Last week was the penultimate week of summer break and Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s time away from Thornton Creek. The last year almost feels like a dream. I’m so curious how it will fit into their memories of childhood.

On Monday the crew went geocaching with Penni. Only Sammy found something but they all seemed to have fun despite a million mosquitos.

On Tuesday afternoon, Steven had an appointment with the doctor who moved him out of orthotics last year. Steven had a bit of hypermobility so he wanted to see him again in a year and Tuesday was the day. He’s now officially released from all treatment and care. Whoo hoo!!

Counting his quarters. Sammy wanted to save up for a metal detector and had over $19 in coins to add to the Mommy Bank.

Legend of Korra cuddles with two of my favorites. Did I mention that Sally turned 17 this month? If so, I’ll mention it again. Seventeen! My sweet girl.

Wednesday was another splash pad day. They’re definitely making the most of the end of summer!

I was working on Wednesday afternoon which this little guy or gal came to visit me. I love frogs so I turned off my video to grab some pics. Frogs and lizards are my jam.

I think I’ve mentioned that the kids use their devices in the morning before Penni arrives. On any given day, when I come down for my coffee, I find the kids sitting in all sort of weird positions and places with their iPods. (It’s definitely going to be a shift next week when 7:30am means devices away & breakfast time. 😬)

Me: Sammy, are you still wearing yesterday’s clothes?

Sammy: Noooooooooo

Thursday at swim was a HUGE milestone for Steven and Sammy. They officially moved up to level 4 in swim! I’m so proud of how hard these guys have worked to get comfortable in the water. It just recently clicked and I think they’re going to fly forward from here.

Here are their most recent swim cards. You can see all the boys mastered in level three and how Amaya is fairing in level 7.

This week we officially hit 500 hours outside! I’ve really loved being mindful about getting outdoors. We’ve made choices to go outside when otherwise we may have stayed inside instead. We started tracking on November 2nd and, thanks to our trips to FL, hit our goal on August 25th. (I’ve since updated the chart.)

Thanks to a request from Steven, on Thursday afternoon Penni and her niece Lily took SSA to Greenfield Village. It’s been a while since they’ve gone (last summer maybe), and the first time in a long time they could do indoor activities. All of the kids loved the carousel but I also heard a lot about the Wright Brother’s house

We decided to get metal detectors for the kids and they tried them out on Friday. They found a lot of bottle caps and Amaya found a fishing lure. They’ve asked me to bury coins in the sand the next time we’re at a beach so I’ll make that happen. But maybe they’ll find something that wasn’t planted. 🙂

The rule is that you have to fill in any hole you dig and you can’t dig up grass.

Goofy girl with her face mask!

We had a lazy morning on Saturday. Amaya and Steven held birthday parties for Flopsy and Allie, respectively, and Sammy did some geode smashing.

Flopsy

Allie, opening his gifts.

As part of Allie’s party we had an alligator drawing challenge. Sammy didn’t want to participate so he was group photographer. He was really proud of the different angles he shot from. Here’s a sample:

And one of the alligators. This one is Amaya’s.

Amaya has gotten really comfortable prepping food. She regularly slices apples with the knives they got from Nana and Papa. I asked her if she was being careful and she said, “Look how far my fingers are from the knife.”

We spent the afternoon at the pool and it was amazing. We usually go early in the day and stay into the afternoon but Saturday’s plan was to stay through dinner. It was hot so we all spent a ton of time swimming.

They opened up some of the pool usually reserved for swimming lanes so the kids were able to swim in deeper water. Sammy and Steven really impressed me with their skills!

Back floaters. Steven could like like that for a really long time.

Back home, snuggles with daddy. We’ve been watching the Paralympics at night and, last night, watched the paratriathlon. These athletes are unreal.

Sammy and I had a lot of time together today. I offered to take the kids to the splash pad / water slides at Kensington Metro Park and, originally, Sammy wasn’t going but wanted some time we me so we had a great game of air hockey. I was playing lefty and Sammy was the winner.

