we arrrived home in ws/nc, from our slightly too long michigan trip, on july third. just in time for the dog days of summer. after spending all of june complaining about not bringing enough cold weather clothes and bundling up for all of our excursions, you’d think we wouldn’t complain, but man, it was hot. so of course, we decided to have a little fourth of july party and bought a bunch of outdoor water themed toys and games. some of them a little on the young side, but my girls were happy to cool off. and then we feasted with several friends. and i have no pics of them but i do have one of my plate of food (carbs).
another way to beat the heat, a tale as old as time, is to go to the movies. we all went to see despicable me 4. always so good. and while we were there, we noticed that goonies was playing in the theater. since i have raised my girls to be 80s culture enthusiasts, they were happy to attend with me. we dragged anna’s bff to join in our geeking out. i didn’t see goonies in the theater originally, so this was pretty epic for me too.
the girls were invited to go skating with their friends, so the 80s theme continued. (i may have mentioned it before, but anna and hazel independently because best friends with two sisters. it’s worked out really nicely.)
taekwondo continued on. in july. twice a week. we were trying to cram in a bunch of extra sessions too, because we missed so much in june.
i squeezed in a bit of sewing. i was very obsessed with the flower block and there will be a forthcoming blog post about all of the many items i made from flower blocks. i was also asked to pattern test a north carolina block by a pattern designer i have become sort of insta-friends with over the years. i have no idea what to do with it.
i guess harry potters birthday is july 31st and several local businesses were hosting themed events. we hit up ava’s cupcakes and be kind coffee for all sorts of sugar-laden treats. the flavors were all pulled from the harry potter universe and everything was delicious.
hazel and i joined another friend and her dad at the newly opened kaleidium musuem in downtown ws/nc. its been a long time since i’ve done this with any kids, but it brought back memories of the OG ws/nc childrens museum when ike was little and all the science and childrens museums we were able to visit on the road. i took very few photos.
we made up for three weeks away from ruby in june, with excessive snuggles. she’s so derpy.
some random other things go here:
another blood donation for me. a free umbrella this time. (and likely a trip to the fabric store to treat myself). pool day with the girls and some of their friends. and a playdate with hazel’s buddy cole. i made them play outside for a long time before allowing screen time. haha.
a much needed haircut for the boy. we think he looks like josh allen in this pic. he’s still obsessed with making ginormous perler bead art. and. the baby chickens are growing. we haven’t handled them all that much because they have a mama (also josh allen, haha). but anna’s favorite is ponyboy.
lastly. as summer comes to mostly a close, here’s my fabric haul from the beach trip. (there were some sales). and all the books i read this summer. most of them in michigan, but a few at the beach. and as i look at this pic, i already see a couple are missing because anna hijacked them. so this is most of them.
and then it was august. and things both slowed way down and sped way up. you’ll see….