Fireworks, Harry Potter, and tons of free food

Oh man. Getting this far behind is not good. Really not good. But instead of blabbing about that or blabbing about anything really, I need to get some things posted before my sieve of a brain loses them forever. I know lots are gone already, but I'll do my best.

In July we saw more fireworks than we saw in our entire three years in Canada combined. For about a week before and three weeks after the Fourth of July, random citizens in our neighborhood put up pretty respectable displays pretty much every night. The kids especially enjoyed leaving their curtains open late (super-late, actually, since we're on the far west side of the eastern time zone and our city converted a few years back--after holding out for decades--to using "daylight savings" time in the summer to my annoyance) to watch some of the festivities. On the Fourth, we considered a trip down to Cincinnati to enjoy Red, White, and Blue Ash, which we loved every year that we lived there, but decided against it since we had another trip to Cinci planned for August anyway. So then we went up to Aaron's university for the fireworks display, and had fun sitting amid the scads of college students on the hillside. And I have to say, I like the students there. They were as good-natured and undrunken as BYU students, I think!

There were more fireworks a few days later when we had to attend the Harry Potter themed Tin-Caps baseball game. Thought the Tin Caps lost badly (they have an outstanding record and have hit several home runs the other times we've seen them, so apparently Voldemort was on the loose), the game was lots of fun, and the kids earned some compliments on their costumes--I'm glad those costumes have gotten some use since I paid too much for them last Halloween! Afterward we enjoyed another round of fireworks that culminated in a display of what looked like wands shooting off spells--very cool.

Around the middle of the month, Aaron headed out of town to direct the choirs at the International Music Camp on the border between Manitoba and North Dakota. While he was having fun there (he really loved it and hopes he will be invited again), I--for some indiscernable reason possibly related to the fact that we don't actually have paychecks coming in over the summer--made it my mission in life to feed us almost exclusively on free food. This worked out beautifully, because on one of the nights the greatly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2 premiered. Although (much to my chagrin) I couldn't very well go to the movie without Aaron, it didn't stop us all from participating in fabulous premiere events at the mall that evening. We put all those Harry Potter costumes to use once again, scoring free chicken sandwiches (for anyone dressing like a Harry Potter character) for all of us from Chick-fil-A! Then we wandered over to the movie theater plaza, where they were conducting a costume contest. Holy moly were there ever some fantastic costumes on parade! Emerson was picked as the best Harry Potter, although he didn't make it into the top 3 costumes who got prizes, which was too bad since obviously our motives were primarily getting free stuff (I'm kidding! mostly). The next day (though we didn't find out about it until weeks and weeks later when a friend gave us a copy she had saved) we were all in the newspaper, and Emerson even got an extra big shot of just him! Fame! It really was a super-fun night, made even better when we saw a sign on the new Panda Express opening across the street, saying that they were giving out free food all day the next day . . . . So at around 3 the next day (when I thought traffic would be thinnest), we all showed up and waited in line for 45 minutes for some Chinese food. They gave us 2 entrees and 1 side of take-out food each for all five of us! Plus soda, which the kids all loved because we practically never have soda. Obviously that kept us fed for like three days. We also spent time at some of the events for the 3 Rivers Festival downtown, where we attended a fun scavenger activity followed by a bunch of blow-up carnival rides at the Botanical Gardens (also $.50 hotdogs!), and a cookie decorating contest (oh hey, more free food there!). Probably I squeezed in too many things, but it was lots easier than trying to keep everybody entertained at home. Besides all that, I managed to get the deck painted and finish the rough draft of the book I'm working on. I totally miss Aaron when he's gone. But man alive am I ever productive!

Alright, I probably could keep going right here, but eventually I'll get pictures added in, and that will just complicate things. So I'm going to go ahead and post this and pretend like I did it in July. And if you happen to check back, there's always a chance that you'll find pictures . . . if I ever figure out a solution to the fact that all our photos are on the computer downstairs and all my photo editing stuff (which I mostly just use for cropping, but still, that's an important function!) is on the computer upstairs, and I'm actually writing all of this on my netbook. Sometimes technology makes things easier. Sometimes not so much!

Summertime photos

In a grand run-up to the Fourth of July, we attended a pretty spectacular barbeque and fireworks party thrown by a friend who owns a big splash of property just outside of town.  The kids had the time of their lives running through the grass, jumping on the trampoline (which led to the loss of one of Emerson's front teeth), catching frogs, and riding four wheelers.  But the best part of the night was when the awesome fireworks show was complemented (and possibly upstaged) by an almost supernatural lightning show.  Between that and all the fireflies, it was a pretty twinkly night.

A festival up at Aaron's university had some great activities for the kids, inculding a chance to try out all the instruments.  It's now on our list to get Theo playing trumpet, and some of the other kids playing violin one of these days.  When we have more money, apparently, because music lessons are expensive!

Then Aaron went out of town, and we had fun!  I promise it's his terrible timing, not me celebrating his absence!  The Three Rivers festival took place in his absence, and to keep us all from wrecking the house, I took everyone to as many activities as I could each day.  This is the kids at a big activity they held at the Botanical Gardens, with crafts and activities including a ride on a giant bouncy slide.  So.  That was a hit, obviously.

One of my favorites was the cookie contest held at a local baking store.  Addy's was pretty impressive--I thought she might win (she didn't).  Emerson's was a pile of as many toppings as he could fit.  He likes the food, that one.

My favorite might have been the Harry Potter movie debut (which sadly we couldn't even see until Aaron got back, because a) movies cost way too much to take everyone, b) it was at midnight, and c)Aaron would have killed me if I went without him, even though he hasn't read the books.  Instead, there were a bunch of activities held at the mall the afternoon before the premiere, so we attended all of those (including the free dinner if you wore a Harry Potter costume), and ended up with our faces splashed all over the newspaper the next day.  Well, we do love Harry Potter.

