Parents’ Time Out

Jake and I try to make it out for date nights on at least a semi-regular basis.  By this, I mean that we usually break free one evening each month.  While we’d love to do it more often, we are at the mercy of kids’ schedules, babysitter schedules, the need for more babysitters who are trained with Ariana, and so on.  Because this isn’t something we get to do all the time, we like to be original and make it a memorable event whenever we get the rare few hours off.  We don’t spend a lot of time sitting in chain restaurants, and we definitely don’t come home at a reasonable hour. 

In other words, we typically behave like teenagers.  We like a little adventure.  Even in the suburbs.

You know it’s a good night if you’ve gone pool hopping at the Phoenician or opted for dinner at a food truck in the heat instead of in a restaurant.  It’s a great night if you’ve run through sprinklers, gone swimming in a public place fully clothed, did handstands, climbed a fence, sang in a restaurant and got the other patrons to join in, did a martial arts demonstration with spectators, got free food, rolled down a hill, did a cheerleading drill on a football field and got into a human pyramid, belted songs on the radio with the windows rolled down, bothered store managers with our immaturity, asked strangers to dance and sing the National Anthem and do insane amounts push-ups just for fun… or if your sister mooned a motorcycle at a stoplight (sorry, Marci).  Any of those things would make it a memorable and fantastic night out in my book.

The men aren’t pictured, because they were off trying to beat us at our own game… and yes, I got Marci’s permission to post this photo.

Which brings me to day dates.  Jake and I pretty much never get any, with the exception of an occasional quick weekday lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall New Mexican restaurant with Liam while the other kids are in school.  But last week, we did.  We got to go on the king of day dates when we were invited to go wake surfing with our friends, Scott and Sheena, at Lake Pleasant.  We felt as free as… birds?  Children?  Single young adults?  I’m not sure, but we had not a care in the world, and that felt very different than what we are used to.  We were happy to even be treading water endlessly, because crazy as it sounds, treading water is something we never get to do anymore!  Of course, Jake rocked his first time wake surfing, and made it look extremely easy.  I loved it, and I got up on the board nearly every time, although once up I had no clue what I was doing!  My record staying up was a whopping 4 seconds!

So, while we may not get to do these things every weekend, or even every other month, I will make certain that when we do, those memories will not be lost or discarded.  Rather, they will be cherished and retold, because life is short.  And moms and dads deserve to have a little fun too :).

School’s In

School is back in session… for three of my four children.  Wahoooo!  Gabe and Ari are now in 1st Grade, and Bella has begun Kindergarten.  Their first day back was July 22, so they’ve already been in the swing of things for a little while now.  I have to admit that I have been missing them from time to time.  It’s been especially difficult for me to send Bella off to Kindergarten and be apart from my little side-kick all day.  But she loves it.  Actually, they are all loving it, but Bella most of all, so I can’t regret testing her in early I guess :).

Gabe is doing an outstanding job at reading and math.  So far, this year, he has already read The Twits, The Witches, George’s Marvelous Medicine, Fantastic Mr. Fox (all by Roald Dahl), several Junie B. Jones books, and more picture and Ninjago books than I can count.  He and Jake practice math “tricks” every night and he is able to do addition problems out to the thousands and single-digit multiplication.  He loves school, and tells me that his favorite subject is P.E.  His favorite part of the day is playing tetherball with his friends at recess.

Ari is doing a great job at school.  She has a new aide, who Ari likes a lot.  Her teacher is also wonderful and a perfect fit for Ari.  Ari’s teacher has told me many times how happy she is to have Ari in her class.  Ari has been mastering her letter identification as well as her letter sounds (single letter phonograms).  Ari can verbally say 15 of the 26 letter sounds correctly, and she can identify almost all of them when asked to point to the correct letter that makes the sound.  She is getting better at number identification, counting up to ten, and understanding number quantities.  She is struggling with her new muscle weakness, especially in her trunk, when it comes to sitting up straight in her chair all day.  We hope that she will be able to overcome this with time and persistent exercise.  Ari has been making friends at school, and enjoys seeing her friends from her class last year as well. 

Bella loves every single thing about school.  Her teacher adores her and always tells me so :).  Bella has been doing well on early reading, and she is passing her sight words tests very quickly.  She has a creative flair, which she applies to everything that she does.  She simply cannot complete her homework without coloring or doodling in excess of the directions.  She was Star Student the first week of school, and I got to have lunch with her in the cafeteria and play at recess with her on the playground.  She seemed so happy to be there and show me off to her friends. 

Of course I want my kids to excel academically, but in my heart, I want what every mom wants and that is just to see my kids happy.  I am glad that this year is off to a great start for everyone, and I’m excited for what is to come.

Gabe was anxious about not being on time, so he isn’t pictured individually.  I didn’t want to make him late :).

American Weekend Get-Away

Sometimes, getting out of town makes me nervous.  I guilt myself with ideas that I’m too bogged down and I will be even more bogged down when I return, snowballing the bogged downness.  But, I have found that sometimes, the thing that makes you nervous is really just the thing you need. 

We hadn’t been up to Holbrook since Thanksgiving.  It was time for a visit.  It was really time for me and Jake to put aside our lists of things that need to be done before the real living can begin, and just let it begin.  Grammy and Papa’s house is one of the best places for that to happen.  And 4th of July weekend may very well be the best time for it too.  Summer up there is second to none.  It’s the quintessential all-American summertime that we have all dreamt about at some point… the one that reminds you of your childhood, mixed with scenes from movies, and embellished by your imagination.  But up there, for these kids, it’s real.

Summer up here is a house and a yard full of age-matched cousins who are all super close.

It is reuniting with distant relatives who we feel so fortunate to know… like David, my sister-in-law’s brother, who can make my girl beam from across the room.  To watch them interact makes my heart so happy. 

It’s sweet, little new(ish) cousins/nieces/nephews who we are already falling in love with. 

And I’m loving every minute of them forming bonds with each other; these bonds that will last a lifetime.

Summer means enjoying root beer floats, laying in the Kentucky Blue Grass (shipped all the way from Missouri), making s’mores, and laughter.

 

Summer here is having dinner picnic-style.  It’s dessert every night.  It’s setting off fireworks and watching them from the blanketed bed of a pick-up truck, tail-gait down, little ones piled up on laps, sticky with sweat and dirt and ice cream residue.

It means lazy walks and fast, wind-blown rides in the Ranger.

Summer here means playing with best friends.

And playing Uno whenever there were more than five spare minutes and two spare bodies.

Summer means eating vegetables straight out of the garden every night.

It’s wandering and being a free-range kid. 

It’s playing with insects.  The bugs up north are friendlier than they are down in Phoenix.  In the desert, touching a bug may just wind you up in the hospital.  But in Holbrook, boys can just be boys, and just enjoy the simple pleasure of counting how many roly polies they can have crawling on their arm at a time.

It’s baking home-made bread, and everyone has to pitch in.

It’s a parachute game, a water balloon toss, and a super soaker water war.

It’s love and fun and getting a sweet reminder of what living really is... or at least, of what it can be if we make the effort to set aside the demands of everyday life, put down the lists, and let our phone batteries run out without even noticing.

I gave myself some time away from my camera to just be hands-free, so not every memorable moment is pictured.  In fact, some of the best ones weren’t, but I don’t think we’ll have any trouble hanging on to those memories in our minds and hearts.