Tolly's Travels Through Time: Summer updates

Is august really here? I cannot believe it. We are just now driving back from our beach vacation and at the beginning of summer I said that when we get back from our beach vacation it would be August and school will be right around the corner. Where does the time go and how do we slow it down? I was also reminded about this on our beach vacation when we befriended a family that is about 16 years ahead of us. The parents kept reminiscing about how their kids used to be our kids ages and how fast it flies by. Their youngest is 18 and they have 6 kids 10 years apart. So their youngest was about to be a senor in high school and their oldest was just starting a new career. So it was great to talk to them and for us to imagine us being that someday and them remembering themselves 16 years earlier.

The beach was nice and relaxing with really only one day of rainy weather. Lindsay unfortunately, or fortunately, did not like the water this year. Last year so was crazy and did not mind if the waves knocked her down and she tumbled down the slope. This year she got knocked down one time and that was it for her water experience. She wanted nothing to do with the water after that and was just content on the sand. It worked out for us because it was less demanding on our attention and we knew she would not be in danger. We rode the family’s paddle board in the beach and I loved it. We might purchase one next year so that we can do it more often. The biggest highlight of this trip was the kids, and D, mastered the skim board. Nathan practiced for about a day and he did really well. The girls also joined in and got the hang of it. D also played around with it and eh ended up doing really well. I chose not to participate only because I did not want to fall on my behind and break anything. I was content with the boogie board. Again it was a great trip and we are sorry to leave but glad we had the opportunity to spend a week there.

On the one day that we had rain the sky was amazing. The last few pictures detail this sky and sun. It was like the sky was put in two, one side was the stormy side and the other was clear puffy clouds. It was amazing and one of the most unique skies I have seen.

Summer has been great. The kids had a few camps and enjoyed the lazy summer days. Nathan and Mallory participated in a week of horse and art camp. Julianne ended up going to the pool with her friends a lot so that was good for her to experience that independence. The next few weeks we only have swim lessons for the kids so that will be nice to go back to the pool for the last few weeks. Julianne is nervous about starting middle school and we are excited for her new experience. I am a little worried about the increased homework responsibility but I know she will be able to do it just might cause some more headaches for her. She actually has been getting a few more migraines this summer than usual. She has to go to her room and recover and most times they end with throwing up. So that is always hard to see and also difficult to understand since I don’t have issues with that myself. So we are still working with her to reduce her stress levels, recognize then they occur more often and to figure out what works best during the headache.

After looking back at what my last blog post I realized that I had not posted since Mallory's birthday. Mallory had a great 9th birthday. She had 6 friends over and we had a spa party. We painted our nails and toenails and put on facial masks. I felt bad because we did the peel off masks and and I put too much mask on the girls and it did not really peel off. They were a little freaked out so I had to wash most of it off their poor little faces. Oh well, I should have tried it before but I did not. Mallory had a great time and enjoyed her birthday. She is doing a little better with her worrying about her time and how late she is going to bed. She has relaxed about that a little this summer but does not want to sleep over at anyone's house. So we are working on that. I hope she has an easy time with school coming up. She is always worried about missing me or being away from me for a long time. I think it is more about not being at home and less about me but it is a phase and I hope she grows out of it.

Below are some random summer pictures.