Which leads me to the Harry Potter baseball game, played by the TinCaps, that happened the next week.  Luckily Aaron made it for that one, though sadly the TinCaps lost--practically their only loss of the season.  Apparently the Death Eaters were in the house.

And . . . a trip to King's Island in Cincinnati rounded out our mostly local "staycation" this summer.  Theo and Aaron had the guts to try out the super-high Diamondback roller coaster, all but the little kids got to ride The Beast, which is apparently the longest wooden roller coaster in the world.  It was really fun!  We split the rest of our time between a few thrill rides that the big kids were tall enough to go on, and the ever-enchanting kiddie world.  It was probably the highlight of the summer for the kids, not quite as much for Aaron and I, who could stand to skip the pricetag next year. 

Haha, here's an update of the picture we took at the King's Island drinking fountains two years ago.  Our kids have grown!  Sera couldn't even reach it last time.  Also, they apparently repainted (see the picture at the bottom of the blog).

And finally, the week before school started, we got to attend the American Idol concert out in Columbus with the older kids.  It was a super-fun night that I hope those kids will always remember.  What an amazing journey for those contestants, from average Joe to lighting up the stage in a production like that!  Theo and Addy were hilarious throughout the night, teasing each other about which contestants the other "liked."  Oh, what joys we have in store for us!

May and June pictures!

Okay, so picture catch up for May and June.  Look quick, because I'm going to change the date in a few days to make things all chronological and stuff.

Emerson's class held a fantastic Mother's Day brunch for their moms.  The beautiful tissue paper bouquet Emerson made me is still displayed in our front bathroom.  Here he's squinting at something (probably food he wishes was located in his mouth) from beside his friends from church, Isaac and Jensen.  How lucky is he to have those two both in his church class and his school class?

I am not a good scout mom.  However, Theo had a marvelous time with his friends at the Pinewood Derby.  They are a fun(ny) bunch of boys!

I only got to accompany Addy's class on one field trip this year (they actually only had one), but we had a great time at Science Central.  Here she is with her best bud, Eliza.

The awesome visit we scored from my mom and her husband Don deserves way more mention and way more pictures (most of them taken with my mom's camera--she's a great photographer, and aparently much more seasoned and organized about it than I am) than I'm including here.  One of our favorite outings was going to the zoo, where the kids thought they were in heaven carrying around big cartons of popcorn that seemed to magically refill, and getting a chance to ride on some of the fun rides that our fun little zoo offers.  Such a fun day!

Theo had the birthday of his life, this year.  He scored a movie camera, a Spy Gear safe he's been coveting for a while, some mechanical pencils, duct tape, and an old-school Jackson 5 CD.  He's come a long way this year, and we're proud of him for the transition he has made to a new school and the good friends he's made there.

He had a Harry Potter birthday party, and this is my attempt at Hogwarts castle with a Quidditch field out back. 

He invited ten friends to a sleepover party (his first), and to my surprise (horror), they all came.  I jest though, the party actually was so much fun, aside from the fact that nobody got much sleep.

I have about twelve of these cute pictures of Emerson helping Sera learn how to ride his "old" two-wheeler with training wheels.  Can I just say that Emerson is exactly the big brother I always wished I had when I was growing up?

I don't think it's possible to say too many times how much I love our yard, and how it neigbors a big open field for the kids to play on.  They love getting out there to play all sorts of things, from baseball to frisbee to kickball.

Aaron had so much fun planning this trip up to Battle Creek Michigan for the Blue Angels air show.  The one drawback was that it fell on a wickedly hot day.  We sat under our umbrellas in the sun watching the cool stunts for hours, but had to take breaks every now and again to cool off in the funny little tents where people were selling everything from investment schemes to cookware.  It's also possible that I complained a little (a lot). 

Lots of zoo visits (ah, the joys of membership).  We love that place!

Summertime and the livin' is . . . not as easy as you might expect

Oh good glory, it's time to get back on the blogging bandwagon. Surprise! Too much has happened to fit it all in. So instead of blabbing about it (you loved the blab last month, admit it!), I'm doing pictures. It's about freaking time, isn't it? I'll break it down into smaller posts to accomodate those with smaller brains (okay, that's mostly me, because seriously is not moving photographs around to get them in the right order not the most complicated thing?).

So, to start us off, we have a random summer kick-off party at a spray-pad:

We also went to the zoo and camping, where we (thankfully, I gotta tell you) didn't take many pictures:

There was a concert on the beach where we went camping--fun night! Wait, what am I saying "fun night?" My actual exact thought that night was "if I had to pick just one day of my life to relive over and over and over again, this would be the day." It was an absolutely perfect night. We hauled our chairs and blankets down onto this hillside that sloped down to a lake and listened to patriotic music played by the Fort Wayne Phil (we were about an hour out of town). A whole bunch of boats pulled up to the shore and the music was piped out to them as well. One thing I noticed and loved was that nobody seemed to have brought any alcohol with them! It was just one of those nights that was so good that nobody was even interested in that. Anyway, the final strains of music seemed to call the fireflies to life, and as everyone packed up to leave, they were everywhere, thousands of them! The kids were chasing them and catching them and letting them crawl up and down their arms with their little bums flashing green and yellow, and I don't think I said very many words, but my heart swelled until it just about popped listening to the sweet conversations of love between the kids and their dad and random people we just started chatting with as we hiked back up to our campsite. So yeah. That was the day I want to relive.

On to the next post.