It was another really, really hot day. This splash pad has an entry fee but it’s worth it for the water slides. I also love the view of the lake. Sammy doesn’t like the slides so he and I spent time in the splash pad. (Me in clothes, because I forgot to wear a bathing suit.)

Amaya and Steven spent two hours on the water slides. They also tried the closed / tunnel slide for the first time and loved it!

Great day!

Now we’re ready for our last week of summer break. After Labor Day, Steven, Sammy and Amaya return to school!

Have a great week!

Another Sunday, another day at a playground writing the blog while the kids play. They’re the only ones here and it’s so nice that they have each other.

The early part of this week was spent with Legos building the sets that Steven and I brought home from Legoland. The kids tore through them, and Sammy’s has a neat interactive component with a map. Steven’s is the first motorized set we have. (He has. It’s his. But none of us had completed motorized sets yet.)

Monday was Lindsay’s last day. 🙁 She’s already back at school after 3 great months with the kids. If only she was local and could have stayed on this fall!

Lindsay brought gifts for the kids. Steven got a stuffed monkey because “Monkey” is his nickname for Lindsay. Amaya got more face paint. Sammy got a cookbook – which he’s already put into use.

The kids also had gifts for Lindsay – two decorated plates and a mug. 🙂

What a great summer!!

Lindsay and the kids wrapped up their last day with dinner out together.

The kids left a review for the restaurant. 😂

Tuesday was nuts. I had meetings at home in the morning. Then I had to run to the office to pick up our CTO who’s was in from Scottsdale. We did a school tour but the time bumped up against another meeting I had to attend so we went home and he took our van to grab lunch for us. By the time my meeting was ending, he was back at the house and spent time with SSA. (This is the game guy from last week’s blog who thrilled Sammy with stories about being an Army Ranger. Sammy was shocked to see him in person.) Abe’s definitely got the “kid gene”. He knows how to engage young kids with real ease. For me, it’s great to have such natural relationships with my colleagues.

Penni and the kids got to playgrounds at least three days this week. They’re traveling all over the area for new adventures. I hated for them to miss another summer of camp – especially before they get back to school after all this time off because the structure is helpful – but it’s been a really great summer. Penni’s been amazing the past 17 months.

Steven, on the phone with Jason, making evening plans.

The evening plans.

Amaya is still crafting, crafting, crafting. She borrowed a book on Crafty Handbags and made one from a pair of old jeans and another from a

Because she knows they love to cook, my friend Ames (Bitcherie!) got the kids a loom to make potholders. Amaya has been obsessed. She’s already made 4 and said she needs to stop to give The Brothers a turn.

First ever!

She experimented with what happens if she didn’t do a strict “over under” pattern.

Amaya wants this picture labeled, “Big, medium and small.” She looks so old.

On Thursday, the kids spent 4+ hours at a playground/splash pad. The week prior, Steven met a boy who thought he’d be back at this same time. He didn’t show, but Steven made new friends to play with. Such a social kid.

Showtime is snuggle time….

Steven, reading about natural disasters.

I’ll definitely be sad when the day comes that Steven no longer wants to fall asleep clutching me. Here, it was my leg.

On Saturday, we spent allllllllllll day at the JCC pool with Claire and Ruxin’s families. There were 7 kids and, for a good part of the day, they had the shallow end of the pool entirely to themselves. All 3 moms got in the water, too, and Claire passed the deep end test so she was able to jump with Amaya.

It shocks me, to be honest, that the pool is so quiet on such a nice day. But it’s great for us!

This shot, mid jump, looks like Amaya is walking on water!

Today was HOT. The kids played at the playground for about 30 minutes before calling it. We headed to The Bees Knees where we had a pottery painting reservation. Amaya painted an alien. Steven painted a gnome. Sammy painted a little 2-piece puppy container.

Afterward we walked around Northville and got some ice cream from Browndog. So good! They even had a special ice cream for me. (And, when you eat there, you can get all sorts of special treats like a caramel martini with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream inside or boozy milkshakes.

