Girls Trip to Seattle

 A bunch of ladies from our old ward in Lake Jackson plan an annual girls trip. I didn't go on the last two because of nursing/pumping for Lydia and then something else the year before that. I was so happy to go again this year. Some of us are still in Texas, albeit in different cities. And then there are some that have moved out of state. It was amazing that we could find a weekend for all seven of us to come to Seattle. We voted on destination and Seattle won. It was my first time to the Pacific Northwest and it did not disappoint.

All our flights from various cities landed within 20 minutes of each other. We left bright and early Thursday and we capitalized on our time in the city. We spent that day seeing all the sights in Seattle. My favorite part was taking a ferry to an island and wandering around the island for a while. We found sand dollars, sea glass, wild blueberries, and lots of fun things.

On Friday, we went on an eight-mile hike in the mountains and hiked to a lake. It was beautiful. This hike made me appreciate the beauty of God' creation. The lake was stunning and we even saw some snow!

Saturday was another hike to an overlook of a lake. Much shorter at around 4 miles. But much more steep. We went kayaking on Lake Washington after this. I even got to try paddleboarding. After kayaking, we went to a fancy seafood place and then saw the locks/canal that the boats have to go through.

Sunday was church, visiting the temple grounds and a short picnic lunch at the beach. Then we all went back to the airport and flew home.

Saw Mt. Rainier from the airplane. Unfortunately, the national parks were a little too far to travel on this trip.

Summer bucket list

 Here was our lengthy summer bucket list.

We accomplished most of it. The things we did not get to include:

Lemonade stand (this has been on their list for three summers now and I refuse to do it. Maybe next year.)

Grow flowers- we didn't do much in the garden this summer.

Make popsicles- I even bought the mold things for it and didn't do it.

Ice skating- the only place for this is downtown at a really busy mall (and expensive) so we didn't go

Otherwise, we did everything else. We were busy!

We fit in a trip to the Space Center with cousin Caleb.

The caves

Tie dying socks instead of shirts. Their tie-dye shirts from last year still fit.

Fairy Trail park

Olympic ring pizza

We learned more about Japan and made sushi (candy kind), origami, cherry blossom paintings, etc.

San Antonio Vacation

 We had a good time in San Antonio. It started with a weekend stay with our friends, the Rex family. They lived in Lake Jackson with us for many years. We were sad to move away from them but then two years later, they ended up moving too. The kids loved playing with friends, swimming in their new pool, and enjoying s'mores by their campfire.

While we were visiting friends, we checked out the Natural Bridge Caverns. We've known about these for years but haven't made it there. It was just down the road from our friends so we took the kids. Lydia enjoyed licking the cave floor. Tanner was very worried every time we went deeper/lower into the cave. Gemma and Ashton thought it was cool. It was still a little roasty/humid for us Texans. But it was neat to hear the story of how the caverns were discovered and how big the initial tunnels were.

After a weekend stay with our friends, we went to our rental house and got ready for Sea World and Aquatica. We visited the parks Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday morning was rainy so we thought about not going. But I'm glad we did. The weather cleared up and the park wasn't busy at all. We walked on to rides all the time.

Feeding the sea lions. It was pretty cool to see how social they are.

Worn out at the water park. She was sitting there eating a snack one moment and the asleep the next.

Lydia did great napping on the go! She took naps every day in her stroller.

The one ride at the water park that Gemma could ride. The kids love it.

Gemma surprised me and loved the roller coasters. She went on this one several times the first day.

Lydia and I hanging out while the big kids and dad rode the roller coaster.

SeaWorld has a little kids area with rides that littles can ride too. Lydia, Gemma, and I went on one. I wasn't sure how Lydia would do with being scared of new things. She fussed a little but then did fine.

We were there open to close just about each day. Some of my favorite experiences with the kids:

- Seeing Gemma's face when the first orca whale flipped out of the water. We didn't tell her what we were going to see when we went to the orca show. I knew it was coming so just watched her face. She couldn't believe it.

- On that same note, we also didn't prepare the kids that the whales may splash us. And they did... and Gemma and Lydia screamed. Ha!

- Ashton rode all the rides she could. She convinced me to ride one roller coaster with her. I did and it was one of the most terrifying minutes of my life. I closed my eyes and sang hymns until the ride was done.

- Tanner liked everything- the animals, the rides, etc. He wishes he was another inch taller as he could have rode more rides.

Lydia at 18 months old

Lydia hit 18 months last week. Hooray! Thanks to a mom who serves as primary president, Dad is the nursery leader. This is necessary as Lydia needs a parent with her. She is not quite ready to go on her own.

