Summer

How about this hot, dry weather?  August is my second least favorite month.  The kids love it though!  When I'm not hiding from the heat, I'm working on my lesson plans for the school year.  This year, I have five kids to juggle plus two babies.  I'm trying to be cheerfully optimistic, but I think this (slight) disaster might be a bit prophetic:

I was brainstorming ways to keep him from destroying our homeschool (he struggles with being alone, yet he cannot behave himself with other people around).  I was sitting out on my favorite porch while Daniel played in the sprinkler.  I had to walk away (probably to find Lula) and I came back to a soaking wet notebook.  Daniel picked the sprinkler up and soaked my porch and the side of the house!

I am also challenging myself to follow a Whole30 program.  I am fifteen days into eating only meat, vegetables, and fruits (google to see what else I can and won't eat) and I can honestly say I have never felt this good.  Ever.  In my whole life.  I spend more time chopping vegetables and I actually sit down at the counter and eat instead of just grabbing a quick sandwich and sitting in front of the computer.  Whole30 is more than just a change in diet, but a change in habit!

The kids, of course, are loving the pond in this heat.  They go down and swim and throw mud at each other.  Ian and Shane don't need me to be their life guard any more, so I just watch from the house.  The little kids just play on the side and dig holes in the mud.

We took a trip to the Point Defiance Zoo last week so Shane could pet a shark.  The sharks are very small, but Shane enjoyed himself immensely.   Daniel was afraid the shark would grow big teeth and bite him, so he didn't touch the shark.

My favorite part of the zoo was taking a picture in  the jaws.  But the jaws are GONE! They have been there my entire life!  Now they have these old megalodon jaws.  Fine, they are cool.  But I like the old ones! 

Because Grandma and Grandpa came with us, the kids got to ride on the carousel!  See, I was raised to be a penny-pincher and I never let my kids do fun things.  Ever.  (Wait a second, since it was my mom and dad who never paid for fun things like carousel rides when I was a kid and now they are paying for things like this....does that mean they have seen the error of their ways? Or does it mean that it is a grandparent thing and I will pay for carousel rides for my grandkids?)

Evie had a great time at her summer camp last week.  She had to get up early every morning to spend eight hours riding, swimming, playing, and singing at Miracle Ranch.

 The above photo is from the local paper and shows Evie's dance class performing at Key Fest.  That was another hot miserable day!

And what would summer be if we didn't have a hike up Mount Elinor?  This hike is easy for Ian, Shane, and Evie, but this was Fiona's first hike! 

 She was so excited to be included on an adventure!

 You may think the picture above is the kids on the summit of Mount Elinor, but it is actually a picture of my hiking boots at the summit of Mount Elinor (on Ian's growing feet).

We are on the downward slope to September...