Steven took this pictures of me playing cornhole with Sammy. 🙂

We wrapped up our day at Outback. I’m still getting used to eating inside restaurants after all that time when we couldn’t.

Finally, some pictures of bedtime story time.

Have a great week!

It’s been a long week. A good week, but it feels like it was a long one.

Penni was off on Friday, 8/6, and returned from her trip with gifts for the kids including some maps of MI for Steven. After all this time, she knows SSA so well. It’s crazy to think that our time together is coming to an end in just a few weeks. I know we hope Penni will still babysit but it’s definitely a change from ~18 months of all day together.

Tomorrow (Monday) is Lindsay’s last day with us. The three months went by so fast! It feels like we all just met! We’re hoping we can stay in touch with Lindsay, too, as she heads back to OH for school.

Somewhere, the kids heard about a “Stay in the Kitchen” challenge and Amaya & Sammy staged one this week. The brought enough supplies to last hours – including pull-ups in case they needed to use the bathroom. (Lindsay put a quick stop to that and insisted that bathroom breaks were allowable.)

Face paint!

Sweet Steven needed some Daddy love at bedtime. It’s really difficult for us to say no to these kids when they want to sleep with us.

On Monday I’d emailed the kids’ principal, Mr. Jewett, to share that there was some anxiety about returning to Thornton Creek after so long away and asked if there was going to be any opportunity for last year’s virtual kids to visit the building before the start of school. He responded right away and invited us to tour the building with him – which I was able to do at lunch on Tuesday.

Mr. Jewett was a wonderful tour guide. He showed the kids everything that was new and let them visit all of the multi-purpose spaces. We talked about wearing masks at school – which now seems inevitable despite what the district had hoped back in May – and he let the kids know they can email him any other questions they have through the rest of the summer.

I’m so glad Steven, Sammy and Amaya were able to reacclimate a bit. At their age, 18 months away from school is significant.

Lindsay was a real sport at Amaya’s hair salon. 🙂

On Wednesday afternoon, Steven and I had a flight to NY. Sammy wanted to get in as much Mommy Time as possible so he spent part of the day hanging around with me while I worked. One of my colleagues saw him and they had a really cool conversation about his time in the Army Rangers. He showed Sammy so me of his memorabilia. Sammy was absolutely enthralled. It was really sweet. (This room looks so messy with the wires and fan and crap. New project to take care of this week.)

Sammy and Sally. Sally is such a gentle girl. This month she turns seventeen.

And my girls. <3 Jason sent me this photo while Steven and I were away.

Steven I headed to the airport a little before 4pm, to catch a 6:10pm flight. We were glad when it was delayed by 15 min because it gave us more time to get through the airport. Little did we know… Weather in NY held up air traffic and it was actually after 11pm when we eventually left Detroit. Steven was a total trooper through the 5 hr delay.

Around 8pm

10:30pm. Still hanging in there! At one point I consider changing our flight to the next morning but Steven had a very clear POV on our plans. He told me, “We are staying here today until they tell us we are getting on a plane or not getting on a plane. We are only getting on a plane tomorrow if they tell us we are not getting on a plane today.” So that was our plan.

YAY!!

It wasn’t long before Steven was fast asleep on my lap.

1am and Steven had his suitcase (Peso) and was ready to get to Nana’s house!

It was a good thing we made it to NY on Wednesday night (Thursday morning?) because we had BIG PLANS for Thursday – Legoland New York!! To be honest, I think I was excited as Steven was – who only learned about our plans on Monday night.

We didn’t get a full night’s sleep but the excitement of the day 100% powered us through.

Steven, at Legoland CA, almost exactly 2.5 years ago. <3

The Legoland gang!!

It was an amazing day. We were at the park from 10:30am- 5pm and, because it was extremely hot out, the crowds were low which allowed us to do everything we wanted to – some multiple times – with very short lines.

Need a map!

Miniland! I remember literally spending hours at the miniland displays in CA.

Driving school. Back in CA, Steven was too young for the big kids driving school and had to ride the Jr track. This time, he was old enough and loved it. He and Charlie rode twice.

