Five Days of just US

 When we realized that 4th-6th graders go to camp the same week, John and I looked at each other without saying a word. What are the odds that we could get all four of our kids to summer camp the same exact week? 

What would that mean for us?😳

 A house to ourselves, for 5 whole days?! 

We have not even had a night alone in our home since Evelyn was born 11 years ago, so the idea that this could actually become reality was surreal. 

Evelyn was already excited abut it; she had been away for a few nights before and she always loved the experience. 

The boys, not so much.

 At first they adamantly rejected the idea. 

John and I shrugged. "Ok," we replied, trying not to act too eager. 

But we had a plan. 

A week later on a rainy Saturday afternoon, we drove up to the camp, which was about an hour away in the mountains. "We will just tour it," we explained, "for Evelyn's sake, since she's going."

The camp sold itself. 

By the end, all three boys were begging to go and counting down the days until their departure. John and I gave a secret high five... yet we still didn't want to discuss it too much for fear of jinxing something. 

When the day before their departure arrived, I packed three suitcases, showing each of boys the boys their zip lock bag with their name which contained soap, shampoo and a toothbrush. I also explained that they had to figure out some way to separate their dirty worn clothes from the clean ones. And wear sunblock.  Evelyn takes care of her own packing, although she seemed more apprehensive than the boys. 

She had just gotten her new invisiliners for her teeth, and they were causing her pain and stress. Bad timing.

When Monday morning came, we loaded up the bags and drove to the camp, depositing our children quickly and efficiently. And as we drove away in our quiet car, the realness of the situation set in. 

Excited for camp!

A whole week of staycation. 

Good bye children. See you in 5 days!

I felt the thrill of going where I wanted to go, when I wanted to go, without having to rush home or pick someone up. I didn't realize just how very tired I was until this week. A break from constant messes mediating arguments really put my whole spirit at ease. 

 "Look, the vacuum lines in the carpet are still there," commented John in amazement after a few days of living in the house. 

Eating was easy.

 Going to bed was easy. 

Waking up was easy. 

Everything was easy! 

John and I had such a fun week. We did a little of everything: some deep cleaning, organizing, purging; we saw a movie at a movie theatre (first time in 10 years); we went downtown to sushi. 

We swam at night at our gym's pool and sat in the hot tub. 

We went to a happy hour at 4:00 at a fancy wine bar. 

Took a wine crash nap at 5:00 and watched TV in the early evening. 

We took late night walks, went on a long run, and hung curtains.

And we sat and talked to each other without getting interrupted. 

It was all so magical; but what made it magical was that it was a break.

 I certainly would not want this life forever, and five days was the perfect amount of time. It rejuvenated me and it gave me assurance that someday when our kids do leave, John and I are going to be ok. 

We will be more than ok. 

US

It also made us want to prioritize date nights, especially now that we don't have to hire a sitter. 

My partner for life

 It gave me/us a new appreciation for our marriage and our life together.

 It's a good life indeed. 

Oh, and Lucy totally thinks she is our child now, (although I do wonder if she is a little bored and misses her four puppies ;) 

Lucy fur baby got all the spoils

The Dog Days of Summer

 

I just looked out the window and a swarm of boys ran through my yard and down the street like bees to a honeycomb. 

Boyhood in the summer is grimy and feral, and the pack of boys that traverse the neighborhood in the heat of the day is constantly flushed faced and sticky. 

 

When they descend upon my house, I start surrendering the food (and my serenity) for the cause of fellowship and summer memories. 

They're hardly any sacred spaces. I close my bedroom door and that's about it. Even my office has been turned into a messy den of unfinished art projects. 

But if I'm truly honest,  I want them in my home. 

I know this season is fleeting, and I will look back in the years to come  and relish those stray nerf bullets and boyhood battle cries. 

Evelyn, on the other hand, is busy babysitting, pet sitting and plant sitting in the neighborhood. 

Her business, Bumble Bee Sitting, has proven to be a great success this summer. She and her friend Katelyn have gleaned a lot of jobs this summer. Evelyn especially enjoys babysitting for a family down the street. She designs lesson plans and thrives on making sure the kids are having a great time. 

During her cat sitting job, she left a detailed, hand written account of all the cat activity that went on during the week. 

All of their customers have been very pleased. I am so proud of her ambition. One of the great things about our neighborhood during the summer  is "Wine Wednesdays."

