The kids had a fantastic week at restaurant camp. It was right up their alley! And they were extremely responsible all, week while Jason was away and the four of us were on our own in the mornings to get to the camp bus. I was really proud of them.

Amaya had a dentist appointment on Thursday. We’d canceled hers earlier in the summer when it conflicted with a Splash Camp field trip. She looks so old here. I remember a little 3 year old, and 4 year old, who was so scared at the dentist. No big deal now! Amaya still has 14 baby teeth to lose, which was shock to me! I guess, with three kids all losing teeth at the same time, it feels like there are so many lost in a short time.

Sammy tooks some photos of me cuddling with Bobes. He was very proud of the increasing zoom in the photos he took from upstairs.

Amaya’s rugs came this week so now she has her perfect reading nook and a soft spot to play on the floor.

Friday was the culmination of a week of restaurant camp. All week, the 16 campers prepped a meal for their Taste of Italy restaurant and were able to invite guests to dine with them. It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.

Steven was the restaurant’s greeter. He welcome everyone who arrived and made sure their designated server showed the guests to their seats.

Amaya was my server <3

Our menu!

Sophia and I were ready to eat. I think we smiled the entire time.

The kids had note pads to take orders, trays for carrying food and so much enthusiasm.

A visit from Steven between guests.

Sammy explaining that romesco sauce is pepper-based.

The best time! I’m so glad SSA are having such a fun summer and love that I get to be part of it.

This one is for Auntie so she can see what our morning camp bus stop looks like. 🙂

Also at camp this week was an animal show. They pet an owl, snake and chinchilla.

And here are a few “behind the scenes” photos from their week at restaurant camp. The kids were very impressed with the commercial dishwasher. I love that they’re having such a good time and that I get a sneak peek.

Friday night the kids and I had plans to eat at the Tiki Bar in Walled Lake. We were totally surprised when Jason made home in time to meet us there! It was a perfect night.

Crab, crab and more crab

On Saturday, we took a family zoo trip.

Visited the new Penguin Conservation Center.

Sammy bought this great umbrella / sunshade hat. He got lots of compliments!

Jason and the kids went to Ikea to start shopping for desks for their rooms.

Jason and I have a rule that the kids need to document any deals, trades or sales they make. This morning, Amaya wrote “Amaya Make Sammy 1 cup of coffee every monring for 1 dollar every week.” I appreciate Jason’s addendums.

Steven and I took a great hour+ long walk around Maybury park this morning. It was so beautiful. Jason called us his “Nature Bugs” and I love it. We do have such a great time togther on our walks. Steven truly appreciates how beautiful it is.

This my favorite

Amaya has taking to making lunch and snacks for Monday camp for a few dollars. This week it was sunbutter sandwhiches, pretzles and strawberries for lunch and blueberries and peaches for snack. Huge help!

I wrapped up my afternoon with a 5.5 mile bike ride with Amaya. We rode over to a playground where she played for a bit before we rode home. And I finally got my butt in gear and started tracking rides.

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

This was another COVID week in the Cline household. Steven was home, quarantined, through Thursday. Not quarantined from the rest of us, but not able to go to camp and living his best screen-time life in our master bedroom with unlimited device and tv time for four days straight.

The woodwork resumed on our house on Monday and it was loud for a while so I worked outside for a bit while Sophia and Steven ate lunch and played Sorry.

I got the sweetest surprise in the mail this week and it quickly got a spot of honor in my home office with the rest of my special Sally memorabilia. It didn’t have a note but it turns out it’s from the best sister. The picture is so special – not just because of how much I love the picture itself or who it’s from but because it’s taken in the spot where I work all day, where I’ll now see it all day.

Sammy and Steven were scheduled for Fantasy Camp this week.

“Campers will be creating projects and learning games with themes like star wars, Marvel/DC, Harry Potter, medieval, wizards, mythological creatures, magic, knights and dragons, superheroes and villains, and more.” Sammy hadn’t been planning on doing any camps without his siblings but he had a great week, even without Steven there the first four days.

Making wands

Lego thrones

Amaya had signed up for an art camp but it was canceled so she had to join Kehilla this week (regular camp). She did that on Monday and then we got word that ropes camp had an opening for the rest of the week. Amaya was absolutely thrilled!

“Navigate real and imaginary obstacles, while taking on the mental, physical and emotional challenges of these eco-friendly high ropes courses and climbing activities. Connect with nature, build confidence, and learn the values of planning and teamwork. Spend the week at Tree Runner Adventure Park in West Bloomfield with their professionally trained staff.”

Thursday was a “beach party” with water slides. If you zoom in on the picture, you’ll see Amaya’s got a legit six pack. 😮 Our girl is strong.