Lots and lots of Lego vehicles to interact with.

The corn was my favorite.

Rides with Steven were a lot of fun. He’s really expanded his tolerance over the past year or so.

The Dragon’s Apprentice!

Nana got in on the fun, too <3

This is another ride that Steven didn’t love in Feb 2019 but loved this time, enough to ride twice.

His ninja moves.

After a spot at The Big Store, Steven wrapped up his day trading minifigs at a trading post.

It was such a great day!

Back in MI, it was a quite end to the week for Sammy and Amaya but they had fun and got outside for a bit, too. They even got to join Penni for her niece’s high school orientation tour.

I worked on Friday so Nana picked up Steven around 10am and kicked off Fun Friday. He helped bake and also spent a while visiting with Papa, Savta, Auntie and Dod Shuki.

Then it was a late afternoon trip to the beach. Sara, Charlie and I met them there at 5pm when we were done for the day.

Nana, Steven, Mommy shadows

They pretty much had the beach to themselves

I’m pretty sure it’s been a Sammy/Amaya/Daddy sleepover since we left.

Most of Saturday was a pretty lazy here in NY. Steven and Charlie seemed to have a great time playing together making up games together. Sara and Dave just remodeled their kitchen and back room – here’s a great view of the final result!

Out for lunch with Steven and Charlie – playing Uno while we waited for our food.

The big event of the day was a birthday party for Nana who turns 70 on August 28th. The Honigs and Blooms joined us, along with Auntie, Savta, & Syvia and Allen Goldberg.

Super Mario Party kept Steven and Charlie entertained…

Steven surfaces to say hi to everyone.

Birthday Girl

Steven and I had a nice final morning in NY. We went to a playground and Starbucks with Nana and Charlie and some last quality family time before heading to the airport.

On our way home! Fortunately this flight was on time.

Manhattan, from the plane

Steven loves the flight tracker

Steven took a whole bunch of photos as we were landing

“I always wanted this spot on the airport train!”

Back home! A big activity this weekend for Jason, Sammy and Amaya was a big bake-off! Yesterday, at the grocery store, they each had 20 minutes to shop for ingredients and then made their own unique creations. When Steven and I got home, we were the judges.

Winner for most interesting combination of flavors: Sammy

Winner for best presentation: Amaya

Winner for overall taste: Jason

By the time we were done with the tasting, it was time for shows and then bed. Amaya spent the time coloring a Lego pouch from Nana while Steven got in some Daddy cuddles.

And that’s it for us! Have a great week!

A nice playground near out house got an upgrade and it’s even nicer now – and fun for the kids because so much is new – so they’re playing while I sit at a picnic table under a tree in the shade and write this blog. For so long SSA were tentative on playground equipment but they’ve really come into their own lately – especially Steven who had always been the most hesitant. It’s great to see them play and climb so freely. (Side note: This playground also has a number of wheelchair accessible features which is very cool.)

It’s hard to believe but Nana was still here last Monday. Our weeks feel so full that it seems like eons from one Monday to the next. The kids got out to a playground but the highlight of their day was making homemade squishies with memory foam. It was an idea Amaya got from one of her library books.

Amaya’s donut

Sammy’s cupcake

Steven’s creations.

We’ve been very into the Olympics over the past two weeks. Steven liked most sports but was particularly interested in women’s gymnastics. So much focus while he watches.

Olympics + a foot massage from Daddy

A mom of 4 year old triplets was asking if it ever gets easier and I showed her this picture from Tuesday morning. I came down to get coffee for work and found Sammy sitting at the island eating oatmeal that he made on his own. I’m sure I’ve talked about the kids’ independence with breakfast but it really is amazing to look at how far we’ve come.

In fact, on Saturday, Steven prepared breakfast for me. He even reminded me to say “when” once I had enough milk. 🙂

Amaya and Sammy spent time making Lego trophies. Two are shaped like toilets, complete with flushing mechanisms. They’re saving them for when Nana comes back in Sept and they have foosball and air hockey tournaments.

