Goodbye Summer

And just like that it was September and time for Spencer to go back to school and Alan to go back to driving buses. I usually like structure and routine, but sleeping in a few extra minutes and spending lots of time playing as a family during the summer is so lovely.

We tried to spend the last few days celebrating the end of a great summer. I had been wanting to check out George Rogers Park in Lake Oswego for a long time and we finally made it. Alan had to work and we missed him though. I wish we had been able to find inflatable tubes or rafts, but it was too late in the season. Spencer would have had a lot more fun with them. Next year. Mason loved playing on the big rocks.

Spencer's school always has Supply Night the week before school starts. You take in all of the supplies you've hunted down over the summer and get to meet your new teacher. Mason insisted on wearing his backpack too. Spencer got Mr. Bahns for 4th grade. We had met him last year through Battle of the Books and Spencer was hoping to get him. He was excited to have a male teacher and super excited because he knew that Mr. Bahns had a classroom set of Chrome Books.

Since school always starts the day after Labor Day, we had wanted to do something fun as a family that day, but both boys wound up sick and I had a migraine the day before so we decided to keep things low-key. We rented a movie and barbecued for our Back to School Feast in the evening.

Our new family theme for the year comes from President Monson's talk during last April's General Conference: "Love is the essence of the Gospel and Jesus Christ is our exemplar." We really want to focus on loving each other and everyone else more this year. Heaven knows our world can use a lot more love in it.

4th grade, here he comes! Spencer is in his element at school and he couldn't wait to go back.

The 1st day of school was super smokey from the huge fire burning in the Gorge. I tried to capture the hot pink/orange sunrise at the bus stop, but this picture is crummy.

Mason had been waking up early all summer, but he slept in the first morning of school and didn't get to say good-bye to Spencer. He kept saying, "I miss Spencer." It made my heart sad. I started "Mommy School" with him to keep him busy. Then we went to Old Navy and thankfully he found this guy to love on! Not nearly as good as a brother, but it lifted his spirits.

More August

We went on a family bike ride to train for our upcoming triathlon one evening. We drove to a nice, paved trail in Beaverton and road for about four miles before stopping for a picnic and to play on the playground. Mason doesn't mind the bike trailer for short distances, but did not enjoy riding that long. We let him play for awhile before getting back on our bikes and riding back to our car.

We invited our friend Mo to the Temple Visitor's Center another evening. Mason doesn't last very long in the small center, so I took him outside to run while the others watched videos and looked around inside. I was afraid he was going to fall in this fountain. He never did, but he stepped right into the reflecting pool a few minutes later! haha!

The YMCA Family Triathon was on August 15th. None of us had ever competed in that kind of race before so we were excited to try it out at this event. Alan chose to register us for the All-Star course over the Rookie course, because he just couldn't fathom only running a half mile! ;) The All-Star course consisted of a 100 yard swim, 5 mile bike ride, and 2 mile run. It was awesome because you could choose how your family would complete it. You could all do all of the parts of the race, each do one part, or any other combination that worked for your family. We chose to split the swimming up between the three of us (Spencer and I each did 25 yards and Alan did 50) and then we all rode our bikes and ran. Mason rode in the bike trailer and jogging stroller for those parts. I knew he wouldn't like the bike trailer for that long, so I let him watch a movie on our portable dvd player the whole time. It worked great!

Spencer struggled with the bike ride mostly because he has a crummy bike. The last mile was really tough for him and I felt bad. There wasn't anything we could do but keep going at that point though. He pushed through though and should be proud of finishing something so hard! He'll probably be better a new bike soon! ;) Alan and I both had a lot of fun and I wish there were more low-key triathlons like this around. We definitely want to participate next year!

There was a free bbq after the race.

Can you tell who was grumpy and tired by the time we finally took our finishers picture! :)

It wouldn't be summer without lots of running through the sprinklers. It's funny to watch Spencer's and Mason's personalities as they play. Mason is crazy with no fear and loves the water to hit him right in the face. Spencer ducks down and tries to play keep-a-way from the water. They had fun until they head-butted each other when they weren't watching where they were going and both started crying. Haha!

My green beans usually aren't very successful, but it's fun to watch them climb up this tepee and they make a fun, little hiding spot so I keep growing them. This actually turned out to be my most successful year with them though - we ate green beans for dinner twice!

"I a ninja!"

Mason and Kiki both love to play in the backyard. It took us awhile to plug up all of the holes in the fence and to figure out how to keep Kiki from climbing the trees and jumping the fence. We finally wrapped chicken wire around the trunks about five feet about the ground. Now, she can climb up a few feet, but can't get over the wire so she's safe.

At the beginning of the summer, Spencer could only get across three monkey bars before slipping off. I told him we'd get ice cream if he could make it all the way across without skipping any bars by the end of the summer. He did it so we took them to Menchies!

It's fun that Mason is finally old enough to do some preschool-type play. He loved scooping and dumping dried beans into bowls and an ice cube tray.

The boys and I did a nature photo scavenger hunt one morning. We went to the Wildlife Refuge and walked around for awhile. It turned out to be a hot and very smoky day though so it wasn't as fun as I had hoped. Spencer had fun taking pictures and learning about photography though. Mason was the most excited about the digger we found.

We signed up for free summer bowling again this year, but didn't go at all until right before school started! Spencer and Alan love it, but Mason gets bored and bowling has never been my favorite thing. Spencer bowled his two best games ever and I actually did better than I have in a long time too. It wasn't as miserable as I thought it would be!

I heart August!

August was a good month full of playing with my boys!

Spencer went to his 2nd Cub Scout day camp at the beginning of August. His troop went to Camp Ireland in Hillsboro again. The camp ran Monday-Friday 8am-4pm. I think that's too long, but Spencer absolutely loves it. My migraines are enough under control that I felt like I could volunteer to go for a day. I'm glad I could! It was a lot of fun to see what they do. We actually got to come home an hour early on the day I went because it was so hot (over 100 degrees) and smoky (from forest fires) outside. A few of the stations the boys did while I was there were teamwork games, a dragon fly knot-tieing craft, duck tape boats, and bbguns. The guns were definitely Spencer's favorite.

I took Mason to a park one morning while Spencer was at camp. He had fun, but it got hot.

Napping:

I took the boys to Big Truck Day one super hot Saturday. We would have stayed longer if it hadn't been so hot, but Mason still loved it.

We took a day-trip to Neskowin one day. It turned out to only be about 60 degrees so we ate our picnic lunch in the car before spending a few hours playing in the sand. It was cool, but at least it wasn't windy.

Spencer took two one-week sessions of swimming lessons this summer. He spent the first week remembering everything he learned last summer and then made a bit of progress the second week. I was very tempted to sign him up for another session, but reminded myself that last summer was too busy and that he needed more down time.

Mason was much easier to handle this year. He liked to play on the bleachers, eat a snack, and watch a show on my phone for a few minutes every day.

We had homemade fudgesicles for our FHE treat one night. I love these chocolate monster pictures of Mason!