July Moments (2019)

Swimming lessons continued. Four days a week through the middle of July.

Thomas went in and stocked and checked his vending machine. James make the little advertisement cards that go inside the buttons.

We went to the Kinkaid Sand Dunes, like we do many times each summer. This particular time we only stayed a few minutes because the kids said they saw a black bear in the woods.

Chase was lookin’ cute at swimming as usual…

We had a record-setting heat wave during most of June and July in Anchorage. One of those gorgeous days we went to Goose Lake. It was so hot and Thomas was a nice brother and bought each of his siblings an ice cream from the ice cream truck. He used the money he’d been making from his vending machine. I thought it was so nice of him to spend his own money treating them.

We went to the Anchorage 4th of July parade on the park strip.

It was nice but everyone was too tired to function…

Except cute cousins Harper and Chase. I love seeing them holding hands being all cute.

The next day we also went to the Girdwood Forest Fair where it was ridiculously hot. We all managed to find some shade away from the crowds under the playground equipment.

On Fourth of July Sunday we tried to get some nice pictures of us all in our patriotic wear…

But sometimes you just get what you get…

We enjoyed plenty of playgrounds. Stuart’s favorite thing right now is ‘the underdog’.

We celebrated Kaiya’s birthday with a night out to Chucky Cheese and Gelate.

Thomas decided to try to expand his vending machine business by taking flyers around the mall. I made the flyers and he took them around.

Layla finally got a haircut once the heat started to dye down. Next year I need to schedule an appointment early in the year. We didn’t even recognize her when we went to pick her up.

Woohoo! Last day of swimming lessons for the summer! 

Kaiya ended up ‘ringing the bell’ or leveling up on the very last day of swimming five minutes before it ended.

We had many fun summer days at home with friends.

The kids built a fort at Oceanview park with new friends.

We finally were able to get the character building banners up at the school. I was so glad to get that done before the school year ended. I am very grateful to all the volunteers that helped out.

We attempted to go raspberry picking at Garcia’s Farm in Palmer. I say ‘attempted’ because there were so many mosquitos we couldn’t handle it.

Look at those beautiful golden raspberries Stuart got! We ended up leaving after about 10 minutes.

Thomas, being the outdoorsy boy he is was so disappointed we were leaving so soon. So we all went and hid in the car for 20 minutes while Thomas kept picking.

Then we went to the Amoosement Park in Palmer. We’ve never been there before and the kids loved it. It’s nice for little ones because it’s playground equipment is enclosed by fence.

We hiked the Palmer Hay Flats Trail. It was our first time on this trail.

It was a nice flat easy trail and we thought the three story outlook was pretty cool.

Afterwards we got to spend time at Mirror Lake with friends.

It was a nice relaxing day.

James and I have been ‘cracking down’ on our kids. We are trying to make them less entitled, more helpful, more kind, more responsible, you know perfect human beings. But with the extra criticism they’ve been receiving lately I was feeling like I needed a way to show them I was aware of their good behaviors too. So I put up a dry erase ‘Mom Noticed’ board in the kitchen. They seem to like it so far but it’s only been up a couple days.

We went to the library, and I had to snap a sweet pic of Kaiya choosing picture books to check out. I love her love of reading.

We went on our Eklutna bike ride adventure. A post about that here.

I’ve been collecting pieces of Stuart’s new bed off Craigslist all summer and we finally got the last piece. The kids love to watch the Mattress get unrolled and fill up with air.

And Stuart was beyond excited to get his big boy bed!

We hiked Thunderbird Falls again and the kids didn’t want their picture taken. I did get my annual tree picture though! More about that hike here.

Thomas made me a very proud mama by choosing to do the library summer reading program. The thing that made this such a big deal to me was that when we were at the library earlier in the summer he found out about the program, felt motivated to do it, and followed through. Reading isn’t his activity of choice so I loved to see him put his mind toward something and achieve his goal.  For completing it he got entered to win some grand prizes. Good job Thomas, I hope you keep perseverance up your whole life!

On the last day of the month we headed off to Oregon to visit family…

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