June- July

 By the time June was in full swing, we were suffering a little from the lack of structure in our lives that exists in a school vacuum.. As evidenced by these pictures. I would say that this was the first time that summer felt like summer, in that having both kids home all day was a significantly different experience than having kids, or A kid, in school for at least part of the time. That is to say, we started to get on each other's nerves a little bit without the regular opportunity for absence to make the heart grow fonder. But that was only a tiny   smidgen of the time; most of the time we found ways to have fun. Like-such-as going to the pool and... going to the pool. And even sometimes trying out new hairstyles.

This is what the zoobies would look like without the
Honor Code hair-length restrictions...

This side ponytail was really cute for five minutes
++until it was destroyed by Hurricane Nia

Sometimes Dorothea would come over to spice things up a bit. Sometimes we'd get a little crazy and build a fort. Looking back now, it occurs to me that one of my weaknesses as a parent is that I get caught up in the nitty-gritty of life and I forget to make life a little more fun and interesting for these kids. I mean, it's really not that hard to build a fort, and they get wildly ecstatic about stuff like that. So why not do it more often. Laziness, my friends, and distractedness (is that a word?) Fortunately, they're probably too young at this point to grow into resentful adults who will remind me of my dereliction later in life.  I reckon I have a couple more years to get my act together before it starts to matter...

Just hangin' out doin' little kid things

Luckily, we had a big vacation planned for the end of June/beginning of July to break up the monotony a bit. My wonderful cousins planned a little family reunion and invited us to stay at their wonderful cabin on Bear Lake.  There was plenty of fun cousin time...

Cameron and Charlie at Bear Lake.
The stripes were not planned, but should have been.

And boat rides...

With Eli and Baca on the boat. There was an incident
of which I politely request we never speak again, involving me,
pregnancy awkwardness, and the high sides of this boat...   

And more cousin time, playing in the sand...

The great thing about kids is that they don't really
seem to care when the sand is actually more like mud

And twirling in this inner tube for hours on end...

No exaggeration, Antonia spent at least a solid hour
carrying this inner tube around, just so

And jetskis...

Will's first experience on jetskis, and once he
dropped Charlie off and went on his own, hoo boy!

And sitting in this boat, contemplating the incongruities of life...

And having one's contemplations disturbed by photogs...

And most importantly, coloring!

One of my favorite memories of the trip, besides making approximately 1900 crepes for 40 people (I'll do the math for you, that's an average of 48 crepes per person. Yes, it does seem like a bit much...) was looking through old family photo albums from my dad's side of the family. Either because he was the youngest, or because he was a man, or both, my dad hasn't inherited much by way of tangible artifacts of his family history, so there were many pictures of my relatives that I had never seen before, along with a running commentary from my dad's sister about the history of the family. I love that. I think I should have been a history major. Oh, wait...

After a fun-filled time at Bear Lake we drove up to Idaho for the 4th of July. More time for the cousins to bond, and you know what helps with bonding? Being shirtless together, obviously. (Only for boys, though. Sorry, 3-year-old me. Girls don't get to run around shirtless, no matter how unfair it may seem.)

It's fun to tell kids to just run around for a while, because they
will do it, no questions asked. We'd be a lot less obese as a nation
if we could get adults to do the same thing

I took this picture to showcase how curly Antonia's hair can
get with just the right amount of moisture. It kills me.

These are the two cousins who are the closest in age, Bryan's
daughter and Jo's son, four months apart. Hopefully they can be
good buds, because the poor boy is sandwiched between six girl cousins

 I don't have any pictures of the actual 4th of July celebration, and I can't remember why...laziness again? It's likely. I do have a funny story, though. Ever since Antonia burned her hand on my straightener she's been exceptionally fearful of fire or hot things (remember the birthday candle debacle of 2010?) So when those sparklers came out, she made a hasty exit from the festivities on the front lawn and parked herself in front of the little window next to the front door. She watched the entire fireworks jamboree with her face pressed against the window, and refused to allow anyone to open the door, lest a sparkler somehow find its way into the house... Poor child, I think she's scarred for life. No pun intended. Or was it?

The last thing I took pictures of in July was Dorothea's birthday, and that is sad. Because Dorothea's birthday is only halfway through July. It's possible that after eating that cookies 'n' cream ice cream cake at Thea's birthday party I thought "There is no way that July will get any better than this. I'm just not even going to get the camera out." It's also possible that as my stomach grew larger, my interest in anything other than lolling about grew smaller and smaller.

Charlie can--understandably--barely restrain himself from
digging into Thea's birthday cake.

I do have a memory of July that stands out in my mind because of the particularly intense nature of the experience: driving home from Idaho by myself with Antonia and Charlie. The thing about Antonia is that she will sleep exactly 45 minutes during any car ride that lasts longer than an hour. During a 3-hour car ride, she will sleep 45 minutes. During a 10-hour car ride, she will STILL only sleep for exactly 45 minutes. The other 9 hours and 15 minutes go something like this.

Antonia: Hey, mom?
Me: Yeah?
Antonia: Why are there clouds?
Me: (some answer that's good enough to satisfy a two-year-old)

...One minute later:
Antonia: Hey, mom?
Me: Yeah?
Antonia: Why are we driving?
Me: Because we have to go home.
Antonia: Why do we have to go home?
Me: (some answer that is so convoluted and hard to understand that she is momentarily distracted trying to work it out in her mind)

...one minute later:
Antonia: Hey, mom?
Me: Yeah?
Antonia: Can we go to the bounce house today?
Me: No, because it will be closed when we get home. (trying to pre-empt the "why?")
Antonia: Why?
Me: (another attempt to distract this line of questioning)

...one minute later:
Antonia: Hey, mom?
Me: Yeah?
Antonia: I'm hungry.

I love how inquisitive Antonia is, and most of the time it's quite fun to satisfy her rabid desire for an explanation of EVERYTHING, but nine hours of that can really tax a person's mental health, you know what I'm sayin'? If you ever find yourself in a confined space with her for a period of time, consider yourself warned.