What we've been doing this summer

A highlight for us was my sister Sara and her fiance Christian flying in from Sweden for a few weeks to visit and plan their wedding. There was a flurry of cake tastings, dress fittings, decor meetings, caterers to check out, and a SHOWER of advice on Sara and Christian on how to do everything which they handled very well:). It was great to have them home, we love them both so much. We got to do the boardwalk together one night which sealed Christian's "coolness" factor with the kids. I remember watching Payton and Jonah with Sara and Christian on the "Riptide" ride or "twilt a whirl" which spins them around on individual tracks as they go in a big circle. Watching their faces light up and seeing them laugh together as they were spinning cracked me up, and I caught myself laughing out loud standing there by myself which is always weird. It's bittersweet for me to see them, sweet b/c it's great fun to be together, but a bit sad b/c it's always for just a short time.

I love this picture of my dad and LT. The evolution of my sister's nickname given by dad started with "Little Sara" which became "Little Sari" (with a long a sound) then "Little Tari" which then resulted in "LT". Nicknames are HUGE with me, I give everyone a nickname, I can't help myself, Paytie pop, Juju bee, dabey doobey, zekey baby, travee, I can't help myself.

Lots of trips to the library. It has been great fun to share in my love of reading with the kids. Payton, as you know, is totally hooked.

Planted seeds. This has been a very exciting process for the kids in watching them grow. Payton will go outside and scream like something terrible just happened, but really she's just thrilled her plants grew taller. We planted zinnias and marigolds and now the kids are consumed with arguing over who's plants are the tallest so far. Everything is a contest!

Beach days each week to watch Trav play volleyball. My kids have never been tanner, I'm still white of course. I wish I had more pictures of Trav with his shirt off for you all.

What's summer in Santa Cruz without the boardwalk? It's exhausting, loud, crazy, tons of people, and the kids can't get enough! I bought myself an annual pass along with them, and I think I've been on two rides b/c my main job is just too watch them on THEIR rides. So glad I spent the $70 on myself.

Berry picking with my dear friend Lynn and her daughter Emory at Gizdich Ranch. Lynn has been a co-laborer with me in our SoulFood Bible study at church and a gift. So many good chats, cries, chasing after our kids, watching Davey and Emory play/argue:), lots of good times!

We did swim lessons at Mt. Hermon. This is Jonah with his buddy Quinn. Jonah swore off swim lessons right up until the march to the pool the first day, and then as soon as we got there and it was time, he jumped right in without complaint. Times like these are always a little dicey, you never know which way he's gonna go. He had a blast and doggy paddles even better than I do now.

This is Payton, traumatized by another attempt off the diving board. She didn't jump off once during her three week swim class but as soon as it was done she conquered it and now that's all she wants to do. We all celebrated.

Davey "swims" by throwing himself face down into the water and floating on top of it waving his arms and legs around wildly, but not really going anywhere. The first time I saw him do it I thought he was drowning it looks so crazy, but he's quite proud of his skill and keeps insisting he's ready for the diving board and slide which are in the deep end. He gets so upset when we tell him he's not ready yelling, "But I DO know how to swim!"

Lots of good memories, now we gotta start preparing for school days. Yay for schedules again!