As we continue our love affair with Star Wars, Amaya started the week sporting her new Ahsoka Tano t-shirt. We love Ahsoka.

We had one more meal from our Taste of Japan Raddish Kids kit that we hadn’t made yet – sushi! Penni took the kids to One World Market to get some seaweed so SSA and I could make some sushi for dinner.

We had so much fun and it was a really interesting process for all of us. We got supplies so the kids could make the sushi they’re used to eating. Cucumber avocado rolls for Amaya. Philadelphia rolls for the boys, made by Sammy, and California rolls for the boys, made by Steven.

They cut the vegetable and fish, put the rice on their mats and placed the ingredients. I added some support with the rolling and cutting the finished rolls. We’re used to inside out rolls, which wasn’t how the instructions were written, so I was happy that we figured out how to simply reverse the rice and seaweed to make the rolls the way we prefer.

Proud Cline kids!

Thumbs up!

Now that we made sushi once, I think we can keep working on our techqniue.

Caught these two cuddling while watching tv on Tuesday. <3

Blurry bedtime selfies with Bubba. He was having a blast trying to keep me out of the pictures.

Early Wednesday evening Amaya said she wanted to “cook something”. I had all of the ingredients for a cake so we went to town, with additional support from Steven. Spur-of-the moment fun is especially satisfying for me on weekdays. It’s nice to be able to say “yes” and break up my own week a bit.

I really do need to take time helping the kids learn to read measurements and get the right measuring tools on their own. They’re ready, but it’s just faster for me to say “put two of these in the bowl”.

Vanilla triplet layer cake with powdered sugar!

Steven and Sammy still love minecraft and they learn about the game via some videos they watch so they’ll come to us and say, “How do you make a portal?” or “How do you cook chicken”? Thank goodness for google.

Thursday’s lego challenge was to make a lego bee!

Stinging Penni

Still doing reading and math work a few times a week to help retain as much as possible of we learned in Kindergarten.

Summer dinners outside are the best.

On Friday we had our first coach-pitch baseball practice! (After missing the first practice on Tuesday night. Ooops.) Somehow, I’m assistant coach. It’s kind of annoying because I have to work hard at every practice and game instead of just sitting and enjoying but we’re 1/4 of the team and the kids are thrilled about my role so I think it will be worth it.

This year I thought to ask for a team that had at least one other girl and that one other girl happens to be someone who was on the kids’ soccer team in fall 2018. All of the kids on their team seem to be from their school but only one other that we met on Friday was in one of their classes.

They’re doing their best with social distancing. The coaches wear masks, the kids don’t. During games the kids will stay with their families when they’re not at-bat rather than sitting in a team dugout.

I was really impressed with Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s focus during practice. It was very hot but they weren’t phased and they participated well in all of the drills. It’s a big change from when they started soccer at 4.5 years old.

The first game is 8/3 and we have 2 games/week for 7 weeks.

Amaya taking pitches and Sammy practicing off the tee. (I ran the tee drill and, after two bats to the leg, had to continually reminding the kids not to swing until I backed away.)

Saturday was a pool day and this time Jason came! We got there at noon and were the only ones in the shallow end for hours. Jason stayed for an hour and a half and the kids and I stayed for almost another 3.5 hours after that. The pool has been such a gift this summer.

Sammy and Sally are becoming true buds. He’s so sweet with her that she’ll just lie in the hall and let him pet her. It makes my heart so happy.

Due to covid restrictions, the baseball league isn’t sharing equipment like they usually do so we needed to get our own bats and helmets and the kids also needed new, larger gloves. After some time at DSG with their dad, they’re ready to go. (Steven was excited to go to a “sports good store” again. 🙂 )

Blue tips for Amaya! (Not crooked, just how she was leaning.) I’ll dye her whole head if that’s what she prefers but I’m definitely partial to just a touch of color like this.

Steven is now 2 for 2 in family Monopoly games.

It was a relatively lazy day. We watched most of A New Hope, all of Empire and most of Return of the Jedi. SSA have come a long way from their first viewings. I had three helpers with dinner prep which really sped up the process. The kids insisted they don’t like asparagus and it was the hit of the meal. Amaya had four servings!

That’s it for us. Have a great week!

Well, we got back to Novi and Amaya pulled out her makeup. Clearly we’re still working on “less is more”.

