July started out with the girls finding a dead grasshopper, naming it (excuse me, HER) Greenie. And then proceeded to bury it. Her. Complete with rock circle grave. May she rest in peace.
We got out to the aquatic center, just the girls and me, while Austin and Dad spent some quality time together. It was my first time bringing both girls by myself. While I’m comfortable in the water and can swim to save my life, I’ve always had a fear of my kids in the water. I don’t know what it is about that and why I feel like that, but I’ve always been overly cautious around water.
There’s a huge water slide that Olivia has been wanting to go on for years now, and I finally let her go, never taking my eyes off her while she stood in line tens of feet above the park, and watching until she flew out the bottom and was back by Emelia and me.
Ok so I wasn’t totally relaxed and enjoying myself trying to keep my sights on both of them while they wanted to keep going in opposite directions and there were a few hundred people there. But I’m glad we did it and I got over that worry about taking them both alone to a water park.
Otherwise, we were at home, doing all sorts of shenanigans.
Chris and I tried to steal some time with each other by hitting up coffee shops and sticking the girls at their own table with activities. They lasted five minutes. Here, you can see Olivia in action literally being So Done with this separation business.
I took my girl antiquing. We’ve been doing this since she was probably five, and she’s gotten so much better about not TOUCHING EVERYTHING IN THE STORE OMFG. Plus bonus points for going to Caribou for a treat and drink afterward. Olivia calls these outings “Mom and daughter days” and I’m here for it.
We got to the beach with some friends and Emelia practiced swinging on the “big girl” swing by herself.
Not pictured: The picnic and playground and quality time (sort of) with a friend who I don’t get to see as often as I want to.
Chris has been making homemade wood-fire pizzas on various Friday nights after he gets off work. I’m growing basil and margarita pizzas have never tasted so good. Olivia agrees. Austin is curious. Emelia doesn’t give a crap and eats peanut butter and jelly but you can’t win them all. I think Emelia is the only kid in existence to dislike pizza. I don’t even think she’s really my daughter.
Olivia’s karate school was invited to take part in a nearby city parade. It was going to be hot that day, and I stayed back with Austin and met up with them when the parade was over. Chris and Emelia walked alongside the parade route and met Olivia at the end.
They watched the rest of the parade and then Olivia and her class did a demo on the stage afterward. I had the baby in the carrier but ended up leaving with him soon after. It was FREAKING hot. But the girls stayed back and did a few bounce houses.
We did story time on a historic farm. Another place I used to bring Olivia when she was really little. True to form, Olivia sat with other kids near the front and Emelia hung back with us, no desire to listen to the story.
When they were done with the story, we got to do some exploring. Olivia made some fresh squeezed lemonade and got to drink it.
They got to feed some goats, and see the chickens and cows. Austin was pretty good in his carrier. For the most part, he slept unless I needed to nurse him. It’s getting slightly easier to nurse him in public now that he’s getting the hang of nursing, but it’s still pretty tough.
There’s not really a point to this photo below except to tell you Olivia loves drinking coffee and loves it when I give her the last bit when I’m finished.
One morning, we explored a new park that I never knew was there. It had these intensely long steep slides that Emelia was giving me a heart attack on, because she always would look like she was about to do a somersault before going down.
But they had this really cool climbing wall that they loved. I had the baby in the stroller sleeping, so I explored other areas and found up above the park this place with tables overlooking the Mississippi. It was beautiful. I told Chris we needed to return on a date and hang out here since they also had a small ice cream business in the building.
Afterward, I talked Chris into lunch at a bar and grill on their patio overlooking the pond. Luckily, the baby slept in his car seat at our feet.
We went on a family walk and Olivia practiced her big sister skills and walked the baby home with me.
Chris and I celebrated our 15-year anniversary at a steakhouse (the last time we had been here was for this 40th because it’s one of those places we go to when it’s a special occasion yikes), and the food was incredible. Mexican street corn (with chips to dip), balsamic glazed Brussels sprouts, fries with three different dipping sauces, bread with different butter and oils, and then we split a steak.
And got their 12-layer chocolate cake to take home. Pictured below: The other cake we got for free that we ate at the restaurant because it was a celebration.
I spent some days working at Sky Zone trampoline park with a sleeping baby and two girls who loved racing and bouncing around to their hearts’ content. We got a summer membership because there have been so many days where the wildfire smoke is too much to let us be outside.
And then there were the days spent at home, all of us under one roof.
I admit, this summer has been interesting. A lot of our activities we wanted to do outside were canceled because of the wildfire smoke from the Canadian forests, which put a damper on things. The air quality was so bad some days (sometimes for days at a time) that we were stuck inside or had to go somewhere indoors to hang out.
At the end of July, Olivia and I met my parents, sisters, and my sister’s kids in Stillwater for our annual picnic. We walked around by the water and got ice cream and then went antiquing for several hours before ending the day at a restaurant for dinner. I was really proud of her for making it all day with us. She’s really at a fun age where I enjoy doing these things with her.
And Olivia loved hanging with her cousins before they all left. (She felt special because she was the only kid to get to continue on going to the antique shops).
And finally, ending this post with a photo of the baby, looking adorable as always.
