Stand Up Paddle Board Camp

The week after Jr. Lifeguards, Parker had stand up paddle-board camp! He was so stoked! It was great because he already knew the instructors really well and I knew where to go... There were 3 times as many kids signed up that week so Parker had a ton more friends to get to know! 

Jack, always smiling! He's such a happy boy!

You may disagree due to the amount of pictures I put up here but I'm finding it so much harder to snap pictures when I have all 3 kids at the same time! I don't have enough hands! But I do my best....

We were still dealing with June Gloom this week so my big plans to let Rayleigh play on the beach and take her swimming were foiled... but Tanner DID fix my wobbly wheels and I was able to take the babies on a walk around the Back Bay.

June 15th was Jack's 2 month birthday! This sweet boy is the light of our lives and is so full of sunshine. He's everything I never knew I wanted and needed. And now that we are supplementing with formula he's getting a full tummy, sleeping 8-9 hours at night, and growing bigger and bigger each passing day!

Monday, after SUP camp, Tanner took Parker to an Angel's game and I got both babies bathed and in bed on my own. It was seriously not a big deal. But our usual routine is me taking a shower at night and Tanner handing Jack to me near the end and I get him all washed. It's a team effort, basically. But this night I gave him a bath, which he loved. And he looked so cute all bundled up afterward!

Seriously, this kid is so joyful!

So, the drive back and forth from Eastvale to Newport basically sucks. We have to be to camp by 9am and so are pretty much catching the tail end of morning traffic. Then camp ends at 3pm and we are hitting afternoon traffic big time each day. So, Tuesday we were able to spend the night at my Mom's. We do OK in the car but it's a little cramped, I have to fill up every other day (which is about $50) and Rayleigh is a big time screamer which, as you can imagine, is annoying. Jack is SOOOOO perfect in the car but there are those moments when he needs a bottle or a burp and my heart (or arm) breaks trying to fix it for him.

I stayed a while one day to watch Parker in action. He's a natural up on that board and loved having me there to see him! He showed me off to his friends which totally made my day. It's good to know he's still proud of his old ma! I took this picture of all the kids eating their snack. They had a lesson on healthy eating and each brought something to share. Parker brought popcorn. :-)

Jackie long legs.

This kids has the stoke for sure! Such a stud!

 If he looks like he's far back on his board, he is. They were teaching the kids how to do a fast turn used in more turbulent water. You had to get the nose of the board up out of the water and Parker was able to pick up this skill immediately!

Scott was Parker's favorite instructor. He was so rad!

On Tuesday we met Jon over at his pool and since the June Gloom was clearing up I decided that Thursday morning I'd take Rayleigh over for a dip in the resort pool again. Well, it ended up being a day that will go down in history.

She was acting "done" with swimming. She was trying to play with the other kids' toys and not getting into the pool so I took her hand (Jack was in my other arm) and and tried to lead her back over to the stroller (at the opposite side of the pool) so we could get changed and go to my Mom's. Well she was not having any of that. She threw herself down and kicked and screamed and I tried my best to reason with her but we were soooo beyond that. So I dragged her slippery, wet body over to the stroller only to realize that she had POOPED in her swimming suit! Gross!!!! So I had to man handle her flailing body and get her cleaned off. Meanwhile, Jack is screaming because he was hungry and I had to put him down. Rayleigh is rolling all over the disgusting ground getting poop smeared everywhere. I ran out of wipes and had to use hand sanitizing wipes. I'm sweating. Trying not to yell. Trying not to cry. She is hysterical. She kicked the hat off my head. She was too tired and poor thing is wanting to be potty trained so badly. No wonder she pooped as soon as her diaper was off. I resorted to bridery. "Wanna play a game on mommy's phone?" and did the best I could to clean her up and wipe up all the poop everywhere and high tail it out of there. Which is not easy to do with a monster double stroller (Jack still crying) and a heavy pool gate that is trying to close on me. Thanks for all the help NO ONE. I called Tanner on my way home to let him know that it's not that I don't LOVE to see him when he gets home. It's not that I don't WANT to throw my arms around him and give him a great big kiss with a huge grin on my face. It's the I'm in survival mode. At the end of the day I'm physically, emotionally, and mentally drained and I need back up. When that back up arrives it takes a full belly, sleeping kids, and a shower for me to feel human again and take the time to actually look him in the eye. I feel guilty and strained but so fulfilled and happy at the same time. Anyhoo, as I was explaining this to him with my arm wrapped around the seat trying to blindly feed Jack a bottle while driving down the 405 he says, "Ok honey but I've got to go. I've got a lot going on." And so, life is what it is. All you can do is laugh!

I was able to have a little play date with Robyn and Lisa came over too. It was fun to catch up with them and get advice from the best moms I know. They are both the wives of busy, successful, working men and who are now Bishop's on top of it all. I hope I can be a fraction of the women they are some day. And I'm so thankful for their perfect examples. And willingness to still hang out with me. ;-)

My parents were at the temple on Thursday so I took advantage of the quiet house while Rayleigh was asleep and snuggled my baby Jack.

We made it to Friday! Yay!!! We were NOT gonna get stuck in 3 hours of traffic again so we spent the night at my parent's house! My Mom came with me to pick up Parker and when he saw her he dropped everything and ran so fast to her! So sweet, he loves her so much. Friday was a super fun day because they put a blow up water obstacle course on the water with climbing walls and a trampoline! Parker put his zinc on to look ready for action and boy did he have a blast!

I'm so glad Parker was able to have 2 full weeks of fun in the sun (and water). He learned SO much and had such a great time! Parker is brave and mature and so fun loving. His instructors loved him and gave him praise each day for being such a good kid. I loved being able to watch him and it was awesome seeing my parents each day and spending some extra time with my siblings. We live just close enough to them that we can see them frequently! Now we just have to work on saving up for that beach house. ;-)