From Washing Waldo Woo to Kayla on Capitol Hill

Do you ever get so tired as a family that you can do absolutely nothing and it's actually fun? That's what happened on Monday after our rodeo weekend/grandma's birthday. We were tuckered, and the kids hadn't seen their stuff for so long it was quite novel. I can't remember why, but Josh and Noah did this, and I let them.

I told them this looks like Walter Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.

After the sink baths, the kids found some "Story Cards" I'd picked up for a dollar a while back, and wanted to play with them. So we did. The cards had a setting to use, some props, some adjectives, and a problem. I went first, and while my story started out lame, it turned out to be something I'd write down. The boys were riveted. Josh went next, and did a great job of thinking of a story. He was telling the story about a guy diving for treasure, and said, "He saw some awesome things." "What was awesome?" I wondered aloud. Right away he answered, "Some baby fish being born, that was awesome." Noah had a hard time at first with his, and then Josh said, "Noah, I didn't think I could do it, but I did!" Noah's story was pretty clever, because he used both sides of his setting card and said there was a really tall magic ladder that made it so you could climb between the two settings (the desert and the snowy mountains). Andrew saw one of his props was a hat, and dove right in confidently, "Once upon a time there was an old man with a hat." All three stories were sooo cute, and the boys were really proud. That's one of my favorite things we did together that summer, and it was totally impromptu.

After that, I tried to plan preschool for the coming year. The boys were really quiet, and when I finally went to check on them I saw this:

That's right, they'd made over 100 paper airplanes.

That's the week that Lissy discovered she loooved being naked. Every time I took off her diaper, she'd jump up and do dances - kicks, twirls, whatever was graceful. However, she did NOT want the diaper back on. I let her fly free for a little bit, and she went upstairs and started trying on all of the clothes in her drawer. This chica's not even two! That week she went #2 on the potty for the first time, although it came as a shock to her. She jumped right off the potty and started yelling and pointing.

Great Seven Peaks trip on Wednesday - we met Cindy and Nate, and I probably don't need to finish with the fact it was fun. Sophie, Noah, and I swam and danced (Sophie and Lissy, anyway) at Tidal Beach for a while, Lissy discovered jumping off rocks, Josh and Noah discovered they could go on a double tube together and have fun, and I took Andrew on his first tube slide. He was sooo excited the entire time we waited in line, and then he laughed the whole way down. Seriously, the kid was belly laughing the whole time. He is way, way too cute. That ride was worth my Seven Peaks money right there.  Then, awesome for us all - Kayla came home with us! The boys had been asking me and asking me about it, and then their dream came true. When she got to her bed she couldn't help but count the paper airplanes on it - 159. Even they, who did all the folding, were surprised.

Thursday morning Kayla slept in a little because she was running on only two hours of sleep from the night before. However, the boys nabbed her the first second they got, and introduced her to their game. I tried to take a picture of it, but that is when I discovered my camera is randomly broken. Anyway, they made up this game where they drew a four paths on the back of their train table, and made a big oval in the middle (I believe Kayla streamlined the design). They then each chose a color of cowboys and Indians, then rolled a dice until they got to the middle to "battle." Whoever was the last one with guys that were still alive was the winner. Kayla was awesome enough to play this with them for around an hour and a half. Later I found out she thought that was a game they played all the time. Nope, you were the guinea pig on that invention, Kayla.

The boys worked really hard to read enough to earn a free game of laser tag, and the minute they got the coupons they said they must play with Kayla. They had big dreams, so we went and battled it out. It was actually really fun, although I had to tone down my excitement when I realized I had to stop bulldozing my children. I spent the rest of the time with Lissy on my hip, and we were quite the team. I don't know what is so hilarious/exciting about your family running around a neon room wearing flashing vests, it just is. Gary, Josh, Noah, and Kayla all got some great shots in, and Kayla was the winner, though it wasn't enough to save our team since Andrew must not have been activated. I'll battle you again, Joshua! Afterward we had to go to Coldstone, of course.

Kayla was so awesome as to offer to take the boys shopping for school supplies, and since we needed to turn in our library books, we made it a morning on the town. Brunch at the park (sponsored by the library), then off to the library, and to the store. A little lunch and quiet time, then it was off to Salt Lake to get a tour of Gary's work/the State Capitol. Such a beautiful place, and Kayla was impressed when Gary started getting us into places. I kinda was, too. Afterwards we ate pizza at a cool and yummy place called Stoneground. It had a kind of a hipster vibe to it, and at first I felt dumb bringing kids. However, afterward I felt awesome, because our kids were so good. Yes, the small victories!

After we got our Trader Joe's fix, we picked up Kayla's friend and went home. Kayla, her friend, and I all had to leave at 4:30 a.m. to get them to the airport on time, so we did the obvious thing - stayed up and talked until 1:45. What was I supposed to do, not talk to my adorable sister I never see? Worth it.

As we ate our food, Josh noticed that some had chosen the Utah Utes table, while he was safely on the BYU side. Dad, take note where the loyalties lie!

The kids were all pretty pumped about this stage, especially Lissy. Oh, yes, the other funny thing Josh invented at this place was "walking on water." His reflection on the window while looking into the swimming complex seriously made it look that way.

Here we are at the state capitol.

It's so beautiful! I tried to pick Lissy up, but she wanted to stand like the big kids.

Gary took this pic because the thought my friend would want to see me chillin' with her pal. I post it because I am amused at how it turned out that his hand is on my head.

Doesn't Kayla look like a natural on the Senate floor?

Random: On Sunday I was preparing my lesson, and I heard my boys say, "Let's play that game where you try to pull us down the stairs, and we try and tackle you." Intervention time?

Josh was so great at doing his chores on Saturday, and everybody else wasn't, so I decided it was time for us to have a little date. We went to Maverik and he got a slushie - 3 colored one, pretty fantastic. We did some chatting, and he told me he doesn't want to go back to school because it "ruins all of his play time at home." I don't want summer to be over, either, buddy. Josh climbed this tree to top off the outing.