Tuesday afternoon was a trip to a big playground in Ann Arbor. Maybe Gallup Park? I’m not really sure. But they were there for hours. Penni even thought ahead and brought their shovels for the sand area. It was a big hit.

More Legos this week, and it’s nice for me to see the Lego tables in use. Steven got a big police station set for Hanukkah and just dove in. He powered through the whole thing pretty quickly!

Amaya liked this picture of her eating with a big spoon. 🙂

More Olympics! First just Daddy and Bubba were cuddling but then we all joined in. I think Jason and I could have stayed there, snuggled with the kids, forever.

Wednesday was another lake day and, this time, we resurrected our llama floatie from last summer! Still works well and was even bigger than we remembered. I’d love to find a weekend to get to the lake with the kids and the llama before the summer is over.

Swim day! The kids are doing so well. Honestly, before we know it Amaya is going to be in level 8 and I’m sure it’s not long until the boys graduate to level 4. I had the opportunity to see Amaya swim at the JCC this weekend and her strokes look so strong. Both of the boys are getting more and more confident. We’ll have to see if there’s a way to maintain swim lessons in the fall.

Back at the face paint – this time Lindsay turned Amaya into an adorable teddy bear.

Steven and I saw that Lego and Adidas have a shoe collaboration and we needed some. (I think their first grade teacher would challenge our definition of “need” here but it sure felt like it!) Mine didn’t fit well but Steven’s are perfect.

On Friday night we had friends over to grill. It was supposed to be two families but Ruxin’s dad and brother have strep throat so only Claire’s family came over. It was Claire, her 5 year old sister Ellie, and her parents Laura and Rob. They stayed until about 9 and I think most of the kids would have kept going if we’d let them. (Sammy was ready to conk out.)

Sammy, Laura and I ate inside together

On Saturday, we spent a while cleaning & organizing with the kids. Jason went through all of the kids’ clothing with them – with special attention focused on Amaya – to whittle down her mountains of clothes to a manageable assortment that she’ll actually be able to find the clothes she likes best.

In the afternoon – while Steven stayed home with Jason – Sammy, Amaya and I spent a few hours at the pool. It was overcast earlier in the day so the pool was very, very quiet but the same eventually came out and the heat was in full force so it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Despite not planning on it, I even ended up in the water for a little while.

Sammy spent a while relaxing on this big chair.

Steven was obsessed with his bread bowl!

Olympics with dinner. This time it was artistic swimming (or whatever it was that they renamed synchronized swimming?). Seriously amazing to watch.

The play date on Friday night absolutely destroyed any semblance of organization in our playroom. (And that’s after the kids and Lindsay spent a long time cleaning it on Friday.) I’m determined to get it back in shape. Definitely made progress today but I think the work will extend into the week. Someone named Steven has a little extra personal cleaning to do.

I was traveling so often in late June through mid July that we had three Raddish Kids kits to catch up on. We did two with Nana last weekend and are tackling the third today. We made key lime tartlets (loved them!) before lunch and it’s pineapple shrimp tacos for dinner.

The boys weren’t sure they wanted to bake but I knew they wouldn’t be able to resist smashing up graham crackers. Sammy was also excited to juice some limes and make line zest. Amaya was there helping from start to finish.

Steven, playing a game with remaining pieces of our backsplash.

Hours at the playground today. I love it. To be honest, tracking outdoor time has been great for us because I’m really mindful about getting outdoors.

Amaya’s got such a defined sense of style. This shirt is a little small on her but it’s comfortable so we cut under the arms to give her a little more room. This hat will definitely be a forever connection to Summer 2021 for me.

This is wheelchair accessible play equipment that Steven deemed a “boat” and promptly anointed himself boat captain. We had many rides around the world together.

It’s amazing to me that pine cones are still so interesting. They can search for and organize pine cones for a shockingly long time.

