Once we entered August, Jonas and I felt the countdown until school started. Just two weeks until he goes to middle school. Is he old enough for that? Old enough or not, he's definitely ready. He is excited and I am excited with him (even though my mama heart is a little worried about mean kids during the volatile middle school years). In any case, we maximized those two weeks to soak in all the summer fun. We crammed in a few more birthdays (because we have a HUGE cluster of family birthdays starting with Jonas's and ending with Amber's...but we don't really celebrate the adults birthdays like we do the little kids). Next up, we celebrated Everly's 4th birthday! She still feels two to me. This year, Laurin decided to just do a family birthday dinner with all of us since she was doing a girly, friend birthday mid-week that we didn't all need to attend. Everly got to open our gifts then we sang happy birthday while she blew out her candles on her brownies. Finally, we got to celebrate Beau's 2nd birthday. This kid is non-stop! He has loved having Jonas home for the summer because that means there's someone around to chase him or tussle with him. He is like Jonas's little shadow. Amber hosted a fun "wheels" themed party because the kid is obsessed with anything that has wheels.
Here are some pictures of the cutest two-year-old around! Happy birthday big boy!
We also maximized the final weeks of summer with a couple more fun outings with the nephews/nieces...(the park, Hang Time, Lowes). I know I've mentioned how sad Beau is going to be when Jonas goes back to school, but I think I can say the same for the other kiddos too (even if we only watch them once a month). They all love Uncle Jonas!
Jonas was always a good sport to help me out with the kiddos, but I also made sure that we took some time for him to hang out with his friends too. I bought this discount pass from Utah Kids Club this summer so we maximized that investment and took Lane to Sky Zone (Monday, August 3rd) and Madden to Slick City (Monday, August 10th). Both of these venues are further north. In fact, most of the venues on the pass are in north Utah County or Salt Lake County, but I didn't mind the drive. I'm glad that I still have some free days (when I'm not watching the grandkids) to do this type of stuff with (and for) Jonas. I hope he stays friends with Lane and Madden now that his social pool will be much bigger at middle school. We got his schedule at the beginning of the month. He only has one class (Reading) with two of his closest friends (Lane and Sam). He doesn't have any classes with any of his basketball buddies. I was sad for him. He was a little disappointed too, but he acknowledged that it may be fun to make some new friends. I love his positive attitude. I think there will be a lot of new kids that could be great friends throughout the rest of his school years. In any case, for these outings, he chose to take Lane and Madden. They had a blast!
On top of all that, Jonas and I managed to do some back-to-school shopping. He's moved to that stage where he actually cares about what he wears and has more specific tastes. We did a bigger shopping excursion at the beginning of summer, but we were looking for that special back to school outfit. We went to multiple stores to try to find something special to wear on his first day of school before we finally gave up. He agreed that he had enough clothes at home and there wasn't anything else he saw that warranted buying. I'm grateful for his down-to-earth approach to material things. Sure, he wants to look good, but he didn't feel like anything we saw was any better than what we already bought. Luckily, shoe shopping wasn't as futile and he definitely needed new shoes! It is crazy how quickly his feet grow! He goes up a size every year. He is currently wearing a size 9 shoe in men's. He has grown 2 inches since last year and 14 lbs. He is now 60.5" (92%) and 124.8 lbs (97%). Other than shoes, we grabbed a few back to school supplies too. He really didn't need much, but we got some pencils and a notebook just in case.
In those final few days of summer, we also indulged in the city's annual Salmon Supper on Friday, August 7th. The food is great and I love feeling the small town vibe. Everyone comes to the city park to enjoy dinner together. The firemen are grilling up the salmon and the high school football team and cheerleaders and helping to serve. It kind of feels like a Hallmark moment. The Irons joined us as well.
