July has been a nonstop series of fun things. Xander got home from camp on July 3 and so we ended up having a pretty low-key 4th of July. It was a rainy day and so we spent the day playing games and hanging out, then we had a pizza and movie night and the kids were in bed early. Sometimes in the midst of an insane calendar, you have to pace yourself, even if it is a holiday.
Our second week of July was spent at YMCA Camp Northern Lights for family camp. This is my FAVORITE week of every summer. We were unpacked and on the beach in record time this year (I think it was less than 30 minutes from when we pulled in to when the boys were in the water).
Water trampoline, kayaking, paddle boarding, staying up late, all camp soccer, art barn, age group time every day from 9-12, s’mores, family board games, ice cream at the camp store… we were busy but also relaxed.
Not my best planning ever, but when family camp ended, we had one day at home before leaving for Door County. The boys spent the day with Grandma Debbie at Como Town. I am so grateful for my mother- I literally don’t know what I would do without her. I was very relieved to have a quiet, uninterrupted day to unpack, re-pack, clean, and prepare. It was a quick turnover, but the next day we were off to Door County, WI.
The Door Co Triathlon has been on my vision board for a few years now and I finally signed up and was ready this year. .25 mile swim, 18 mile bike, 3 mile run. I didn’t have nearly enough time to train and had never actually biked 18 miles going into it. But I told the boys that I was going to do my best and show up and do the hard thing and that’s the important thing. I think sometimes society puts too much value on winning and being the best. I like to succeed and I would love to win a triathlon. But what happens when that’s not the case? Does the person who comes in last place deserve as much celebration as the winner? I think so.
I want our boys to understand that showing up and doing your best IS the win. I went into the race not knowing if I would be able to even finish (18 miles seemed like one million). I completed the swim in 8 minutes, the bike in one hour and 30 minutes, and the GRUELING run (by that time I was exhausted and it was also about 90 degrees outside) in 40. Not the winner, but not the last either and truly, I felt like a gold medalist. I was really proud of myself.
After the tri, we spent 3 more days relaxing and having fun. Regardless of what we did, the boys just wanted to wrestle with Nate and I in the hotel pool. That is their favorite activity in the world. So we spent a lot of time tossing little boys in the air. We also went to the beach, picked cherries, tasted artisan cheese, went to a distillery to taste local bourbon, did some shopping, ate lots of ice cream, relaxed with drinks, and ate amazing food.
We got home from Wisconsin and had a few quiet days at home, and then we had a weekend of neighbor fun. On Friday night we went to roller disco in the park, which is a free event in downtown St. Paul. It was hot and roller skating is way harder than I remember from childhood. Augustus was NOT having it. But I had a blast. After that, we went out to dinner with the whole crew and found a new pizza place that was completely dead (shout out to downtown St. Paul for living up to its reputation for being empty on the weekend). We had amazing food and drinks and let the kids stay up way too late.
The next day was the annual Zach Floyd Memorial Bags Tournament (he’s not dead, but no longer lives on our block. He made a very nice motivational video that we all watched to kick off the day). The kids alternated between sprinkler trampoline, playing bags and wandering around to different yards to hang out. Several people have compared our neighborhood to living on campus at a college. There’s always something going on, always someone to hang out with, and you can just sort of wander from group to group, yard to yard for the whole day.
The tournament started at 10:30 and continued with a potluck/BBQ lunch. Around 5:30, Nate and I brought the kids home to eat dinner, relax for a while and change into PJs, because at 7:30, we dropped them at Kelly and Silas’ house (which is across the street from Sean and Rachel’s house), so that they could watch Harry Potter with Sam and Abby, while all of the adults participated in a different games tournament that Sean had invented. We started with the lime toss (stand in one backyard and see how far you can toss half of a lime), followed by horse (the basketball version), ping pong, and more bags. By about 10:30 when we went to retrieve the children, I was EXHAUSTED.
In no particular order- July was also busy with baseball and soccer ending, lots of swimming and a trip to the batting cage to practice hitting.
We had a neighborhood tie dye party to prepare for Camp Juliet (last year we tie dyed shirts at camp, but everyone wanted to be able to wear them while at camp, so we dyed shirts a few days before camp). The kids decided to have a “kid carwash” and wash out cars. Last time they did that game, they used handsoap out of my bathroom and just dribbled it all over my van. But this time around, they had the hose, rags, and actually scrubbed my van. As payment, we all walked to the ice cream shop for treats.
Xander and I took my mom to see the musical Six at the Ordway. It was a spectacular show! The boys went to football camp and got to spend a day at the Vikings training camp. Melissa, Kelly and I went out to lunch at WA Frost for a decadent “ladies who lunch” kinda day. Gussie posed in front of “his sunflower” (at the school plant sale, the kindergarteners sold milk cartons with Mexican sunflower sprouts. Melissa bought one and grew it in our alley!).
It was a very busy July.