Lydia's typical schedule:
Wakes up between 8 and 9. Some days, I have to get her at 9 and she is just playing in her bed. She naps from about 1:30-3. I hope that lengthens soon-ish. Then she goes to bed around 8pm. Sleeps through the night like a champ. She did well with our travel in June and July. She can handle her schedule being thrown off, which surprised me. Since Covid, we haven't had many reasons to be off our routine and Lydia did great.

Lydia is still in the pack-n-play and doesn't show any signs of climbing out yet. We have to be brave soon and move Gemma out of the crib (at nearly 3.5 years old, she loves that thing) before we can move Lydia upstairs.

Unlike Gemma, Lydia doesn't say much for words. To say "yes," she throws her arms up like a touchdown sign. She says Dada, Mama, apple, done, and she has said Tanner and Ashton but it has been a while. She makes a weird sound every time she sees a squirrel, so that is cute. Her receptive language is wonderful. I hope she talks more soon.

Earlier in July, we finally had our first babysitter. Lydia cried for the first five minutes and then was completely fine. Little stinker.

Favorites:
Food- blueberries, ketchup, water in a water bottle

At home activity- annoying her siblings, finding the long-lost marker and coloring with it

Errand/Outing- Any park. She isn't too difficult for errands so goes anywhere.

Book- Some little Chick-Fil-A book that has giraffes and cars in it.

Body measurements:
Height: nearly 34 inches tall; I don't have measurements for Ashton and Tanner but Lydia is about 3 inches taller than Gemma was
Weight: 30 lbs. She and Gemma weigh about the same.
Lydia and Gemma are nearly in the same clothing size. It's great for Lydia; Gemma hates it.

Final Weekend in Wisconsin

 Initially, we planned to stay ten days in Wisconsin but then another friend from high school planned a baby shower in July. We decided to extend our trip to see her (she is from out of state as well). It was a lot of fun seeing her and visiting with the few people from the Wausau ward that I remember. Janet also drove over from MN for the weekend so we had more time with her and her kids.

 We also spent a day at Rib Mountain State Park. I am sad I didn't go there more as a kid/teen. It is a beautiful place and the kids love it. Our hiking around the park gave me an optimistic feel for national parks and more hikes. The kids did pretty well.

We visited JoJo Jungle park again and loved it. Plus some more time with Aunt Trescha and Uncle Charlie. Charlie played in a softball tournament one day so we decorated shirts and came to his game. Tanner wasn't too thrilled when Charlie's team lost 17 to 2, but it was fun to go cheer for him.

The main activity at my parents house was riding down the hill in the cozy coupe. The kids would often pile on the top or attach a sled and ride down.

We spent Sunday afternoon checking out ChalkFest. These were the kids favorite ones. Ashton wants to go next year and do a square. We'll see about that.

No one fell or broke anything so our day at Rib Mountain was a success. Lydia even hiked back down the mountain, which was nice. Carrying 30 pounds up the mountain wasn't fun.

Minnesota

 The second week of our Wisconsin trip, we drove to Minnesota to visit Janet and Jacob. The last time we saw them was when we were both pregnant with our third children, in 2017. We stayed with them at their house the kids all got along pretty well. They loved seeing the new baby and having friends to play with again. Of course, I didn't take a single picture of our time. That's a good sign we had fun. It was nice to be with another couple that we could play games with too. I miss that.

After staying with them for a day and a half, we drove to the cities and visited Minnehaha Falls. It was the perfect place to visit. We didn't budget enough time to see it all and enjoy it so we will definitely go back one day. After the falls, we drove to my sister's house in Wisconsin. She has been working hard to renovate an old home and we finally got to see it. She also just got a 7 week kitten so the kids got to meet the cat too.

More Wisconsin

 After our week up north, we traveled back to Wausau and stayed there for the fourth of July. We watched fireworks from my parent's house/deck and the kids loved it. We had a yummy picnic outside and enjoyed the cooler weather. After several days of Lydia being sick, I finally dragged her into a doctor. He ruled out bacterial infections so we were left with viral. Of course, that night she started to feel better. Stinker.

We also visited a black bear rescue organization right in Wausau. It's been there for several years but it is more the guy's hobby than a tourist location. So you contact him directly and ask for a small tour. We saw three of his four bears on his huge property and it was neat to see bears in nature, or at least as close to nature as possible within captivity. The kids loved it too. We then went to a new park in Wausau and the kids loved it all.

Lydia found this splashpad that was a random arrangement of fountains. She loved it as she never knew where the water would come and when. It kept her happy enough while the older kids played on the larger playground.