Our kids anticipate them even more than we do. They usually leave at 5:58 (it officially starts at 6) and arrive at the destination before we do. The other day I got several alerts on my phone from the business QR code she developed and passes out at Wine Wednesdays. She does all her marketing for Bumble Bee Sitting at these events. Once a person scans the QR code, their information is collected and she can reach out to follow up with them.  

Wine Wednesday brings people out together, even in 90 degree heat!

Between Evelyn's jobs around the neighborhood and the herd of boys roaming around, it has been very difficult keeping track of everyone and rounding them up when we have somewhere we need to go or eat a meal together. 

Many of the parents have gotten their kids Gizmo watches, a tracking/communication device tailored especially for kids on the go. Basically they are electric leashes that give peace of mind and a way to bring them home.

I don't know how I feel about them yet; with all technology there are always the good and the bad. 

The first day they had them Caleb sent 58 out going calls. 😑

One afternoon I had to drive the kids to the doctors to get their shots. They needed a Dtap booster and a finger prick. Evelyn needed a meningitis vaccination as well. There was suddenly a mass panic as the nurse brought in the needles. The exception was Evelyn, who bravely rolled up her sleeve and got the two shots. However, immediately afterward she started to pass out. The nurses rushed about; and Levi just about passed out when he saw her pass out because he knew his time was next. 

The doctor laid her on the table and gave her water in a "Urine Specimen" cup.  James collapsed in an emotional tailspin on my lap, sobbing that he "couldn't do it." 

Then there was Caleb who valiantly stepped forward proclaimed that he would in fact take the first shot for the boys. When it was all said and done, he skipped out and announced that it wasn't that bad; however, he mentioned in passing on his way out to Levi "the needle looked big." Upon hearing that, Levi immediately jumped up and dashed out of the room. The nurse was patient and kind, and with a little (a lot) of coaxing, everyone was done and our noisy circus paraded out of the office and down the hall, sucking happily on lollipops. 

Some sore arms and tears don't stop these kids for very long. One hot Saturday we needed to get out of the house into water. I researched a waterfall about an hour away from our house, Dougan Falls, and we spent the afternoon playing in paradise. It is truly a little slice of heaven, and one of my very favorite things about where we live is that we have access to so many waterfalls. 

An afternoon in the waterfalls

Fishing in the river behind our house has been a daily afternoon activity. Specifically Caleb and James just can't get enough of it. We tried baiting the hooks with hot dogs, but the only outcome from it was that Lucy snatched it out of the bag when no one was looking. 

Someone suggested we pick the salmon berries that line the bushes near the river. 

But most people swear by good old fashioned worms. 

I bought the boys salmon eggs at the store and we had a bit of luck with them. 

Caleb cast his pole into the river the other day. Crying, we took off his shoes, readying himself to jump in to save it. Luckily, Dad saved the day by devising a contraption built from a pole and a bent metal hanger and he was able to fish it out. 

The Dog Days of Summer

The Start of Summer: Oklahoma and the 4th!

 The first week of summer always hits me like a ton of bricks. My organized, scheduled life is suddenly turned upside down with the noise and activity of four kids at home all day long (not to mention the various neighborhood children coming and going as well...) 😁 The food consumption alone is enough to drive me crazy, and I usually have a few mental breakdowns before I acknowledge, accept and adopt to this change of energy constantly swirling around me.  

Even Lucy has to get used to the increase of chaos. 

The summer started out with the boys buying ghillie suits. I'm not sure where or when this idea began, but they became obsessed with them, giddily running around the neighborhood, hiding in bushes and scaring their sister. (I warned them about exhibiting common decency when it comes to ladies walking on the sidewalks)

 I was very amused by their antics, although the things shed like crazy, turning every square inch of floor space into a forest carpet.

Honestly, I'd be creeped out if I saw them in the bushes. 😮

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We ushered in the longest day of the year at the Timbers game. I took the kids with a friend on the Max train downtown and experienced the excitement of a professional soccer game in Portland for the first time.

 It was rowdy, but extremely fun. Everytime the Timbers scored a goal, Joe the lumberjack cut a piece of a log off with his chain saw (which I find so ironic, considering Portland is all about saving trees and prides itself with being a "green city.) Nevertheless, the kids scored a piece of the sawed tree after the game when they ran down to field to meet Joe. They felt like the luckiest kids around!

The boys have spent their summer days running around the neighborhood. Evelyn however, has been a working woman. She and her friend Katelyn created a business, Bumble Bee sitting. They made business cards (with a QR code) advertising all types of sitting needs during this vacation. They have gotten quite some business, including fish feeding, plant watering, cat sitting and even some babysitting! She and Katelyn took a two day babystitting class at the YMCA and are now officially certified. I told her she probably knows how to take care of kids better than I do! She has her own planner, where she writes down everyone's information and instructions. She walks from house to house, doing her jobs and collecting her money. She is making quite a bit! 

