First Week of Junior Lifeguards

It's my favorite time of year! 2 weeks of Summer fun with Junior Lifeguards! Parker won a free week last year and I had a Groupon for an additional week so Parker is doing 2 full weeks for less than $130! 9am to 3pm! He is loving it and the babies and I have had a blast playing around Newport and Laguna.

The first day of Junior Lifeguards I tried to stay at the Back Bay and play. We ran all over the playground, played in the sand and the water, and went for a nice long walk all around the bay. But by lunch time they were tired and hungry and wanted to go to Nanny and Bebo's house. It's nice to have a place to go when the kids just need to be contained and I need to rest.

It's a big group this year! Tons of kids! One day Parker forgot his shoes as they were walking back to the pick up spot at the end of the day and as his punishment he had to sing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" 5 times in front of everyone. He said he was humiliated because everyone was laughing at him. I was angry at first because Parker is such a good sport and the poor thing was crying. But then I realized this was exactly the kind of tough love he needs to shape up. And you'd better believe he wont be forgetting his shoes again!

ALL 3 kids fell asleep in the car on the way home! Parker was so excited for the first day of Junior Lifeguards that he woke up at 5:45am to get all ready. Sheesh...

The next day I dropped off Parker, then stopped at my Mom's for a little potty break before taking the babies to We Play Loud. My Mom had invited Kaela, Kimmi, and Jessi over for a little slumber party and the girls were just leaving as I got there. They looked so cute and were so sweet! They helped me get the babies back into the car after our quick visit. They are such good helpers!!!

Rayleigh LOVED playing and I hardly had to watch her- which is a turning point for me. But Jack was soooooo tired. He kept wanting to sit down in the cafe and asked for nuggets. I had packed our lunch and was planning on going to my parents after our play session was over to have a picnic lunch in the backyard. But we ended up leaving a little early because they were both hungry and tired. They had fun though!!!

Soooooo tired.

They had a little rest after lunch/before we left to get Parker.

They also watered the plants and had popsicles. My Mom was gone at a hair appointment... But this kind of backyard fun is what summer dreams are made of!

Wednesday, my mom had a free day and graciously agreed to hang out with me. We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and basically had the place to ourselves. We ate our picnic lunch there and I treated my mom to the salad bar. They were so tired after playing/eating but I had to grab a few things from the store so my Mom sat in the car with them while I quickly ran inside. I was so fast but the checkout was sooooo slow! I felt so bad!!! And then we ran to Hobby Lobby to pick up that newly framed art but the kids didn't want to sit in the car again. We figured we'd be in and out in 10 minutes so we just let them walk but it took forever for someone to help us. So frustrating. I don't know that I would have been able to do anything without my mom! We were both trashed after that busy morning. When I dropped off my mom at her house before leaving to pick up Parker in Newport, my brother was there (he'd been there hanging out for some reason for like 3 hours and still stayed another 3 hours after I left... I felt so bad for my tired mom). But my kids were so tired and not being very good and Jon (bless his heart) kept trying to step in and discipline and stuff. But my kids were just tired and not going to get any better. Honestly, it was a little hurtful that he wouldn't just leave them alone or at the very least, just show love to them instead of trying to "parent". I know I'm hormonal but it kinda hurt my feelings. I had Bunco that night and it's always nice to get together with my girlfriends. It's a great refresher, even though we stay out way too late talking!

Running to Chuck E! She loves him. They did a little dance and then he thew a bunch of free tickets on the floor and walked away. The kids could care less about the tickets but for some reason I felt obligated to pick them all up. It was like some kind of sick joke....

Ski ball rebel.... We burned through those 50 tokens pretty quickly!

After lunch, they jumped up on stage to play with robot Chuck E. Rayleigh looked up at him and grabbed his hand and said, "Thank you very much!!!"

As you can imagine, by Thursday morning I was beat. I had no plan for the day and was hoping I could some how just relax at the beach. When I came downstairs after rushing to get ready on time, I found this mess on the couch and just started to cry. It was too much. I just couldn't even....

It take a lot of effort to get to Junior Lifeguards on time and be all prepared and ready for a day away from home. We have to have plenty of food packed, water, sunblock, bathing suits and changes of clothes, and it takes about an hour to get there in the morning and way too long to get home in the afternoon. So we have to make sure we have music, DVDs, and whatever else to make the drive less stressful. But I'm happy to do it and it's all worth it! It makes a world of difference being prepared.

This was a shot of the whole group on Thursday before the walked to the other side of the bay. Parker is having a total blast!!!! He is doing so well Stand up Paddle-boarding and has even won first place in some contests!

My parents were working all day in the temple and expecting Carole, Sari, and the twins to arrive sometime that afternoon and I KNEW they didn't want me coming over and messing up the freshly cleaned house. So my plan was so stay at the beach but literally 3 bus loads of tweens showed up and I just had to get out of there!