Regardless of which sleeping friends come in and out of his life, Sammy’s heart remains true to Puppy, Luna and Celestia. He likes to be sure they have a good view of what’s happening when they’re not keeping him comfortable in bed.

Monday was a quiet, reset day. Lots of time at home for the kids to recuperate from our time up north. They did get a chance to go with Gabby to visit Chanel. Amaya even briefly pet her this time.

Mr. Creative wanted to make a Mandalorian helmet like Sabine wears. I think he did a great job! He wanted a Sabine t-shirt, too, which is hard to find. I was able to order one off Redbubble and it’s a 3 week wait which seems interminable in the Age of Amazon.

Owen is Sammy’s favorite friend from Kindergarten. “Owen says…” “Owen likes…” “Owen gets to…” On Tuesday morning his mom texted to say they were heading to the playground at Thornton Creek and they’d love to stop by for a socially distanced hello. The kids were so happy to see a friend. It’s been months. Sammy asked if he can have a Facetime play date with Owen sometime soon.

Penni took the kids to a park to scooter and trike ride on Tuesday morning. We’re still not comfortable with playgrounds. Maybe they’d work in the early morning hours but they get hectic by mid-day and there’s obviously not much distancing with all the kids running around. These are such difficult decisions to make. I’m so proud of the kids for handing it all with amazing maturity for 6 year olds. (6 1/2 tomorrow!)

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. (Except Steven lol.)

I spent most of Wednesday working outside so I got to see the kids in the sprinklers, playing hard. Amaya even got in there twice. That girl loooooooves water.

Why do we still have dress up clothes? See below. <3

I had to explain that we can only wear one pair of glasses at a time. (This is the last photo record of these green glasses. Steven and Penni independently report that he went inside and put them away in the case but the glasses are nowhere to be found. I told SSA that, if one of them finds the glasses, they’ll all earn $2 in the Bank of Mommy.)

Late afternoon snuggles with my Bubba.

We’re keeping up the routine of Sammy / Nana time whenever Sammy sleeps with me. They discovered they can partner to color pictures and Sammy has found some cool books for Nana to read to him. (Via the Caribu app.)

Thursday was a rainy day so, instead of geocaching outside, the kids created geocaches inside. They each hid a box and then made a map, or wrote directions, to find their treasures. Such a creative idea from Penni!

Pile on Daddy!! I was on the phone with my friend Erin and all I heard was screaming and laughing and more screaming and more laughing. Daddies are so much fun. <3

I had a board meeting on Friday morning and got some encouragement cuddles ahead of time. Amaya wanted to know if anyone was going to get fired and, if not, why was I nervous. Good question, Amaya!

Off the the lake on a beautiful, clear day.

Fav swim trunks still fit!

Friday evening, the kids and I met Jason at the Tiki Bar for dinner. Amaya put on her Sunday best. 🙂

“Keep this one, Mama.”

My best girl.

With Steven getting a Sabine t-shirt, Amaya and Sammy needed their own. Amaya has Ahsoka and Sammy’s got a Darth Vader shirt on the way. I think I need this Ahaoka shirt for myself!

Early on Saturday morning Grandma Sunshine and Annette came over for a visit. While a wasp nest was being removed, we took to the lawn.

Amaya really likes that she’s bigger than Steven. “It’s kind of like he’s my little brother because I’m bigger.” We’ll see how long Steven goes along with this lol.

Mama and Bubs – photo credit: Amaya

The kids spent a fair amount of time texting with Chase. Amaya asked me to take a picture of her to send to him and she added some flair.

The first ever Cline Kids selfie! Amaya was hysterical directing The Brothers.

We went to the pool for the afternoon. Our slot was 12- 3:30 but it was quiet when our session ended so anyone who wanted to was able to stay longer. The JCC also allowed for the purchase of summers pool passes so we got passes for Gabby and Penni to give them the option of taking the kids to the pool during the week.

Amaya upped her treading water record to 15 seconds and Steven, after many attempts, put his face in the water to blow bubbles. I’m so proud of him for trying. He was watching some younger kids swimming in the pool and I think it motivated him. He even spent some time in the shallow end without his life jacket on.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya had so much fun playing together in the pool. They came up with all kinds of games and just laughed and laughed and laughed together. It was awesome.

