July started with Patxi coming home from his two week A.T. (Annual Training) for the National Guard. I talked about the moment he returned and my first Sunday school lesson in last month’s newsletter. Since Patxi had been gone and I was going to leave with the kids on the 6th for my Grandfather’s 80th birthday, we decided to stay here with Patxi instead of going to the Hendrickson reunion without him. Since we were in Salem, a friend invited us to a BBQ for the fourth of July. We had tons of food, Patxi made an amazing Greek pasta salad, and then we did our own amateur fireworks in their driveway. Boston didn’t know what to do with the sparklers, she tried to eat them or stick them in their yard. Valin couldn’t get enough, my little pyro. The only bad thing was that I wasn’t prepared for how cold it got after sunset, so that put a damper on things. We still had a great time.
Next was my Grandfather’s birthday celebration. We originally wanted to celebrate it on his actual birthday this Halloween, but when we found out that I was due two weeks before that, we tried for a time durning the summer were we can all get together. We decided to go to Park City, Utah at a resort my sister has a time-share. Our group included me and the kids, my parents (who we rode with to Utah), my sister, her husband and their three month old son, my younger sister, and my grandfather, of course. To tell the truth, I wasn’t looking forward to it. My Grandfather hasn’t been around children much and has a criticizing tongue sometimes, so I was worried about how he would react to my kids, just being kids. They wouldn’t have been the only one he would criticize since I gain extra weight with my pregnancy. Luckily we were able to get a suite at the resort large enough so that we had our own rooms. That meant, when the kids needed naps, a timeout, or they got up early in the morning, we could stay in our room and not disturb anyone else. There were two swimming pools, TV/ DVDs in every room, and a large wrap around balcony so the kids could run around while I kept an eye on them. Boston made apple sauce when she threw an apple off of it (we were six levels up).
We had a lot of fun during the week. We got to play in the pool, walk down-town Park City, and visit three museums including one with exciting dinosaur bones and another where a mining explosion is replicated. Valin loved it, he had such a cackle of glee as he pushed down the handle making the ground shake and lights flash.
The above pictures were from the history museum at the University of Utah
These are pictures of the kids enjoying the fun animal hats in a downtown store in Park City. Man! my kids are so cute!
This is a video of Valin "blowing up" the mines in the Park City Museum
Valin is a prison cell in the Museum
Kids with a bear at Park City
This is a video of the kids dancing on an outdoor stage Downtown Park City. Boston's dancing is running around in circles, and Valin...well, I don't really know what kind of dancing he's doing.
One night a crazy thing happen. All of Park City and the surrounding area lost the electricity at around six in the afternoon till about midnight. Luckily, my sister finished cooking her dinner right when the lights went out. Because the TV was out of the question, we ended up talking as a family for hours. It was one of my favorite nights, laughing together and sharing our thoughts.
But overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I totally enjoyed it. My grandfather had more patience then I thought and he actually played and enjoyed my kids. Boston warped him around her little finger and he learned to have patience with Valin’s exuberance. He called my mother as soon as he got home and asked if we could to get together next year. This was saying something, coming from him. I think we all had a great time.
I drove home to Keizer on the 16th, so we got to spend some time with Patxi before his fire shift the next day, yes on my birthday. I was way bummed that I wasn’t going to see him at all that day, by my good friend, Erin, came to the rescue. She bought me a cake, picked blueberries with us, and we eat dinner at her house. She also babysat the kids when Patxi took me out to Olive Garden the next friday.
This week and last week, we have been up to our eyeballs in blueberries. There is a great u-pick farm just a few miles from our house where it’s a dollar a pound. It’s a great because I can bring the kids and just let them hang around and eat all of the berries they want. Boston grabs hand-fulls and shoves them in her mouth, while Valin catches lady bugs. This is the first time I’ve had fresh blueberries to cook with and it’s been quite an adventure. So far I have made four quart jars of blueberry syrup (and still have four more to make), dehydrated 7 cups, made blueberries muffins and waffles, and frozen over 20 cups to be used in smoothies, pies, or whatever else we can think of. Bring on the anti-oxidants!
I’m 29 weeks along now, so I have about two and a half months until we add another child to our family. This might sound strange, but the reality of it just hit me last week. In less then three months, I’m going to have to push out another baby. I’m going to have three kids! I’m overcome with the feeling to clean everything, make other preparations, and figure out a birthing plan. The baby is moving a lot, sometimes randomly kicking so hard that it feels like it moves my whole body. We are all getting excited. Valin loves to interact with my belly, claiming that he can hear the baby, and slaps it saying that he was giving the baby a “high-five.” Boston doesn’t understand it yet, but I’m sure she’ll love the baby when we bring it home.