Meanwhile, this was Steven all week. On his iPod and watching tv – lots of sports. The Tour de France, car racing, softball, the home run derby, the all star game… and lots of YouTube video games, too.

On Thursday, Sophia tested positive for Covid. Booooo. She couldn’t take Amaya and Sammy to Ninja so we did a kid swap and I got to see Ninja class for the first time. (Amaya and Sammy had to show negative covid tests for camp multiple times during the week, including Thursday.)

The place is so cool! I’m really hopeful that we’re able to get into fall classes when registration opens up early August. Three spots at once makes me nervous. (For what it’s worth, I’m really tired of stressing over activity registration! We got through gymnastics reg for Amaya. I think this is our last hurdle for fall.)

This is Amaya’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid summer. She is flying through the entire book series. It makes me so happy to see her choose to read.

Sammy powered through a big Korra graphic novel. We’re going to inventory our AtLA and Korra books to see what we’re missing in the series so we can get him more.

Steven was back to camp on Friday! Hooray! Masks for all but that’s no big deal at this point. For the final day of Fantasy Camp, Steven wore one of his Star Wars shirts.

Yesterday morning, Amaya took her new egg scrambling skills and made eggs for the family. She did a great job!!

We spent some time getting the kids rooms sorted out now that all the wood work is done in our house (!!!!) and we could get the right peices of furniture in Sammy/Steven and Amaya’s rooms. The boys have arm wrestling table and worked together to keep it from wobbling.

Saturday afternoon, Amaya and I had a wonderful bikeride to downtown Northville to get water bottle holders at the bike shop. It’s about 7 miles roundtrip and I was so proud of how well she rode.

A bike picture, like Nana takes.

Ice cream break

New water bottle holder, ready for the ride home!

We had a very, very quiet Sunday. It’s nice to have lazy weekends when we can, especially with the kids’ early morning weekday schedule and very active camp days.

Amaya had a birthday party for the twins, Sophie and Sammy. Sammy calls our Sammy “Uncle Same’. And they call Steven “Uncle Meanie.” I do love that the whole family shows up at the parties with gifts and enthusiastic rounds of “Happy Birthday”.

The party had goody bags which, for Sammy, included a ring pop that turned his entire mouth purple.

And Amaya spent a good part of the day making balloon animals. I don’t know where she learned how but she’s great at it!

Here’s a view of Amaya’s new room – formerly the Princess Guest Room. The princesses are gone and Amaya is fully moved in with Steven & Sammy’s dresser in their room. We have rugs coming for both rooms as a finishing touch.

The kids are off to restaurant camp tomorrow and are very excited about it. I can’t wait to join them for a meal on Friday afternoon. Have a great week!

I find it’a getting a little more difficult to focus on writing the blog each week. I’m not ready to stop but 8 1/2 years of weekly blogs may actually be catching up with me! I love the record of Steven, Sammy and Amaya’s childhood, though, so I’m still in it for now. But they’re getting older and I know this blog will have to evolve over time as their lives become increasingly private – or, at the very least, less at my disposal to write out each week. But not yet!

Sammy and Amaya had a great week together. They were both in Ninja camp this week at the JCC and traveled to a ninja gym together every day. Somehow that morphed into tape legged hops around the house. Goofballs.

Apparently 7/11 gives out free slurpees on 7/11 so Sophia took the kids for a treat after camp on Monday. Easy way to get some happy kids.

At the early part of the week, Jason was finishing up a COVID quarantine but the kids still found ways to engage. Here, Steven was talking to Jason through his window and pretending the wind was blowing him away.

Amaya left Jason a mailbox for notes and even created word scrambles for Jason to solve. The sweetest.

When we spend time together, it was in N95s as an extra precaution to avoid sharing covid with anyone else. (So far, it appears we were successful.) With his mask on his head, I think Steven looks like a water polo player.

Did I mention that Amaya has moved to her own room!?!? It sounds like a lot of people asked why she shares a room with her brothers which prompted her to ask the question of herself, as well. The Princess Guestroom was available and connected to the kids’ room through a Jack & Jill bathroom so, with some incentives to the boys to continue sharing, off she goes! It’s the end of an era.

We still have a little more rearranging to do before everything is shifted between the two rooms but she’s been in here for near two weeks now. Definitely more space in the bed for her babies. 🙂

At camp the kids saw a chihuahua which immediately prompted a barrage of texts about getting a dog. “Will you consider it?” “We’ll do all the work.” “We’ll pay for everything but the dog.” Our life is 0% conducive to having a dog. I don’t want a dog. Even if I wanted a dog (which I don’t), I’m not ready for another pet. Fortunately, they seemed to have moved past the desperate begging.

This was my response in our group text after the barrage of texts I got from each of the kids.

