I can’t believe we’re already midway through July! I have so much I need to do before we
leave on our big trip, but it is all so overwhelming that I keep putting it off
and putting it off. I made a goal
coming into the summer that I wanted to try to catch up and keep up on the blog
so I wouldn’t feel completely overwhelmed trying to get up to date after our
vacation. So here we are with July
so far…
July 2: The second lunch date of the season was
spent with my girl Carly. She had
a TOUGH time picking out a restaurant.
Typically the kids get two lunch dates each summer, but with our BIG
trip we only have time for one each.
After all the back and forth Carly asked me for a yummy burger place and
I couldn’t hold back my absolute favorite, Tipsy Cow (of course I’m not a fan
of beef, but they do have an amazing chicken sandwich with the reputation for
tasty burgers as well). Carly
didn’t hold back and order the biggest (most expensive burger) THE ROCKSTAR –
complete with a fried egg and fried bacon.
This afternoon my Mom sent me and my siblings this picture
from the BYU 1955 Intercollegiate Knights yearbook page.
Do you see that?
Both my Dad and my Mom’s husband Val on the same line. So crazy!
July 3: Not sure if this is Drew’s doing or the
persuasion of Jason and Katie, but apparently this is Drew as an Evil Princess.
July 5: Everyone should wake up on their
birthday to a massive donut sitting on their bedside table, am I right?
The rest of the day was completely ordinary. Justin was supposedly working late, but
called around 6pm and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner. I’d intended on making it to the gym
that day, so I hadn’t showered, but that wouldn’t stop me. We ate at Maggiano’s – our favorite
Italian restaurant bonus was that we had a coupon for $10 off and a gift
card. I also love getting a good
deal. To top off the evening we
stopped at Red Robin for dessert where they are offering their “mile high mud
pie” for $5 over the summer – and I couldn’t resist adding an order of pretzel bites
that is also on promo. I love me
some good food and it’s always so much sweeter when I feel like I’m getting a
good deal.
Katie and Drew had their second (and final) week of swim
lessons this week. They both
passed their levels the previous week so I thought they should take another
week to work on some new skills.
Drew’s PreK3 class was quite a step up from his previous level and he
did so great. Katie was also
stretched more in her Youth3 class and was swimming the different strokes
across the length of the pool. So
glad they both enjoyed it, but we’ll probably hold off on any more lessons
until next summer.
Here’s a little video clip. Katie is at the very far end of the pool, closest kiddo to
the wall, doing her thing and you can see Drew in the middle.
You’d be hard pressed to find a more pretty backdrop than
our swim lesson location.
July 8: I’ve recently discovered The Bucket
List Family and have enjoyed watching some of their travel videos. The quality of the videos is awesome
and the places they go are dreamy – I do wish they shared more information
about the specifics of their travels (cost, itineraries, recommendations,
etc…). Anyhow, this picture was
taken on a Sunday afternoon as I finished watching their latest video. I loved that Drew was cuddled up behind
me resting his head on my head and that Carly was lying on the floor below both
watching it with me.
July 10: Grandpa plays softball each spring/summer
with a senior citizens league in Maple Valley. We’ve attended a few games over the years and were glad he
invited us to his game today. Unfortunately
Abigail (and of course Justin) had to work, but the rest of us went. It was a little chilly and rainy, but
I’d rather that than 90-degree temps.
Grandpa played first base and made a few outs and we also saw him hit.
I liked the writing on the back of their team jerseys –
“Growing old might be mandatory, but growing up is optional.”
After the game we ran some errands in Covington and hit up
Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A for some free lunch.
July 11: The kids (not including Abigail)
have been reading a TON this summer.
We go to the library at least once a week and they bring home and devour
stacks of books. I love it and I’m
a bit jealous as I haven’t read any books this summer. Carly has started the Twilight series
and is currently reading the third book.
More Boredom Buster fun – “play hopscotch” – I had a
hopscotch court on our driveway when I was growing up so this was fun to see my
kids give it a try. We had to
improvise with a wooden toy food item instead of a hoppy taw and Jason played a
bit creatively.
This afternoon Carly got her braces off – nearly 28 months
of brackets and rubber bands. What
a difference two years and a couple G’s makes. I got teared up just looking at the difference and couldn’t
believe how much older my girl his getting. Such a beautiful smile!
We took a few quick pictures when we got home so she could
update her profile picture. This
was my favorite – candid Carly!
July 12: Summer has officially arrived and I’m
cool staying indoors. I think I’m
realizing that summer may not be my favorite season after all. I’m a wuss when it comes to the heat,
unless we’re enjoying it poolside.
July 13: You may recall that Jason had a really
fun outing with some friends the night before school got out. He was treated to a dinner at The Sugar
Factory and he loved it. So, when
I asked him where he wanted to go for his lunch date he without hesitation
choose The Sugar Factory. Justin
didn’t want to miss a chance to check out the place and since we discovered
they are only open in the evenings on weekdays we decided to make it a dinner
date instead. The reviews for the
place are really quite terrible and it is ridiculously expensive so I was just
as much in dread and excited to check it out.
When it came down to it I couldn’t order an actual meal,
knowing that it likely wouldn’t be very good, so instead I ordered a shake
($19!).
This is the Giggle Snickers Milkshake – Cookies n Cream Ice
Cream with Peanuts, Chocolate Chips topped with a Caramel Waffle, Snickers,
Whipped Cream and Sprinkles in a Chocolate Covered Mug with Snickers Pieces and
Rainbow Sprinkles
Jason enjoyed his burger.
July
14: Tonight
Justin made “Susi’s Meal” for dinner – a meal we’ve made dozens of times. After dinner Abigail was saying she
felt a little funny and then about 40 minutes later she had hives all over her
body and was super itchy. We knew
she was having an allergic reaction, but because her throat wasn’t swelling and
she wasn’t having any breathing issues we didn’t jab her with the epipen and
instead found an urgent care we could take her too. While we were driving there I had Carly send me a picture of
the pesto container we used and there in bold along the bottom was
walnuts. I swear that’s never been
there before and we obviously didn’t even think to look. I’ve been prohibited from posting any
pictures of her hive-covered legs, but trust me they were knarly. Abigail got a shot of steroids in the
rear and a RX to take for the next five days to prevent any secondary
reactions. This was the most
serious reaction Abigail has ever had and thankfully it wasn’t life
threatening. I hoping this is a
reminder to her that she needs to be super cautious with the things she eats as
she’s become quite lacks since she hasn’t had any real scares before. So grateful that we haven’t had any
serious reactions with any of our three kiddos who have severe food allergies –
hoping we keep it that way forever and always.
July 15: This past Sunday evening we joined the Baumgartner’s
at Grandma & Grandpa Fletcher’s for the Baumgartner’s last Sunday as
Washingtonians. They are moving to
Arizona this week. We sure are
going to miss having cousins nearby.
July 16: This morning Katie was still asleep
when I woke up. Her room had this
really cool orangey-pinky glow to it and I enjoyed seeing my little girl all snuggled up in bed snoozing.
