winding down – gearing up

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.)