It just occurred to me that it's July 31st, and this is only my second post in the entire month. In my 15 years blogging, I don't think I've ever written only two posts in a month. How did this happen?
July.
Was busy.
And stressful.
Which is all the more reason I should be blogging because writing reduces stress for me, better than almost anything. And yet, this crazy, upside down month totally got away from me. So here we are on the 31st with only two posts. I will certainly try harder.
As for July, I'm not sure where to begin. My kids. Yes. Grownup kids = grownup problems. My kids are the smartest, kindest, most awesome people I know. But they are still grownup kids, which means they have grownup problems. There is no escaping this. And their grownup problems become my grownup problems, because that's just how it is when you're a mom to grownup kids. There is no escaping this.
(And I wouldn't, even if I could.)
Between Shulamith's dog incident, Isaiah's stressful job, and Seth's dating issues, let's just say my "mom" anxiety was triggered nearly every day of July. Plus I was so, so hot! Remember how my dog broke my AC? Yeah, I didn't realize how much being overly hot would exacerbate my anxiety disorder, but the answer is A LOT!
Since I won't be writing posts for all our July events, let me highlight them briefly here:
Kennedy's 9th birthday
She had a celebration with extended family and close family friends at our community pool, where she swam, ate pizza, and opened tons of cool presents. Then she also had a "friend party," where she invited three of her closest friends to dinner at Cheesecake Factory, followed by shopping at the mall and Target. They got to sit at their own table at dinner; then Shulamith gave them each $20 with which to shop. Pretty sure it was Kennedy's favorite birthday party ever, and possibly the favorite for the other girls as well. They managed to find matching flair jeans, and I wish I'd taken a picture of all of them trying those on, but here are the two pictures I got:
Theodore's 6th birthday
Just a couple weeks later, it was Theodore's turn. For Theodore, there is but one birthday party location: Classic Fun Center! It's a large venue with giant bounce equipment, surrounded by a track for roller skating, roller blading, and scootering. In addition, there are arcade games that produce tickets to buy things at a store, mostly dumb, cheap crap, but still coveted by every child. They serve pizza, fries, soda, and more. It's a great place for a 6-year-old's birthday, and Theodore had the best time. He is a Lego genius, so this was definitely his favorite present.
Lagoon
Lagoon is a large amusement park way up north in Farmington. Typically, we go just once a year because, although the rides are super good, it's still overpriced at $97/day. Unless you have a season pass. We've talked for several years about getting season passes, and this year, we finally did it. And suddenly, we are Lagoon rats. It's so nice not to feel like you have to ride every single ride because you won't return for a year. We've gone multiple times already; we stay till we're tired, then leave. It's great! Oh, what is my favorite ride, you want to know? It's a tie between Samari and Cannibal, but then I'm a "ride junkie," so for me, the spinnier, the loopier, the faster, the better! Here we are taking a short break between rides:
One Lagoon day, Eli, Amanda, and Jane joined us. Jane was delighted as Shulamith's kids willingly took her on the "baby" rides:
That's awesome that Shulamith's kids helped Jane enjoy the baby rides. I love it when they do stuff like that. Last Sunday, Haley "taught" Henry how to open a present. It was so heart-warming.
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