In the meantime our August was a fun one! With the camping trip mid-August, and Scott going back to work not long after that, we tried to fill our days with as many activities as we could. Simply put, two boys at home all day is not fun. The fighting, bickering, chasing each other around, wrestling, and "raccoon" like behavior is enough to make me pick something out and about daily.
We took a bike ride to downtown Plymouth for some mid-afternoon beers and appetizers, played games in the park, and let the kids dip their feet in the fountain. I'm so glad Evan can do these longer bike rides now. Gives us the ability to do some healthy activities together. That evening we had a little neighbor get-together that went from the pool to their trampoline and turned into pizza carryout for dinner and beers on the deck. It was a fun night!
We tried out a new lake/splash pad at Kensington Metropark. It was very clean and the boys loved playing in the lake. I had to encourage them to do the splash pad and I was disappointed at how much it cost and how poorly managed the slides were, but it was fun to try something new for the day. And the weather was perfect!
A bowling outing with our "Kids Bowl Free" coupons could have been fun, but unfortunately Sean was having a hard time understanding that he wasn't going to get a strike or spare each frame. Man...he's really at a tough age with the idea of competing against other people. He couldn't come around and just have fun. Bummer! Maybe next summer will be better.
I took the boys to Troy for a quick trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa and to go to Somerset for the Lego Store (to spend their hard earned chore money) and to eat at Chic-Fil-A! I'm excited to report that Evan built the entire Monster Truck set he picked by himself. I just held open each page and pointed at the steps when needed.
Most of our summer activities for the kids came to a close in August. Both boys moved up one swim level this summer when we started at Goldfish late June. Evan is now in Glider 3 and is getting a hang of the side breath during the freestyle. Sean is now in Pro 2 and is learning the butterfly and is putting the breaststroke arm and legs together. It's crazy to see what he can do at 7! Evan's Lil' Kickers class is over as well and he had a great time! Fall soccer started last week and I'm anxious to see how both boys do this year as they are in some tough age groups. Evan will start with bigger fields, 5 kids on the field, and refs. Sean will be playing with 7 on the field and will be playing against other cities. They even have a different home and away game jersey!
Our friends introduced us to a park they love that has this cool climbing contraption their kids called, "the spiderweb". Of course my boys were all about the stream. I love how much they love nature!
Scott took the boys up north to the county fair and to the fly-in breakfast since it's been tradition for the past...four years or so. I got lucky and stayed home. I worked in my classroom, ate great food, visited with friends and my parents, and watched movies. It was heaven. I missed the boys a lot, but they had an absolute blast!
We had a couple of play dates with friends. My best friend came with her three kids and we had a picnic lunch and played at the park in our neighborhood. Sean got to play with his best friend, Corey, twice one week as we helped his parents out by watching him. And both boys met up with Kidanny and his sister at Airtime with free passes to jump for an hour.
We also celebrated Delilah's 10th birthday (holy cow!) out at Lake St. Clair Shores. The weather was real iffy, but it ended up being quite nice. The kids couldn't swim because of the water being contaminated, but they loved the playground and just being around their cousins. I got my first Henna tattoo at the party. We went to play Putt-Putt with Scott's family after the party to celebrate Mindy's birthday and had dinner at Crispelli's in Royal Oak. Yum!
Our last hoorah before work and before Labor Day Weekend was the Greek Festival in Plymouth. We have wanted to go this thing for probably 5 years, but never went. Scott up and decided we would go and have dinner. The kids climbed the rock wall and listened to some live performances of greek music and dancing, but good God it was hot outside. I mean, sweat pouring down your back hot. But, the food was great and it had us both very excited for our trip to Greece next summer. Only 328 days to go....
We have one more day of work this week and then we'll be celebrating Evan's 6th birthday this weekend. As always, he's asking for his day to be spent at the cider mill for opening weekend, a cake from our special bakery, and Chili's for dinner. Unfortunately, my grandma is not doing well and will be moved to Hospice this weekend and is expected to pass over the weekend. While it will certainly be sad and emotional, I'm going to put my mama pants on and pull it together to give Evan the birthday he deserves. September will start out rough, but we'll pull through.
