Last Week of Summer Break

This is our last week "off track" before Rayleigh and Jack go back to school and we want to go out with a bang! We made a list of all the local adventures we wanted to embark on and hit the town! Monday was more of a chill day- catching up on chores and such. Parker had seminary and I enjoyed a nice Barre workout with Erika and Amanda. My plan was to have 45 minutes to myself each morning but somehow it turned into group fitness.... Parker also started his 2 college classes: Spanish and Astronomy and he's doing great so far! I'm really proud of him! Ella had school and Rayleigh had gymnastics. Even a "chill" day is full of excitement. I'm still trying my best to support Angel. She's still in a very dark place. My heart just breaks for her.

Tuesday was jam packed. After seminary, we headed to OC. Our first stop was at Defy where the kids jumped for an hour. Then we were all starving so we picked up some Krispy Kemes. The kids have been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese so I purchased an unlimited playing card for $25 and ran around swiping all the games for them for an hour. It was fun! But the kids were getting totally worn out. It wasn't even noon yet! Come on, guys! They scored 1,000 tickets so they each got a slinky and a tootsie roll. Parker helped them each win a ball at the claw machine but it was a struggle as the hanger began to set in. We left Chuck E Cheese and drove through Wendy's while Parker had a ZOOM meeting with his new teacher. MULTI TASKING! We ate in my parent's backyard and spent about an hour with them talking and playing (our favorite) before heading to Coastal Kids for well checks.

Everyone had an appointment except for Rayleigh because her birthday is in the Fall. Parker is 5'9 and weighs 178 pounds. He grew almost 4 inches since our last visit and lost 7 pounds! He is over the 97th percentile for both height and weight.

Jack is 4 feet 0.5 inches and weighs almost 50 pounds. He's in the 85th percentile for height and the 61st percentile for weight- long and lean! He's grown 2.5 inches since last year and gained almost 5 pounds.

Ella is just over 40 inches tall (hurray for being tall enough for big rides at Disneyland!) and 36 pounds. She is in the 73rd percentile for height and 58th percentile for weight. She's grown 3 inches since last year and gained 6 pounds! Everyone is happy and healthy!

We weren't sure who would need vaccines but it turned out that Parker needed one and Ella needed 3. I had her lay down and was holding her arms and looking closely into her face asking her what kind of ice cream she wanted in an effort to distract her. She was looking up at me giggling and smiling until that first shot was administered and then she was MAD. She cried so hard, her whole face turned blue and I thought she was going to pass out. It took her a long time to calm down. She was NOT happy about those shots. Poor thing. It totally broke my heart. So what do we do when we are sad? We eat our feelings! Handel's ice cream for dinner, it is!

I had about an hour to get the kids bathed and settled before heading to the church for my Relief Society activity. I had asked Courtney to lead a short fitness class and she was so sweet to agree. I could tell she was tired and not too happy. It was a little awkward being around her after all the drama with our kids. I can't tell Parker who to love, but I can teach him to be respectful. But for her to say he can't text her was truly hurtful. My heart goes out to people who are told they can't love who they want to love. I have learned through this experience to have a little bit more compassion. I also felt badly because only 3 people showed up for her class and when the class was over and we were sitting down stretching, those people only wanted to talk about people who have recently died (no, I didn't bring up Angel's dad). I know people are struggling and it helps to talk things out- but I was NOT wanting to end on a low note, again.

The next day, my foot kind of hurt from the fitness class. Boo! But at least Parker has independent study for seminary on Wednesday's so I could sleep in a little bit. Ella had preschool and then I took the kids to iFly! I gotta tell ya, they are becoming quite the experienced fliers! They had the wind tunnel to themselves and had 5 flights each, including a HIGH flight! They are getting really good at controlling their stance while flying and they were ear to ear smiles the entire time. Before we'd even left, though, Rayleigh was asking what the next activity was. I've created a monster! ha ha Ella and Rayleigh had dance that afternoon and then Parker had mutual.

As you can see, the last few days have been jam packed with fun! But the best is yet to come! Stay tuned!