Stories of my summer

The big story of my summer is that I had a baby, and that lots of company came to visit and see the baby. But there were plenty of other smaller stories that were part of this summer, too, all of them adding to the not so glamorous but incredible sweetness that is my life most of the time. Let's see how many I can cram into a single blog post, shall we?

Story #1: Movie at the Park

Early this summer, Forest took the girls to see "Inside Out" on the big screen at the park. I stayed home with Wylie, so I still haven't seen it, but somehow know a lot about the movie, anyway.

 The pretty sunset was an added bonus to their outdoor show.

Story #2: Adventure Camp
Ramona and Mika got to participate in a 3-day camp put together by a church in Timnath. The theme was "Under His Armor."

 

Later we spotted their pictures in a local magazine

On their last day, they got cotton candy and shared it with Paula

The three sisters didn't always get along perfectly this summer--in fact, they had a lot of learning and adjusting to do once they were suddenly together all day. But there were times when they did find ways to play happily together (all three of them), and those moments were like gold.

Story #3: The Sisters Dress Up

All three girls at one point were pretending to be mermaids and requested "mermaid tails," so we used blankets and hair elastics to create some.

There was another time when they dressed up as superheroes . . .

. . . and yet another time we dressed them up as various Book of Mormon prophets (Nephi, Alma, and Abinadi) for a family home evening lesson.

Dressing up also happened in conjunction with some birthday parties this summer. There was one ballerina-themed party at a dance studio . . .

. . . and a princess-themed party at a friend's house, too. Mika went as Cinderella.

Story #4: My Little Baker

Paula sometimes enjoyed dressing up as a baker and pretending to make me little waffles, using one of the kitchen cabinets as her oven.

She also helped me do some real baking at one point

Story #5: In Our Own Backyard
We didn't go many places this summer, but the girls still found ways to have fun in on the patio and on the lawn

When some rain damped their plans to swim at the neighborhood pool one afternoon, Ramona and Mika played in the rain with their swimsuits still on.

Sometimes they drank smoothies on the back patio

And they were always good at using their imagination to play games outside with the neighbor kids

Story #6: Artsy Craftsy

My girls kept very busy creating various works of art this summer

I started out taping their artwork to the wall, then finally got some little cork boards to help display it.

Story #7: The Tennis Bubble
Ramona took group tennis lessons at Highland Meadows Tennis Center (the bubble) for four weeks in the middle of the summer. At the end of the session, the kids got rewarded with ice cream sandwiches and a bunch of other prizes. Ramona loved her teacher, coach Darla.

Mika didn't take lessons at Highland Meadows this year, but she still got to eat an ice cream sandwich.

Ramona and Forest tried to teach her a few tennis skills at the park one day--I think the lesson lasted about five minutes before she ran off to find the playground. But she says she wants to take lessons next summer.

Story #8: Book Worms
Thank goodness for libraries and summer reading

Story #9: A Hike Around Bear Lake
Our family of six ventured out to Rocky Mountain National Park in mid-July.

At the end of the hike, the girls got to touch an elk antler

But Paula preferred the stuffed toy elk

Shuttle bus back to the parking lot:

Paula saying "Bye Bye, Mountains!"

Can you see the ghost on the mountain?

Picnic and visit to the playground in Estes Park:

Story #10: Carnival at the Library

Did I mention we love our library? They organized a huge party for the kids toward the end of the summer, complete with cotton candy, crafts, petting zoo, and inflatables.

Story #11: A New Park!

We've been waiting a while for the Timnath Community Park to come to our neighborhood . . . a couple of weeks ago the city finished phase one and fed everyone dinner to celebrate.

THE END (of summer vacation, and . . .)
THE END (of this blog post)

Vacation at the Zoo

Our family did not do any traveling this summer--we were pretty certain it wouldn't happen, with a new baby and three other kids. But we did make it down to Denver a handful of times, and one of our Denver excursions was labeled our "family vacation" for the year. At first we were kind of joking about this title, but as far as day-trips go, this one was especially pleasant and smooth-sailing, so it actually felt like a vacation. And as a bonus, we didn't have to pack any suitcases!

We started the morning at the Denver Zoo. Ramona was the guardian of the map for a while, trying to ensure that we were covering ground at a good pace to see everyone's favorite animals.

 

 The girls got to watch a pelican get his breakfast.

 "Bear Mountain" was one of the requested stops.

 

 

 The pink flamingos were lovely.

Wylie was with us at the zoo, too. He spent most of the time asleep in the stroller . . .

 . . . but he did wake up to take a look around every once in a while.

 Visiting the gorillas was especially memorable.

I took this picture right before a gorilla named Charlie charged straight for Ramona and Mika--he came right up to the window, full-speed, and looked so fierce that both girls squealed and ran away! One of the zookeepers told us afterward that he was particularly territorial.

Ramona striking a pose in front of a bald eagle:

Mika and Ramona petting a snake:

Paula petting a skink:

Rhino:

Peacock:

Zebra:

As we were walking around, Paula kept asking to see the seals. She was delighted when we finally made it to their section of the zoo.

Giraffes:

 A young lion:

After a full morning of animal observation, we headed downtown for lunch, then walked a few blocks to a gelato shop for dessert. We had never taken the kids to this part of the city before, so it was a very new experience for them. The girls kept calling it "Denver City," and looked around, wide-eyed, at the tall buildings, bustling people, and outdoor pianos on the sixteenth street mall.

I think their eyes got even wider when they saw the display case at the gelato shop.

 YUM!

Not a bad way to vacation--it was short and sweet. And there was no suitcase to unpack, either!

Like Father, Like Son

When our girls were babies and I would see Forest carrying one of them around, it often crossed my mind that our daughters really look nothing like their father. From a stranger's perspective, there was so little resemblance that it looked as though he was holding someone else's child. But Wylie is different. I see Forest carrying our boy around and I think: "You two actually look related!" Here is a little montage of photos showing my two guys together:

June 16

June 26

June 29

July 8

July 9

July 15

July 19

While Forest's mother was here, she brought some baby pictures of Forest when he was about 6 weeks old. I think this one looks the most like Wylie:

For fun, I tried to recreate the picture using Wylie when he was also 6 weeks old:

They are both pretty cute babies. We are so happy to have these guys in our family!