We’re almost done with Star Wars Rebels. 🙁 It’s been so much fun watching these Star Wars animated series. I asked my triplet moms for recommendations for a next series and Avatar: The Last Airbender seems like a great contender.

Today I had a productive day at home while the kids had a great day out with Jason. Ikea to start, to look for beds. Home for lunch. Dicks for new sneakers and some new outfits of choice. Home to show mommy. Then off to the grocery store together.

Here’s what Sammy picked out.

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And Amaya, who’s starting sports with coach-pitch baseball, eyed a sports bra that she had to have. I just can’t with this child.

She says she’s ready for sports in her workout clothes.

That’s it for us for the week. <3

For the kids and I, the holiday weekend continued into Monday. I was working, but it was a very quiet day so I was able to power through a lot and get in some extra time with Steven, Sammy and Amaya.

Since I had no meetings, when normally my whole day in meetings, I tried working downstairs in the sitting room. It gave me a bird’s eye view (and listen) while Penni read a chapter of their Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Book (The Answer-Backer Cure). But even on a quiet day, I ultimately needed to go somewhere that wasn’t so tempting for the kids. They like talking to their mama.

I took SSA out for a quick lunch at the same restaurant that Jason and went to on Wednesday. They (obviously) loved it. I think this is going to be a favorite fair-weather spot for the Clines.

Steven, helping Amaya with the maze on her menu. 🙂

I mean…

We checked out the dock after lunch. It reminded the kids of a spot on Long Island where we often go after a day at the beach. They were interested in the difference between the wooden dock and this metal one. I think his one felt a bit more sturdy under their legs.

They wanted to sit and put their feet in the water but there was a beach just beside us (you can see people in the water in the top left of the photo) so we walked over there instead.

I’ve never been to this little beach before. It’s right off the road and doesn’t seem like much to look at but there are kayak and stand-up paddle board rentals and a really nice swimming area. It’s large and the water is pretty shallow well into the lake. The kids were able to walk a nice distance with water only up to their knees. Later I learned that it doesn’t even get beyond my own standing level until that far out buoy in the distance. (I wish you could all see how many attempts it took me to spell buoy.)

We only had a few minutes at the lake because I had to get back to work but the kids were so eager to swim. It was a beautiful day and the lake was warm so I decided I’d stop work just a little earlier than usual and the four of us would go back for an afternoon swim.

It was so nice! Such a beautiful afternoon. You can see how much space we had to ourselves to stay appropriately distances from other people. We swam together for an hour and then headed home.

A little shell collecting before heading to the car.

On Tuesday, Steven, Sammy and Amaya had their looooooong overdue 6 year well checks. I don’t like to do them in January because it’s a great time to pick up bugs at the doctor’s office and, by the time we were scheduled in late March, it was the height of COVID. So here we are.

All of the kids are growing well and doing great. No surprises.

Amaya bought a My Little Pony make up kit with her money, understanding that it is for home only. She was absolutely ecstatic when it arrived.

Her first look. She got less subtle as time went on so we’re going to have to work together on the theory of “less is more”.

This little shoulder pop pose reminds me of Alexis Rose.

Sammy and Amaya, discussing the best colors to use for her face.

Amaya spends a good chunk of her free time making loom bracelets with hair tie rubber bands. She got a kit from Uncle Austin for Hanukkah and it’s been a staple ever since. Well, the 11,000 rubber bands that had been neatly organized by color were dumped out on Wednesday and she was so, so sad about it. To help her feel better, Jason, Steven and Sammy worked with Amaya to organize just enough bands that she can keep at her bracelets for the time being. Jason reported that, while they were sorting, Amaya was nearly giddy. She kept saying “thanks guys” and once said, “I’m actually glad it got spilled!” How special is that?

On Thursday, the kids and I hopped in the van for the 4 hour drive to Petoskey. VACATION!!! I can’t believe it. Vacation. It’s so amazing. Just getting in the car to go felt incredible.

The kids hated the car ride but they actually did really well. We drove the 4 hours without having to stop and, despite a constant stream of “how much longer until we get there”, they didn’t complain.

Our Airbnb. When we went inside, the kids remarked that it smells like Grandma Sunshine’s house!

We arrived around 4pm and took about an hour to get settled and explore the house before heading out to dinner. The house is actually pretty large inside with some over the top decor that really captured the kids’ imaginations.

The backyard view is incredible. There’s this little private pond adjacent to wetlands and not a soul in sight.