Amaya, working on her pitch. (And, by the way, until this week she was scared of all dogs. But apparently if the dog can fit in your purse it’s not so scary.)

SSA are still reading on Epic a few times a week through the summer to help keep up their reading skills during break. Epic is great because they can read or do read-to-me books – whatever they prefer. Here, Chelsea is reading with Amaya and her baby, Rose, is reading with Sammy. (Earlier in the week I found Sammy giving Rose a bath. My heart could truly burst.)

Steven had been complaining of eye pain (he’s fine) so we had some together time for a doctor’s appointment. I could spend forever with these kids. They’re so much fun – together, for sure, but 1:1 time is always special even if it’s a dr appt.

I spotted Steven and Amaya in some camp photos on the camp app this week.

Steven did Lego camp and loooooooved it. One of his word scrambles for Jason was “Lego camp is amazing.” It was all legos, in all forms, all week long. The kids had to wear masks bc of their at-home exposure and he even chose to wear his lego mask.

Amaya at the Ninja gym, Grit.

The kids still have time to unwind outside in the afternoons.

And at home, with us for pre-bedtime shows.

Saturday morning the boys had a birthday party at a friend’s house. The birthday boy, Simon, is the younger brother of Sammy’s friend Nolan. Apparently Steven sat with Simon on the bus in May and June and they became friendly. Since Simon wanted to invite Steven, his mom let Nolan include Sammy at the party. Honestly, I love that Steven is a good friend to everyone to the point that rising first graders want him at their birthday party.

Hoarding his chips lol

Late afternoon, Sammy, Amaya and I headed to the pool. Steven stayed back with Jason so he could watch the Tigers game.

Pizza at the pool <3

Saturday evening wrapped up with some Mastermind games for the Cline mans.

Steven woke up with a runny nose and, since we have to covid test for camp on Monday due to exposure, we decided to test this morning to get the intel. Unfortunately, he’s positive. He feels pretty good, to be honest, but obviously he can’t go to camp until his 5 day quarantine is over.

Amaya and Sammy asked to learn how to make scrambled eggs by themselves. They did a great job!

We had an expectedly lazy afternoon. The kids and Jason played a board game while I got some work done and then Team No-Covid-For-Now went out to eat while Team-Current-And-Recent-Covid stayed at home. <3

That’s it for us! Have a great week!

We’ve been a busy family over the past two weeks and there’s a lot I could write about, but the whole focus of this blog will be the amazing trip we took to Disney World with Nana, Papa, the Goldbergs, Austin and Krissy over Fourth of July weekend. It was a truly a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip and we’re so thankful that Nana & Papa made it happen!

We set out on Friday morning, 7/1, raring to go!

Same for Nana, Papa and the Goldbergs in NY. <3

We all stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort which is a Disney property that has a bus to Magic Kindgom and a very convenient Skyliner (tram) to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. I’d definitely stay there again to help avoid busses.

Austin and Krissy didn’t get in until after dinner on Friday but the rest of us took a bus to Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Conteporary hotel for a first night dinner at Chef Mickey. A character restraurant was defiitely the way to kick off the trip.

With Mickey…

Pluto!

There were so many happy smiles like this from the kids througout the whole trip.

Minnie!

Sammy was telling Minnie that he likes Pluto better

Goofy and the grownups.

Goofy and the Kids

Donald!

A toast to a great night and the start of a great trip. <3

The kids were up and ready for an early bus to Magic Kindgom to take advantage of early entry for resort guests. In fact, they were ready so early I had to drag them off their devices to get to breakfast.

Magic Kindgom!! Amaya went to Disneyland in October 2018 and Sammy went in May 2019 but this was Steven’s first time and it was long enough ago for Amaya and Sammy that they all felt the magic.

With early entry, we were able to make our way to Space Mountain for our first ride. Steve and Jason hit up Buzz Lightyear while the rest of us road the roller coaster. It was Amaya’s first and she loved it. She has learned that she’s a true thrill seeker.

Me, with Sammy and Chse on the ride. (When Sammy and I went to Disneyland we rode it three times. I think it’s possible he liked it more back then. 🙂 )

Daddy and Steven soaking it all up.

We met up with Steven and Jason at the Speedway ride. Sammy was my buddy while Amaya rode with Charlie.

Then it was off to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is one of my nostalgic favorites. Such a fun little roller coaster. It was the biggest coaster Steven had been on to that point and I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about it but he loved it. “I loved it.” His exact words.

He got to ride between his parents.

Sa and Dave, right behind us

When we got off, Steven was so enamoured that he asked to ride again, standby. I was all in for that plan so we got back in line while the Goldbergs, Amaya and Sammy went to the Haunted Mansion.

