Family, Friends, and Fireworks

We have been moving right along with summertime leisure. I had a conference two weeks ago and my parents came to stay with the kids. Then we had the notorious Kirkwood crew come visit for a night! I still wish they lived closer! It was fun playing games. Lex joined in with the grownups, instead of painting rocks with the kids. That was neat and different. We spent the 4th of July at the beach with friends and despite being tired and sunburned, we made it down the hill to the fireworks. Yay! Today is a quiet home day while we rest up and pack up for a big city adventure!!!

We got to celebrate my mom’s birthday while she was here. Aunt Katie brought over a delicious meal and gigantic cake (which I would have eaten all of if my mom hadn’t take it home with her — thankfully!!).

Jasmine “signs” a birthday card for Mema. Eve might have helped a little.  Arlo got to sign it too.  :)

That many candles requires a very, very deep breath!

The “special diet” table was the best!! Everyone was jealous! They even had sesame sauted temphe one day. Crazy!

While my parents were watching the kids, I was spending my days at the fancy Killington Grand Resort with 11 other colleagues, learning (and teaching, in the case of some of my colleagues) how to improve on our PBIS (positive behavior intervention system) program at school.  Despite the fact that it was a work conference in the summer, it was really interesting and a great experience to share with the team. 

On Friday the Kirkwoods arrived from the west and entertained us for the evening.

The easiest game ever! LOL!

These girls pained a lot of rocks!

Love, love, love, and love!!!

Earlier this week I took the kids on a shopping trip.  We only  needed a few things, but in the name of balancing home days and “busy” days, I decided to drive down to Manchester and go to the mall!!  We also went to the big Barnes and Nobel.  It was great.  Lex bought Legos (shocker!) and the kids spent hours building creations with the very basic Lego set he got.  He said sometimes he finds the sets too restricting and was happy to find a set of basic colored bricks.  I reminded him of the giant bucket he already owns, but he bought these anyway.  I need to do some rearranging of his toys.  I think they could use better storage, but that’s for another day.

A knight (on the left) battling a fire breathing dragon, with a submarine coming to the rescue.

Silly kitty.

Yesterday we spent the day at the lake.  We rounded up a few friends to join us and we all enjoyed the 100° temps!  Sadly, despite multiple sunscreen applications we all got burnt.  I think we need new sunscreen!

We commandeered a picnic table as soon as we got to the lake! We made good use of it with the buffet of (mostly) healthy foods we all brought. :)

Eve and friends.

We went home and crashed for a little while.  Minecraft, Youtube, books, and naps.  Then we regrouped and discussed the fireworks.  Alan is recovering from a sinus infection and had slept most of the day away.  Lex and I were exhausted.  Eve was too, but she was motivated by the idea of more friend time at the fireworks.  We eventually decided to drive down later than we usually do.  Therefore not having to pack a picnic dinner and not having to walk home at the end.  It worked out well and we all had fun with friends at the fireworks.

Lex wasn’t very excited about going and brought along his book. He ended up putting it away after awhile and joining in with the crowd, again mixing between the adults and the kids.

Eve was all about the friends and ended up holding court with her boy crowd for most of the evening. We are entering a whole new era here with these kids!

Playing cards in the dark.

Fireworks! Beautiful, as usual.

Stay tuned for vacation pictures next week!!