The Pineapple Shrimp Tacos were a hit. All of the kids helped prep the pineapple and salsa. Steven worked very, very hard prepping the shrimp so it could be seasoned. Amaya seasoned the shrimp, and her chicken, cooked her chicken and helped with the guacamole. It was a really nice time cooking together.

Amaya said this was the first time she cooked chicken by herself.

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

*Blog title from Amaya

It was a great, sunshine filled week here in the Land of Cheltenham – with a special bonus at the end of the week.

The kids started off the week at the lake with Penni. It seems there was some swimming and a lot of digging.

Steven had trouble sleeping on Monday night so we took the opportunity to watch some “late night” Olympics together. Really special time.

With Amaya’s hair color and all the time in the pool, she decided to try out a swim cap. Thumbs up!

Amaya has been really into crafts lately. This is another book she has from the library (or the same one from last week). She made a hand stand for jewelry. It’s super cute.

Tinfoil rings! Amaya and Penni can open an etsy shop. 🙂

Steven tells me this park was very very hot and he got very very tired. “There’s a spinny thing and, for almost the whole time, anyone who wanted to go on it I would always be pushing them.”

Amaya also crafted bunnies this week, made from old dance tights. They’re super cute! And she made a pair of overalls for one of her stuffies (named Rosie, Steven wants me to share). I love the creativity.

With Amaya’s move to level 7 swim, she and the boys have classes back to back which is very convenient.

The BIG news and adventure of the week was a visit from Nana!! She hasn’t been here since early June 2019. It’s really unthinkable to contemplate after near-monthly visits for 5.5 years. Once Nana arrived it both felt like no time had passed and also like so much time had passed.

On Friday, Penni, Nana and the kids went to the pool. They were the only kids there – lots of space to themselves! Amaya had to re-take the deep end test b/c there were new lifeguards there and she passed easily giving her lots of opportunity to jump and dive.

Steven also took off swimming on Friday!

For dinner on Friday night we headed to The Beach Tiki Bar & Boil in Walled Lake. Jason was in Chicago so it was just the 5 of us. We haven’t been here since early fall. Eating by the water also makes me happy.

Wandering on the beach while we waited for our table.

Sammy and I each ordered a pound of king crab for lunch. It was so good and, between us, we ate almost all of it.

We wrapped up the evening with some rock & shell hunting on the beach.

Bedtime shows…then bedtime!

We had a packed day on Saturday, spent at Kensington Metropark. We started off with a paddle boat ride on the lake.

It was a lot more work than I expected! Amaya was a fierce peddler, holding herself up by her arms on the seat to get enough leverage to peddle hard and fast.

Next up was the Farm Center at Kensington. It’s been ages since I was there with the kids and it brought back a ton of memories. We had lunch and then visited the animals.

The kids called this a “Sheep Cow” because of it’s face lol.

We wrapped up our day at Kensington with a visit to the beach splash pad, which also has two big water slides. Steven and Amaya loved the water slides. They went again and again. (So did I!)

While we were on the water slides, Sammy and Nana went down to the lake to skip rocks.

Sunday started with a return to Nana’s weekend Starbucks tradition with SSA. Yay!! I love this so much.

Our morning and early afternoon was spent cooking & baking – Triangle Tacos, made with filo dough, and lattice berry pie.

Constructing the pie

Word games on our phones. We all love Spelling Bee.

This afternoon we met up with MayMay, Mikey, Taco and Eden at a playground. The slide here is huge. All the kids loved it and even I had to try it.

Climbing Bobes

MayMay!!

It is so, so cute and special to see these kids play together.

Amaya and Nana practiced and shared a magic coin trick. First Amaya made the coin disappear and then she found it behind Nana’s ear!

The whole gang, plus a friend Amaya made at the playground – who’s name is Anaya! Go figure!

In this picture, Taco is wearing pants that had been Amaya’s. Eden is wearing a shirt and shorts that had been Amaya’s and the shirt actually goes back to Charlie! <3

It was a great week and a GREAT weekend. We’re all so glad that Nana is back visiting us in MI.

I’ll leave you with this vide of Steven and Lindsay singing a song they made up.

Have a great week!