Mr. Curls McGhee waiting in line.

The Haunted Mansion gang.

Late morning, Nana, Papa, Austin and Krissy all made it to the park – scooters ready for Nana and Papa.

Pirates of the Carribean

I think our last ride at Magic Kindgom, before the skies opened, was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – my first time on the ride. Another great roller coaster that we loved.

My favorite!!

It stopped raining by the time we got back to the hotel so the kids were able to spend the afternoon at the pool. It was a perfect way to unwind after a park day.

Even Uncle Austin and Krissy got in.

Dinner, pool side.

Saturday was Epcot day! Beautiful, HOT day in FL. Really, really hot. And humid. But worth it!

Photo 1: Steven immersed in his map, with Uncle Austin suggesting he put it down for the family picture.

Success!

Alice

Steven and Amaya saw so many displays that they wanted to capture in photos. The Epcot grouns really are beautiful.

Phone booths – a novelty almost as good as a ride!

The kids loved Test Track. Jason and I were paired with Steven. Amaya was with Charlie and Uncle Dave. Sammy was with Aunt Sara and Chase. (Chase + Sammy was a big theme of the trip and, of course, Amaya was by Charlie’s side almost the whole time.)

See ya!

For me, the whole draw of Epcot was the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Thanks to our amazing travel planner, we were able to ride twice – via Individual Lightening Lane tickes and the virtual queue. The ride was a bit too wild for Steven who did not like it and did not want to ride a 2nd time but the Goldbergs, Amaya, Sammy and I were in. Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios is incredible but I think this is my favorite ride of the trip.

SO GOOD.

We met up with Nana and Papa after Guardians for Soarin’ and lunch together. Soarin’ is another long time favorite. If I had a relaxation room in my house, I would want it to be the Soarin’ ride. Even Chase, a thrill junkie, thought it was awesome.

Amaya and Sammy both came home with Groot.

Sammy isn’t big on pictures but really wanted one, with Groot, in this spot.

Amaya spotted a Minnie Mouse photo op and chose to wait for a picture while the rest of the group went ahead. It was some nice time for us together.

In Italy, on our way back to the Skyliner, right before the rain (shut down the Skyliner).

Day three, Sunday, was our Hollywood Studios day. I was excited to save it for last because I’ve never experienced Galaxy’s Edge and the Clines love Star Wars.

It’s a short Skyliner ride to Hollywood Studios from our hotel.

The Goldbergs, Amaya and Sammy started their day on the Rock ‘n Roll rollercoaster which Steven and I opted out of in favor of Slinky Dog in Toy Story Land. What a visually fun part of the park!

I do not think this roller coaster got a thumbs up from Sammy. 🙂

Afterward, the thrill crew rode Tower of Terror. Sammy sat out the first time but joined them all later in the day.

Amaya is not bothered.

Galaxy’s Edge! Steven and I wandered around together before meeting up with everyone else. It’s so cool.

Porg on his arm!

Rise of the Resistance is a mind blowing experience. I’ve never been on such an immersive ride in my life. It is super impressive and I can’t wait to ride again. Not the wild thirll of Guardians but extraordinary in it’s own way. Definitely a can’t miss and 100% worth the cost of the Individual Lightening Lane tickets.

Steven and I took another ride on Slinky Dog together. It’s a fun little coaster.

Daddy and Bobes

Toy Story Mania – such a fun, simple ride.

We got lucky and were able to see Chewy and Rey right before we rode Millenium Falcon: Sumgglers Run. The kids were thrilled. (So was I.)

The Cline 5

Using the Force

We’ve got two boys who joined the Rebellion.

We wrapped up our visit to Disney with a family dinner at Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios. Nana and Papa had stayed back during the day to save all their engery for dinner and 4th of July Fireworks.

Steven was thrilled to ride in a green car on the Skyliner. In fact, we stayed back to wait for one.

Nana and her grandkids. The best.

The OG Best. <3

The WHOLE gang at dinner. This is our one photo with all 13 of us. Nana felt dynastic.

Lots and lots of character time at Hollywood & Vine. Steven had his Goofy doll with him and bonded with the “real” Goofy.

Amaya asked Mickey if he loves Minnie. When he pantomimed “yes” she said, “Mickey and Minnite sitting in a tree…” And you all know the rest of that…

The characters would have little dance parties and Amaya mached right up to join in, eventually joined by her brothers. I think it might be my favorite memory of the whole trip – seeing Amaya get up with confidence and the joy on all 3 faces while they danced.

What a trip!

We wrapped up a night with a Skyliner ride over to Epcot for some phenomenal, memorable fireworks. Simply the best.

Truly a trip we’ll all remember forever.

There’s no regular blog update this week. Instead, here are our newest family photos. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️