We plopped ourselves down in the backyard and had a picnic in the shade and then I listened to my book while the kids played. They ran in the Nemo sprinkler, watered the plants, and eventually rested with a phone/DVD. It was nice. We spent almost the entire time outside and it was amazing. I was sooooooo tired. It was nice to just sit and relax.

This is what happens every time I try to clean the sliding glass door. I tired to leave no trace that we were there so it would look perfect when everyone arrived.

Traffic on the way home was horrific. I had to have Tanner give me a pep talk. I just needed some encouragement. The kids were great and in fact, Rayleigh and Jack have been sleeping on the way home which is so nice and super good for them. But it was crazy!

Parker had a pack meeting that night and was supposed to move up from a bear to a webelo. Remember when I said he was having a hard time being obedient? Well not really that but it's almost that he is missing the correlation between acts and consequences. He had 3 minor requirements to fulfill before he could move up and every time we asked him to sit down and get it done, he would slack off. So, when Tanner took him to pack meeting I said, "Make sure they say that Parker SHOULD be moving up but that he didn't get all of his requirements done and would have to wait." Well, they didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal and just let him move up anyway. Dang, What a waste of a perfectly  good learning opportunity! Ugh.

On Friday I wanted to give my Dad his Father's Day gift since we wont' be getting together with everyone at the park on Sunday. No one had formed a plan and so I had invited my parents and Carole and Sari and the babies over to our house for dinner. But then Cami made a park plan. It's going to be so hot on Sunday though! And that's no exactly how Tanner wants to spend his Father's Day. Anyoo, I found a ridgeway cap that is almost identical to the one he wore in the Army and tragically lost one 4th of July on the ski life in Sundance. It's a size XXL so it's way too big.... but it's the thought that counts, right?!? I also wrote him a card. When I was deciding what to write, I happened upon my patriarchal blessing which talks about how I have been born to goodly parents, even as Nephi of old. How cool to have the knowledge that you are a stellar parent because it says so right in your daughters blessing!? Winning! It goes on for a whole paragraph talking about how awesome my parents are and how I should do all I can to honor them, I just had to share that with him in case he had any concerns about what a phenomenal father he is.

Carole loves to walk and Sari's babies woke up from their nap so we decided to take a little jaunt over to the park. Only problem was that it was like 100 degrees outside and we all came back soaking wet and exhausted. My poor mother can't be out in the sun- I felt so badly. Rayleigh and Jack tried to keep up with Bebo running around the park. It's like the next generation of Steve's park workout clan!

After sweltering at the park, I took the babies and ran over to the Braithwaite's to give my sweet Abby a graduation card. I can't believe the time has come for her to fly the nest. 15 years ago exactly I was the one leaving for college in Rexburg and on the day I was to leave, she came over with Lisa and Emily and I held her and she cried on my shoulder and said, "I want to go with Channie!" I looked up at Lisa and she was crying which made ME cry. It was a sob fest. Out of everyone, I knew I'd miss my "baby" the most. I took a framed picture of her and put it by my bed. I have loved watching her grow up into a beautiful young woman and am so proud of her. Today she told me she was so thankful for my love and example- that she has always looked up to  me. But little does she know that SHE was the one refining ME. Love you Abby Baby!

Lisa took pity on us and let us stay and swim for a little while even though she had to run some errands. The babies loved the pool and honestly I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't have cooled off. I was dying. It was fun to see Cali too! My poor little puppy is getting so old! Bob and Lisa sold their house and are moving to San Clemente! It's going to be so sad not seeing them when we visit church or hang out in Laguna Hills! Oh well, I guess we'll have to visit them in their new beautiful ocean view home.

We had a little time to kill before Parker got out of Junior Lifeguards so we played on the beach for a little bit...

We once again had the most horrific traffic coming home. Took us a solid 2 hours. Thankfully, everyone was ok and it wasn't too stressful. But what a waste of life!

When we got home, we all jumped in the pool and Tanner surprised us and jumped in too! It felt like he was home early but it was like 6pm.. ha ha But we didn't get home until 5 because of traffic so it felt early!

Basically this week was exhausting for everyone. The babies have been going to bed so much better at night but then waking up at the same time around 6:30 every morning. Rayleigh sleeps almost the entire way home from Newport which means she's been way better behaved. Jack will sleep for about 20 minutes when he really could use a 2-3 hour long nap so he's been a completely different person in a bad way.... On Saturday. Rayleigh was super tired and really needing a nap. After leaving her in the high chair for a few minutes to eat and watch a show, she was OUT. Not Jack though......

We spent ALL day Saturday cleaning and organizing. I worked too hard and was having major braxton hicks contractions all day. It was weird. But things needed to get done! At one point I turned around to see Rayleigh with her finger in the flour jar. She thought it was sugar. Jokes on her! ha ha

It's fun being out and about all week but then there's major catch up work on the weekend. I wanted to get it all done on Saturday so we could all relax and enjoy Father's Day on Sunday! And we DID!