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.

Wisconsin Trip 2021!

We finally made it to Wisconsin! It had been over two years since our last visit. My parents came to visit right before COVID hit in March of 2020 but that was it. We were excited for Lydia to meet so much of the family and for the kids to spend time with family.

Our flights out of Houston got a little delayed and worrisome. But all was good. We finally landed in Wausau around 9:45 and got to my parents about 10:30. The kids were too riled up to even think about bed. We had to say hi to the dog and cat plus the grandparents. My parents surprised us by actually retiring the day after we arrived. So they just had one more work day before their permanent vacation!

My sister makes every attempt to come up to Wausau and see us when we come. It was wonderful to have her come play with the kids and meet Lydia. Trescha ran a race in Houston in 2020 and actually flew back to Wisconsin the day Lydia was born. Except she left at 4am to catch her flight and Lydia came that afternoon.

Part of our vacation was renting a lake cabin up north for a week. My parents joined us with their RV at the campsite and we had a blast. The kids were thrilled to be out in nature. Gemma loved finding all the chipmunks.

Lots of campfires and s'mores for the week. I am just glad no one fell in the fire. Across from my parent's campsite were a few families with a couple boys. Every time we came to visit, the boys would come and ask for Tanner. They played sports and went on bug hunts together. Tanner was thrilled and even cried when his friends left at the end of the week.

Lydia was a trooper up north. She actually got really sick the second half of our week up north and stopped eating and drinking. Thankfully she slept well. Poor girl!

Our week up north consisted of boating, water skiing, tubing, swimming in lakes, visiting Jim Peck's zoo, lots of ice cream, playing at the campground, go-karting, horseback riding, and mini golf. We were exhausted but the good kind. The kind of exhausted when you spend all day having fun.

This was her first full day of not feeling well at all. She hung on at Jim Peck's for a few hours but didn't want anything to do with the animals. I hope we can take her back another year when she's feeling better. I thought she would love all the animals at this stage.

Gemma was not a huge fan of the birds. She would drop her Popsicle stick almost immediately after a bird flew on it.

WIsh us luck!

Here are the kids lengthy bucket lists for the summer. In case you can't read them all, here they are. We'll see how we do:

Lemonade stand, go swimming (100 times according to Tanner. We are at 15 I think right now), go to a baseball game, read 50 books, water day (with slip-n-slide out back), watch the Olympics, visit Natural Science Museum, grow flowers, have two FHEs a week (their wish for two treats a week), watch NBA finals, visit fairy trail park, visit ALL the splashpads, make popsicles, host the Wilcox Olympics, learn to read (Tanner; he is doing well so far), see the caves in San Antonio, go to the beach, craft stuff, game nights, ice skating (not sure about this one...), have a picnic, lots of playdates, and make tie-dye shirts.

 Ashton copied most of this on her own paper and added a bunch including: try new foods, go to the library, go to new parks, see new animals, new rides at SeaWorld (in August), extra BBQ nights, build a fort, make playdough, make slime, see fireworks, go strawberry picking, go to zoo, water balloon fights, go bowling, extra movie night, play with friends, fancy meals, learn a sport, go on a family bike ride, and go flower picking.

Needless to say, we will be very busy this summer, but in a good way. Our district seems to be pushing the "summer slide" a lot. I wonder if it is due to COVID and many students still falling behind. Of course, I looked into the research that drives this notion/mentality. And it has some flaws in it. I think we'll stick to our list instead of the virtual summer school option. I am good to not think about school for the next two months.

Surprise Trip to California

 Some friends from Lake Jackson moved to southern California a year after we moved to the Houston area. This was an answer to my prayers. It was incredibly difficult to leave our friends when we moved. I prayed for new friends, which slowly came. But I think Heavenly Father knew my two closest friends would also leave Lake Jackson in the year following our move away. It made the move a little easier knowing that even if we had stayed, I wouldn't have the close friends anyways.

The family in CA rented a house until they could find one to buy. They found one this spring and between a larger house and less travel restrictions, we decided to surprise the kids with a trip. Due to a two hour time change and wanting to do some "big kid" stuff, Joseph stayed back with the two littles. I picked Ashton up from school on the last day of school and we went straight to the airport. Tanner and Ashton were shocked. It was perfect! The Coon's hadn't told their kids either so they were happy to see us when they woke up the next morning after we arrived.

We flew out Thursday and got in late to the house that night. Driving in LA in the dark wasn't much fun but the kids fell asleep so I could focus on driving. Houston traffic has prepared me for that, though.

Friday was my favorite day. We went the Channel Islands National Park. It was simply majestic. We took the 1.5 hour boat ride out to the island. It was pretty bumpy and I got a little nauseous but the kids did fine. We saw hundreds of dolphins that swam right along the boat. The island is completely free of resources/amenities aside from some porta-potties. This means you bring everything you need for the day. The boats only come and go at set times that you reserve. So you must be ready to stay for the day as there is no option to head back earlier. The kids handled this very well. We went hiking up to the top of the island and Tanner didn't complain at all! We had lunch at the top with the ocean surrounding us. On the way down, we saw the two animals specific to this island: Island Fox and Island Scrub Jay. Tanner loved the little foxes. There are also eucalyptus trees all over so it smelled amazing.

After the hike and lunch, we wandered the rocky beach and went snorkeling. Well, as close to snorkeling as you can with a 5 and 7 year old. I brought wetsuits for us as I knew the water would be freezing. And it was. But the kids lasted longer than I anticipated. Then, they build rock creations on the beach.

Saturday, we went to Ventura and visited the beach and boardwalk. The family we stayed with has a trampoline so any downtime was spent jumping on that.

Sunday was church and a visit to some tide pools. The kids found tons of hermit crabs and were happy.

Monday, we ventured up to Santa Barbara for the day. We visited a science museum that the kids loved. Then we got some lunch and ice cream  along the pedestrian walk/boardwalk area. That night, we had dinner at the family's parents home with their outdoor pizza oven. Delicious!

Tuesday, we traveled back home and were so happy to be back together. It was a fun trip and we will definitely go back in future years. Probably to see/visit more of the national parks in CA.