July's pictures

For at least a couple of years, Nathanael has been wanting his own luggage. Before our vacation to Colorado we ordered a new set. When it arrived and we told him it could be his, he was over the moon. 

Just because she's cute:

Social media has certainly put more pressure on mothers, and I must admit that I fall into the trap. I do enjoy searching for and recreating ideas I find on Pinterest to create joy in my children's lives, but when I feel completely devoid of energy and need to just take some time off from making every flipping day special, I feel like I've failed and they will remember their childhoods as boring and their mother as a failure.
For the most part, the summer days were completely unplanned. We spent in until the late, late hour of 7:00, watched more TV than I'd have liked, and went to the pool when we could. But we did manage to complete the Barnes & Noble reading program, for which the boys were rewarded with a new book. And we made it to the craft store for free cookie decorating.

We attended our ward Pioneer Day party, which included a parade for the kids, pioneer costume contest, giant slip 'n slide covered in dish soap, and creepy music. This activity certainly confirmed to the residents of the adjoining neighborhood that we are, indeed, a peculiar people. 

Nathanael is not afraid to be silly. We have often said he likes to have too much fun to be stuck in our uptight family.

Just a regular Sabbath day at church.

Speaking of church, Claire has the most amazing Sunbeam teacher who loves her and who she adores back. Alysia teaches Claire good principles and encourages her to incorporate them into her life. One Sunday, Claire brought home a picture of the temple. She immediately wanted to hang it in her room, just like her teacher had encouraged her to do.

We took a field trip with Mimi, Pop Pop, and Benny to North Carolina. Pop Pop's field trips are always very precisely planned and kept on a timeline. First stop was some scenic overlook, the name of which escapes me.

Next up was gem mining at a little place in Brevard.

We picked a nice enough looking picnic spot which had a short trail down to a river where the kids waded in the water and Pop Pop taught Nathanael how to successfully skip rocks. He was instantly a pro. 

Our final stop was the Cradle of Forestry at Pisgah National Forest. When we set out on our adventure, it was a beautiful sunny day. As soon as we stepped out of the discovery center at the forest, it was beginning to drizzle, dark clouds were overhead, and we could hear thunder. Pop Pop, our fearless leader, charged ahead, into the coming storm. Surely it won't rain much, we thought. Surely it will pass quickly, we thought. The rains increased, the clouds darkened. We sought shelter in a little display area of some sort along the trail. We waited for several minutes, believed the rains to be lessening, then continued our journey further along the trail. Pop Pop had the final destination, an old train engine, securely positioned in his intent. There was no stopping, no turning back. We pressed forward. We rains continued and we became cold, as our clothing was saturated. We once again sought shelter under a log structure. We all huddled under a very small area of roof. And it leaked.
We did eventually make it to that old engine. The rain stopped. We were drenched, nevertheless spirits were not dampened. Except for Claire's. She was totally over it. My biggest complaint was loading up a bunch of dirty, wet bodies back into my van.

Our last adventure of July was an overnight trip to Atlanta, just the kids and me. We arrived at about 5:00, checked into our hotel, which is disgusting. Our room had visibly not been cleaned. There was hair all over the bathroom floor, the sofa-bed was pulled out with sheets on it, there was no soap, no toiletries, and it desperately needed vacuumed. It was rather discouraging to arrive to such filth. We went back to the desk and asked for another room. The second room was not much better, but we didn't have time to worry about it. It was time to head off to Medieval Times for an evening of dinner and entertainment.

The show was really fun, the dinner was very tasty, and the kids seemed to be enthralled the whole evening. It was already Claire's bedtime when the show began, so she held up better than I could have asked. She did get tired before the end, but it was a very nice evening and they all asked when we could go again. Even Sam was a very good sport when one of the knights, attempted to give Nate a high five, knocked his cup of ice cold water over and into Sam's lap. I was shocked by how well he held it together, in fact.

The next morning, we headed over to spend the day with the Simpsons. It was fun to see how surprised and excited Reagan was to see us.

And what fast friends Claire and Blythe were.

We spent several hours at their community pool, which was the coolest community pool I've ever been to. The kids were quite disappointed when it was time to leave. They could have spent the rest of the day going down the water-park-like slide.

On our way back out of town, we stopped for a town at Mayfield Dairy. We had done the tour years ago, before Claire's entrance into this world, at Mayfield's Tennessee facility. Same tour, different location. Sam threw up his ice cream, and lunch, in his car seat on that tour years ago. This time, we all enjoyed our ice cream cones with none of the messy aftermath.

I've got them so fooled. (Picture by Nathanael)