Our Last Week of Summer

 We had a most delightful final week of summer. It was pretty busy. We tried to cram a few more things from our summer bucket list into the week as we could.

I went mountain biking with Jamie Monday morning, early. And the trail we did was so fun! And I could feel myself getting stronger and more fit and better at biking. It was a good ride. I've really been enjoying biking this summer. It helps that I've found a good group to go with. I find myself looking forward to Monday rides. 😊

Monday, we built an epic fort in the basement. I had bought a few supplies earlier on in the summer, knowing we would eventually do this. So we put some hooks on the walls in the basement, tied a rope between them and hung flat sheets across it, and then went from there in our building. We used clamps and clothes pins to connect sheets together and stretch the sheets to make the walls. We used the weights to keep them in place and poles to prop up the sheets. It was pretty awesome really. 

When we were done, we read our book for a little bit, inside the fort, of course, and then watched Swiss Family Robinson, also in the fort. Obviously. And it was so cool to watch that movie in the fort, because the Swiss Family had to live in forts for a while. The kids loved the movie, as I knew they would. Jack especially loved all the inventions and the pirates.

Tuesday, we spent some time at the library and back-to-school shopping. For our first science/history project, I'm having the kids do a project about Yellowstone -- either an animal found there, or the history of it, or any of the geological structures. So we went to the library for books. Then to the Good and Beautiful store, where I always come out with way more than I needed. We only went in for Space Science unit and accessories; but I came out with an additional science course book for Camille to do some personal study, a new book series for Camille, a series of fact books for littles, a new drawing book, and the creative writing book series for Brooke. It's quite the problem. I basically want to buy up the whole store. 

We also did clothes shopping at Target and Old Navy, which was okay, but always takes longer than I want it to. But the kids all got new things and seemed satisfied. 

Jack was thrilled that I got him this jean jacket. He wanted to match me and Brooke. 😍 I did not spring for the hat, though. He said it made him look like a cowboy. 

That night, Daniel and Brooke went for a bike team thing, and so the boys and I had a boys and mommy night. They just wanted to watch Bluey for a long while in the fort, so that's what we did. None too exciting, but they really enjoyed it. 

I got a 3 day pass to the local gym so that I could go to Annette Perkins Body Pump class with Jamie and Sarah. We went Wednesday morning. It was so hard! It was basically doing one exercise, like a squat or lunge, for an entire 3 or 4 minute song! I lift weights 4 times a week every week. I feel strong, and I am starting to see a little muscle definition... but DUDE! I felt so weak in that class! And the next day, my whole upper body was sore. But it was so fun, and tempted me so bad to get a gym membership so that I could go to her class more often. 

Thursday, we spent the day with the Winfields. We had invited them to go do the Bridal Veil Falls hike with us, and they wanted to make it a whole day in Provo. So we joined them. Aside from the hike, and playing in the water by the falls, we went to the duck pond at BYU, had lunch and ice cream at the Creamery, and explored the Bean Museum for a bit before going home. It was such a fun, and also exhausting day. It was Johnny's birthday that day (Sawyer's little Bestie), and I felt honored that they would want to spend his birthday with us. 

Friday morning, since I still had my 3 day pass at VASA, Sarah and I went to a High Fitness class, which was so much fun. And I was, again, tempted to get a gym membership. We stopped at Smiths afterwards to get snacks for our girls night. Then, it was rushing home to get the kids ready to go to the pool. We met up with the McMurtreys at the Lehi outdoor pool, and swam with them for, like, three and a half hours. The kids had an absolute blast with those kids. They really get along well with them. It was Calvin's birthday that day, so we were honored that they wanted to spend his birthday with us. 

After getting home, I made a quick dinner for the kids, and then left for my girls night with DeAnna and Sarah. We went to Highland Glen Park to kayak and chat and eat junk food. It was the most delightful and needed evening. We had so much fun together, and it was so peaceful out there and such a nice night. We kayaked on the water, slowly making our way back and forth across the pond and circling around each other, chatting and laughing. When the sun was going down, we headed back to the shore, sat on the grass and ate our snacks. We had one funny encounter with this single dad who came over to hang out with us and just started spilling his crazy and shocking life history and complaining about all the people in his life. It was kind of funny. And then, around 10 or 10:30, the cops came to kick us out of the park, because it was closed. We still had to track down and load up the kayaks and paddleboard, haha. I felt bad they had to wait for us, but actually, the cop we talked to was really nice and didn't seem to mind at all.

It was just so good to hang out with people who know me well and still love me. They are just friends that are good for the soul. 

Saturday morning, Mary Beth Christensen, Sarah and I met up at a piano store warehouse to play music together, which was so fun and also made me feel so nervous and self conscious. I haven't played in front of people for so long, and I'm so out of practice. But it was probably good for my ego, knocking me down several pegs. Haha. We had fun. I'd like to do it again sometime. 

That afternoon, I paid the kids to do some deep cleaning chores, which they were very willing to help with. And afterwards, we had our family water fight, which everyone was so excited for and thrilled to do. Jack said that it was his favorite thing we did all summer. It's always a good time, even though someone always ends up crying and the boys always drop out sooner than everyone else. But actually, the boys played happily for a lot longer than previous years. And there were a lot less tears than usual.

That night, Brooke went to a big kids summer party at Harvey's house. She hung out with all the big kid friends in our neighborhood and ward. When did she get so big? Doing all this big kid stuff?