At the end of July, Olivia did a theater camp for the first time. For the week, I dropped her off in the morning and then worked at a nearby coffee shop until I picked her up at noon. She was so excited every day to go. They were doing Frog and Toad, and she played a mouse. She had a few lines and was SO excited to perform.
Her grandparents even came to watch her and it was so cute watching them perform. She said she definitely wanted to do it again.
A few days later, we were making the trip down to Iowa to visit Chris’s parents. We hadn’t been down there with Olivia since she was two and a half. It had just been the two of us every time we went down there since then, mainly because it was just so much easier to leave her (and then later, Emelia) with my parents. So it was Emelia’s and Austin’s first time. We now had a minivan, so there was so much more space for us, but oy. That trip took all day. We left a little after 9:00 am and when we hit St. Paul, just the start of our trip, Emelia sighs loudly from the middle seat as only toddlers can sigh and goes, “Are we der yet??” Two Target stops to nurse a baby and occupy kids, and a roadside potty break later, we arrived in Cedar Rapids at 5:00 pm. We had a Mexican dinner with his aunt before driving the rest of the way to his parents for the evening.
We put the girls in their own room and then Chris and I set up the bassinet next to our bed in his childhood room. The girls did really well in their room and Austin even was just up once, so I call it a win. The next morning, we left the girls with their grandparents out in the garden to harvest vegetables and Chris and I took the baby to a warehouse sale to buy some Iowa gear.
We went to the historic Sutliff Bridge, which was built in 1897. Chris’s parents talk about having to take their cars and school buses over the bridge when it was just two planks across the Cedar River. Chris’ dad said he used to drive the tractor over it. It was rebuilt after the 2008 flooding but still has the original top. It’s a pretty cool bridge, and the girls had fun walking over it and looking into the river.
We had them basically run laps around the park to get their energy out after the long car ride the day before.
Then we hung out around the house. Olivia and Emelia had so much fun helping pick vegetables from the garden (and eating them), and the baby was pretty chill through it all.
Of course, the last day was their highlight. We went to Pizza Ranch for lunch after spending the day shopping with Chris’ parents. That afternoon, we surprised the girls by taking them to a horse ranch. One of my aunt’s closest friends owns the stables, and the girls got to have a tour of the barn and brush one of the horses. If I remember right, this is Cherokee.
But then they were asked if they wanted to ride him and holy moly their eyes lit up. Olivia was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Emelia hung back, shy, and initially said no, she didn’t want to ride him.
But then she changed her mind and I’m so glad she did because she was SO proud of herself. She actually has this picture hung in her locker now.
Our trip home seemed to go a bit better than the trip there. I don’t think it was any quicker, but Emelia seemed to not be so restless.
The next week, I took Olivia to an outdoor vintage fair, where she got her face painted. We had lunch at Cafe Zupas and she got to have Hi-C in which she declared, “Mom, this is the BEST day ever!” (I think it was because she got to have Hi-C.)
A few days later, we got pedicures together. This has been a long time coming because I told her probably a year ago she needed to stop biting her toenails if she wanted to get a pedicure. She thought it was mind-blowing.
Especially when the woman painted the little flowers on her big toes.
On the 19th, we went to the Food Truck Festival (our second), but it was so. hot. It was so hot, we weren’t there very long, which was disappointing (because we couldn’t eat all the food, duh) and I was worried about the baby overheating. The girls got henna from my friend again, as Olivia did last year. Their favorite thing to eat was the shaved ice (big surprise). We had egg rolls, BBQ pulled pork mac n cheese (wow that was delicious), corn dog nuggets for the girls, and loaded tater tots.
Everything was so good, I just wish we could have tried more.
But alas the baby was all like I’m hot and tiny and I knew it was just going to be a short outing.
Chris and I went on a date the next evening. This hardly happens, so it’s being documented here as proof it actually happened. My parents took all three kids for the evening while we went out, and then we returned for the baby and the girls spent the night there.
We went to Crave and had it all. Drinks (I don’t even remember what I had—it may have been a watermelon sangria—but it was absolutely delicious), sushi (OMG amazing) and I had the best stir fry I’ve ever had. Seriously. I dream about it now.
Chris got chicken which was great too, but this stir fry? I can’t. It was so amazing.
Same with the dessert. S’mores brownie? Yes. That’s where it’s at.
Olivia got a haircut (she wanted “Harry Potter” hair, and I said, um… let’s try this first. We also got a new living furniture set, new coffee tables, end tables, and rug.
And Olivia continues to be in love with her baby brother.
This picture was taken pre-new carpet. The new ones is a lot lighter, and thicker and it looks so good. Also? That’s a lot of kids.
Olivia had started karate in November and progressed through her white belt stripes. She’s been really liking it.
At the end of August, we did our last outdoor concert of the year—a kids band. Olivia went up and danced her heart out and won a prize for best dancer. If that surprises you.
After, we went to the nearby library to hang out for a bit and I nursed the baby.
School is starting up again soon and while I’m happy (so very happy) for the girls to be back in structure, it was nice (mostly) to spend this summer as a family of five.