The final weekend of summer found us at Flaming Gorge. I love this little tradition. I realize that sometimes traditions need to be modified or changed all together. There may come a day/year that will be the case for this tradition; I'm just glad that's not the case this year. I enjoy ending the summer in Dutch John. I love that this weekend is important enough that all the kids join us...even if some (like the Armstrongs) couldn't come until Friday night. It has been a hotter than normal summer, but, as our luck would have it, that wasn't the case in Dutch John that weekend. The high temperatures never got out of the 70s and the water was just as chilly. We had storms rumble through each afternoon that we were there. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't horrible either. We just rolled with it and had fun. Jeff, Jonas, Dallin, Audrey and I got there on Thursday, August 13th around 3:30 p.m. We had just enough time to quickly set up the trailer then take the boat down to the lake for a couple of hours before the weather turned bad. I wished I could say the others were there to join us, but Laurin and Casey had truck trouble on their way up that necessitated help from Daniel and Addie (who were fortunately still in town and not planning to come up until later anyway). Needless to say, they didn't reach camp until that evening. Jacob, Amber, and Beau didn't join us until Friday evening due to work obligations. Casey's parents, Becky and Kelly, joined us during the weekend too. Kelly brought his own boat and Becky wasn't feeling the best so they didn't participate with us in everything, but we loved having dinner with them every night and hanging out.
Friday, August 14th, was our river day. I know I've probably said this before, but the river is by far my favorite day of the trip. We spend a lot of other days on the boat, but this is our only summer day on a river. The past couple of years, we've done a family float in the morning then the other kids (minus Jonas) opt to stay back at the trailer while Jeff and I float again. This year, however, we all did two floats together (minus Casey and the girls who stayed back with Casey's parents). In between the two floats, we waited for Addie to be done with work so she could join us. She was such a trooper to come to Flaming Gorge and work all day on Friday! Thankfully, she is able to work remotely. Our second float was just as fun as the first float. The kids jumped, paddled, swam when they tipped, and had fun trying to fit as many people on a paddle board as possible. I enjoyed staying in the raft with the grandkids. I love to see their courage as they grow and become more confident. Carter really engaged this year. Everly was still a little apprehensive, but she still got on the paddle board.
Saturday, August 15th, we headed out for a day on the lake. Regardless of the weather (which was sunny in the morning then stormy for a bit in the afternoon), the kids had a blast! Most of the day was spent surfing. Even Jeff got to surf! The Irons spent the morning on Kelly and Becky's boat. Jacob spent his morning paddling his inflatable dingy out to a cove to go fishing, but the rest of us were on our boat. Once afternoon rolled in so did the storms. Becky and Kelly decided to get off the lake, but the rest of us crazies (minus Jacob, Amber, and Beau who also headed back to camp so Beau could nap), waited out the storm. We had rain coats on board that we used to stay warm. Thankfully, the storm passed pretty quickly even if the clouds lingered. While the clouds were still sticking around, we decided to go back into the little canyon under the bridge. We floated back until we literally hit a sandbar. Fortunately, it was just a sand bar! Once we realized we could dock the boat on the sand (and push it off), we all hopped off the boat and walked back to a little island with a volleyball net. Yup! Someone put a net back there. Too bad we didn't have a volleyball, but we did have a frisbee that the boys enjoyed tossing around while Carter, Everly, and Addie built sand castles. Once the clouds cleared a little, we surfed a little more then headed back to camp for dinner, but our adventures weren't over! We went back to the lake after dinner for some night surfing. The clouds had cleared and we had some fairly decent temps until the sun set. Once the sun set, however, Danny busted out some glow sticks that he brought and Jonas, Dallin, and Danny all took turns doing a "night" surf. We're not supposed to have anyone in the water after dark so we didn't stay out long, but they had a blast loading up as many glow sticks as they could to surf.
The weekend flew by too quickly...heck, the whole summer did! I can't believe I started this summer on crutches and in a leg brace and now it's over. These months are, at times, exhausting. It is a lot to try to entertain Jonas and the grandkids...and take weekend trips...and maintain the house...and keep my sanity. But I want to embrace it all! I only get so many summers with my kids and they all seem to go by too fast. So here we are again...another school year...another rush of extracurriculars...another season of holidays...and eventually, another summer.