Miss Independent has also gotten a bit more freedom this summer. The city has finally connected a park path trail that allows our neighborhood to travel easily to most of the town without crossing traffic. This path goes right to our town library and many shops. Evelyn has begged to be allowed to ride her bike with her friend to various places this summer, one being the library to print out her business cards and to Micheals craft store to buy some materials. John and I decided to allow her this privilege  and I have to say, it makes life a lot easier with one less human to drive around, and she is happy with this new found freedom. It's hard to believe that we are at this point when I feel ok about allowing her to traipse around town unaccompanied by me; but I think this is what parenting is about: letting the leash out a little bit more each year, and it feels normal and natural as they grow and mature. This is what probably makes their transition to college ok. 😌

What really launched us into summer was our trip to Oklahoma. This trip was a family reunion of sorts, a highly anticipated trip planned with the Patton family since Thanksgiving. 

We left at 3 am on a Tuesday, flying up to Seattle with my in laws, Ronnie and Nancy, meeting up with John's brother and sis in law, Melissa and my two nieces. Then, the 12 of us flew into Oklahoma City and launched right into visiting extended family. 

We rented a nice home in a great Oklahoma City neighborhood. I actually grew to like the area in my 6 days there. Many of the mornings I went for walks before the heat of the day, and everyone I passed was extremely friendly. 

The first day we were there we drove about 2.5 hours to the countryside and farmland area. On the way, we passed many abandoned, broken down farm homes. James especially was fascinated by them. And when we arrived at our destination of an abandoned farmhouse, we realized this one had someone who knew the entire story of what is once was. My father in law grew up in this home with his parents. He walked us around the property, telling us stories and history of what it once was. The showed up the fruit trees his Dad planted; the shed he helped build; the rusted farm equipment that plowed the fields in the hot Oklahoma sun. It was quite fascinating to see this living family history. 

The Patton Homestead

The chicken coop and rusty farm equipment

My father in law Ronnie sharing his history 

We then drove a little further down the road to a cemetery where his parents were buried and many of the Patton relatives.

 We saw the little dusty towns, blown away for tornados in the past, rebuilt, yet still barren. Walking in cemeteries always makes me reflective of the brevity of life. People come and people go. Families live and then they live on through future generations...but are entirely lost if not remembered. And that is what I appreciated so much about hearing this family history.

When you marry into a family, it becomes your family, and your history. 

We met so many strangers, who were our family. And even though it was a bit awkward at first, by the end, there was the budding of a  relationship.

The Patton clan

We met and visited a lot of family.

However, we also experienced Oklahoma. 

Rumor has it that Oklahoma watermelon is the best there is. 

We drove through the Wichita Mountains where convicts and cowboys used to roam. 

And had dinner at the number 4 hamburger spot in the United States, called Sids. The onions are grilled and smashed into the burgers, making them truly memorable. 

 

We tried to explore some of the cute little towns, but it was 🥵 HOT

There is a man made white water rapid training river in the downtown city area.
It  was really tempting to jump on in!

Downtown Oklahoma City had a great sculpture depicting the western land grab. FUN FACT: Those who raced ahead of the official starting call were called "Sooners." 

Our flight home was a later flight on Sunday night, so we had a hot day of waiting. Nothing says "wasting time" like burning through money at the local family fun center. 

With a tight connection in Dallas and a delayed flight, the pilot put the pedal to medal to get us there in time. The one hour flight was reduced to a mere 36 minutes. I have never dodged in and out of cumulous clouds so quickly in my life. It was quite a thrill ride. 

But we made it, and when we landed in Portland at 8:45 pm; the evening sky was still as bright as day. I love this time of year, and there is no better place to be than Oregon right now. The forests and warm days are magical.

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And 4th of July in our neighborhood is just the best. We've spent ten 4ths here now, and each one is a cherish memory of growing kids and warm community. 

This year, however, was the first year I realized that I didn't need to walk in the parade with the kids. My kids were no where to be seen.  While walking solo in the parade with  beads of sweat running down the back of my legs, I vowed that next year I would be a spectator and cheer them on instead. 

The neighborhood is alive with parties and fireworks. 

It is truly one of my favorite times of the year here. 

Now, Lets DO SUMMER!!!! :)