sand Dunes early in the summer and I'd taken the little two to Lake Michigan while the older two were at Improv Camp but we hadn't been to our beach, all together. It's simply not summer if we haven't been to our beach, all together!

Well, in the same vicinity anyway. I think part of the reason the girls love the beach so much is they can be alone if they want and they can play together if they want. Sydney stayed near me on the sand this time. 

 She was perfectly content to blow bubbles.

Bury her legs in the sand (toes should breathe a bit, of course)

Stay cool under the big hat.

Edge into the water.

Then she decided to go into the water but didn't want to be cold so she wrapped herself up in her towel to stay warm-ish.

By and large she just wanted to hang back with me, listening to the radio and keeping an eye on the other girls.

Brigitta was pretty much in the water the whole time. We don't usually get big waves on Lake Michigan but the wind combined with the tide created some pretty big ones.

I thought she'd tire out but she never really did. Brigitta only came ashore to eat or for the obligatory sunscreen application.

She's a little mermaid, for sure!

Brigitta loves the skirt on this swimsuit. I wish I could figure out how to put the original slow-mo video I took because she swishes with such style!

Brigitta also has the rare talent of bringing home half the beach with her in her suit, hair, ears, etc. She is positively covered in sand within just a few minutes of arriving at the beach.

Ever the social butterfly, Ireland was off with her sweet friend who has been with us to the beach many times.

Love that girl. Sometimes more kids = more chaos but she knows right how to tuck in and go with the flow. All of the girls love her because she plays with all of them.

Liesel suddenly looked older to me.

Something about the way she carried herself made her seem... I dunno... more teen-like.

I can't put my finger on it.

 It sure was nice to be back at our beach, all together! Haha!!!

Transportation Open House

Even though we've been to a Transportation Open House before, and the older girls have ridden the bus for years, I was determined that Sydney would get to experience the very same orientation that her sisters did. Before we got out of the car, I really read them the riot act about how they weren't allowed to act bored or ask when we could leave or make any comments about how this was all stupid. 

Sydney is so excited to be starting school full-time and especially to ride the bus. At the open house, everyone gets a "passport" and as they go through the different stations, they get a stamp on their passport. It's really well done and there's even this cute character named Buster who talks about bus stop safety.

One of the stations is an actual bus ride.

I'm a proud mama after seeing those sisters support the littlest one. They were enthusiastic about each station and pointed things out to her in case she missed it. They surrounded her with lots of love and talked up how fun it is to ride the bus to school.

 They really stepped up for her.

Heart melt.

Six Flags Great America

Among the perks of our local school system is the kids can earn free tickets to Six Flags if they complete a reading challenge. In the past, I've forgone the trip to Gurnee because it's still wildly expensive, especially to drag along tiny tots who can't ride most of the rides anyway. This year, I received a couple of extra free tickets so everyone was free (minus the exorbitant parking fee, of course). We were lined up at the gate nice and early and I made a beeline for The Goliath.

The Goliath has a vertical drop that honestly, I'm not sure I could stomach with my own fear of heights. However, I figured if Liesel and Ireland rode this as their very first ever roller coaster, then anything else would be gravy. They were pretty annoyed with me and VERY apprehensive about going even though there was no line! Check out their pre-ride faces.

And check out the ride itself.

But check out these faces once they came off the ride! They were so exhilarated. However, they did decline to go again even though there was still no line- haha!

My favorite amusement park ride is the simple one with swings. Unfortunately, the two little ones weren't tall enough and I couldn't leave them alone so this is as close as we got.

Not gonna lie, they were pretty disappointed about that one.

Liesel and Ireland loved it though!

Meanwhile, Brigitta and Sydney entertained themselves with these hats. 

Who would buy those?

Emboldened by their newfound roller coaster savvy, Liesel and Ireland tried the American Eagle before we met up with our friends.

Oh the joys of riding the top floor of the double-decker carousel!

In reality, it's not that big of a deal but in a child's mind, it's pure magic!

As we wandered through the park, I was happy to take the younger kids on the smaller rides. I wasn't feeling great and the heat was starting to get to me. We found this ride that even Sydney was tall enough to ride without a parent and I rested on a nearby bench while the younger three waited in line. I struck up a conversation with a woman sitting next to me who, turns out used to live where I served my mission in East LA! We talked about the huge cemetery and the Mercado and the vendors who sell tamales and elote from their carts. What are the chances I would run into her in Illinois? I had to wonder what the chances were I'd talked to her as a missionary since I served in that area for 7 months. 

I was ready to try out a ride when we all joined together again and Buccaneer Bay seemed perfect to cool off as well. My friend Lindsey made a passing comment about how people can spray you but nothing else. We were SOAKED and I mean as wet as if I'd jumped in the water with all my clothes on! Derek was intent on hitting his sister with water and guess who was sitting right behind her? That ride was just continual shock at water coming from all different angles unexpectedly. At one point, Matthew and I looked at each other with our hands up in the air knowing we were helpless to stop the onslaught.

Oh yeah, people in other boats can spray you with water too. Took us a little while to figure that one out but once we did I went nuts on them. I cranked my gun with a fury I have not felt in quite a while.

Yeah, Derek is the only dry one in the this photo- the rest of us were so wet and Lindsey was laughing heartily.

She said she tried to warn me that people can spray you. 

 The older kids were restless to hit the bigger coasters and so were the adults so I was again happy to order some food and hang our with the littles. We actually had a lot of fun with our plates of fried food, especially the hand-dipped corn dogs!

I passed the time chatting with the kids and playing with Snap Chat filters:

 Maybe that sounds lame but Becky snapped this picture when she came back from a ride and you can see we were honestly having so much fun! We all felt rested enough to take on some more rides.

 Everyone really liked the Whizzer so we went on that one a couple of times. The little girls also loved the Little Dipper- it was the perfect roller coaster for them. Still not feeling well, and facing a drive home I was ready to pack it in. I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked by all the tears because everyone was having a great time. Friends volunteered to keep the older two who don't require booster seats anymore. A very doleful Brigitta and Sydney reluctantly came with me towards the park entrance. The least I could do was let them play in the water of the reflecting pool!

There's that magical carousel!

Fortunately, the school district does this reading challenge every year. Before we left the park, everyone agreed it would be a fun tradition to continue next summer. The girls poured over the park map after they came home and started plotting out the rides they would hit first next summer. Of all the things we did this summer, Six Flags was far and away their favorite!