We drove a few minutes down the road to Downtown Petoskey for dinner and were able to find a great little place with an outdoor patio. After dinner, Steven spotted a railroad track sign and was absolutely thrilled when I said we could check it out. Do you see that genuine smile on is face? (Yes, Amaya’s tossing a peace sign. That’s her new thing, plus duck lips.)

The tracks. Steven was truly in heaven.

After dinner the kids got treats from Kilwins. As expected, it took Steven forever to decide what he wanted. This poor boy is tortured when there are too many choices in front of him. Amaya and Sammy took one look at Superman ice cream and that was it.

Then we headed down to the pier where we found a stone beach to explore. SSA were hoping to find Petoskey Stones but no luck.They had fun, though!

We wrapped up the day by walking to the lighthouse. It was a special day. <3

Friday was over cast and we woke up to some pretty serious rain. The kids liked sitting on the covered porch watching it come down and I was really glad that they just rolled with the weather.

We had a lazy morning and didn’t leave the house until 11am. We head back to downtown Petoskey where we did some shopping and had lunch. Amaya immediately picked out a pretty blue necklace. The boys got some remote control animals.

Lunch! Thankfully we’ve been able to find restaurants with outdoor patios. To be honest, I thought there’d be more of them.

Our Airbnb is across the street from Spring Lake Park – a park with a path through wetlands. It was really cool. Quite & pretty. Steven asked me to read every sign we came across.

Along the way we found a Bike CPR station where cyclists can repair their bikes. The kids were really interested in the various tools. One of the books we read quite often is “Six Dots: The Story of a Young Louis Braille”. Braille was blinded after an accident with an awl in his father’s shop. Amaya saw this and said, “It looks like the tool that made Louis Braille go blind!”

Around 3:30pm we headed over to Petoskey State Park to check out the beach. The rain looked to be behind us and it was warm enough to give it a shot. The kids were so ready to get in the water. There were a decent amount of waves and one of them said, “This beach is like being in NY. I feel like Nana is here.”

So. Much. Sand.

We stayed at the beach until nearly 6, grabbed take out on the way home, and called it a night. (SSA were really happy that the tv here has Roku and they were able to watch Star Wars Rebels like they do at home.)

Saturday was gorgeous. We were out early and at the beach before 10am. After all of our morning prep, we forgot our cooler and the kids’ backpacks at home. The beach is only 5 minute from our house but I really wasn’t excited about the idea of getting everyone back in the car. By the time I realized, all of our other stuff was already unpacked. Fortunately, I had packed a backup set of towels for the kids and there was a concession stand for water, snacks and lunch.

It was an awesome day. We stayed at the beach for 6 hours and the kids alternated between playing in the sand and playing in the waves. The beach got more crowded as the day went on but everyone was still able to socially distance on the beach and in the water.

It’s not really Cline Kids at the beach if they’re not digging.

Amaya absolutely loves the water. When we’re past this pandemic, I think she’d be thrilled with swim lessons.

Post-swim selfie!

Petoskey Brewing is around the corner from our Airbnb so we headed there for dinner after we cleaned up.

We rounded out the night with a walk downtown and some more Kilwins. <3

Last day! Sadness. 🙁 Steven is just like me with end-of-vacation melancholy. He had to say goodbye to everything – his favorite building, favorite bench, the restaurants we ate at – all of it.

Rather than rush home, we headed back downtown in the morning to buy some Petoskey Stones after limited success finding them ourselves. From there, we went to play miniature golf. It was so much fun! The course was really cute and we all had fun counting each other’s strokes.

A hole-in-one smile.

This sums it up. <3 <3 <3

We had an uneventful drive home and now we’re back with Daddy and (sort of) ready for the week.

Have a great one!

Gabby got a puppy and, on Monday, the kids went to meet her. As expected, the boys were smitten. To our surprise, Amaya loved the the puppy, too. She even pet her! Amaya has started saying that maybe she doesn’t mind small dogs. The idea of getting a dog is occasionally appealing but neither Jason or I are excited about the work involved – for me, MI winters are an added disincentive.

On Tuesday, Penni took the kids to Maybury Park. They read up on the history and spent a lot of time catching bugs. In fact, Steven came home with a daddy long legs in an iced tea bottle. He was very attached to that poor little spider and it took a number of conversations before he was comfortable letting it free to live it’s life.

Steven, on his invisible lap top. Sammy: “You know there’s nothing there, right?”

Did I mention that we increased patching to 4 hours/day. Steven has been a total champ. I really hope we see meaningful progress when we go back to the ophthalmologist.

All three of us, in our “offices”.

After Star The Clone Wars Wars, we started Star Wars Rebels. I knew nothing about this animated series and I’m enjoying it as much as the kids. It takes place 14 years after Revenge of the Sith, 5 years before A New Hope, and follows some Rebels on their adventures and attempts to take down the empire. Steven’s favorite character is Sabine. This is is drawing of her, from memory. He got down significantly more details than I would have.

Beach day on Wednesday!

This is truly the life.

Jason and I have had a nice amount of kid-free together time this week. It started on Wednesday evening. Jason came home from work early and I was able to stop working early enough for us to have dinner out together. It turns out we live right by this restaurant on Walled Lake. I will definitely be back. We also had a nice day-date on Friday while Penni was with the kids. Breakfast, coffee & books, drinks and appetizers… it’s been a long time since we had that kind of day together here in MI. Honestly, it’s probably been 6+ years.

The men watching Star Wars Rebels.

Steven’s other two glasses came in so we ran to the shop on Thursday afternoon. With the mask and his eye patch you can barely see the guy! He’s excited because we had the lenses replaced in his favorite frames and we let him pick out two new pair. So now he has blue & orange, black & red, and black & green transitions. Hopefully his prescription lasts a while!

Jason got Amaya started on a two-wheeler. I don’t think we’d realize we need to bend so much to get them going. Our old bodies poop out fast!

A Jedi princess and her homemade lightsaber.

Friday was a scorcher. Penni took the kids to a new park to try geocaching but it was a bust so they ended up going out for ice cream instead. Nice trade off.

Amaya invented a game where you write numbers on small pieces of paper and cut out small yellow circles. You shuffle the deck and draw a card. You take the # of yellow circles corresponding with the # on your card. When all the dots are gone, the person with the most wins. She was pretty proud of herself.

My girl. <3

The JCC pool is open!! Reservations are required and there is a limit to the number of people that can attend at once. We reserved the 12- 3:30pm time slot on the 4th and were all so happy to be back!

Steven and Sammy spent most of the time in their life jackets even though they can stand easily in the shallow section of the pool. I think they liked the freedom and fearlessness it gave them. Amaya only wore her life jacket in the deep end (10.5 feet) and even then she took time to take it off and practice treading water. She needs to be able to tread for 30 seconds and swim a consistent stroke (any stroke) before she can jump off the diving board. (Which we learned when she jumped off the diving board in her life jacket.) It was quiet enough, with enough space per family, that I felt very comfortable the entire time we were there.

Steven’s made such leaps in the pool. Two years ago he’d barely go in and, when he did, he literally just hugged the wall. Last year he went in with his puddle jumper and always wanted a pool noodle, too. This year he has his life jacket but he did walk from one end of the pool to the other without it so, maybe before summer’s end, he’ll get more comfortable.

Amaya wants to swim so badly. She is pushing herself to learn to swim across the shallow end so she can do it across the deep end. I’ve always known her to persevere but I’ve never seen her push herself quite like this. It’s really cool to watch. I think she’ll probably need some lessons, though, to get her strokes down. She wastes a lot of energy without knowing how to use her body as effectively as she can.

Sammy wants to jump in the pool but he’s still building up the nerve. Maybe this summer. <3

Saturday evening the kids got to experience sparklers for the first time. They loved it. (I loved it.)

We had a very lazy morning in The Land of Cheltenham after a family sleepover in the living room last night.

Amaya and Steven played chess. I love the online game because it requires them to move pieces in the ways they’re intended so they can learn without adult supervision. It was cute to hear them talking about their moves with each other.

This month’s Raddish Kids kit is “Taste of Japan”. We made a Japanese noodle dish with carrots and cabbage and chicken teriyaki skewers. I’m starting to realize that I need to let the kids read the measurements themselves and find the right measuring cup/measuring spoon. They’re definitely ready and capable of more.

We ate a very early dinner and then the kids and I headed back to the pool for a late afternoon/early evening swim. By the time we were wrapping up, we practically had the place to ourselves.

SSA would have stayed in the pool for another hour if they could have.

That’s it for us. Have a great week!