Summer 2010

The summer is officially over--the kids are back in school, Labor Day has come and gone, and the days are getting shorter.  I think our family is slowly recovering from the craziness of July and August. The combination of a fully-packed few months as well as major computer meltdowns left the blog pretty low on the priority list!

Back in May we started thinking about our summer plans and looking at the calendar. We decided to take Samuel out of school for 8 weeks mainly because between his school being closed a week, Oliver's being closed two weeks, and our two-week vacation (none of which overlapped) he was hardly going to be in school anyway. Our initial plan was that I would drop down a few hours, take some extra days off, and really enjoy summer. Well, about 2 days after we informed Samuel's school of our plans, I ended up taking another job. Instead of drop down in my hours, I ended up working over full time and at 2 jobs as I transitioned out of one and into the other. July became a complete blur as I worked during the day at one job and at night at the other. Luckily, our family was able to help out and cover some of the extra days.

Here's a recap of the 8 week craziness--

Week One: Samuel to G&G Badgett's with Anna & Gilman. Highlight for Samuel was camping in the trailer 2 nights and watching A&G catch lots of fish. Highlight for us was having only 1 kid for drop off and pick up! At the end of the week, Oliver, Kevin and I met the Ostrander group in Oakhurst for 4th of July fun at Bass Lake.

Week Two & Three: G&G Claassen come to our house to watch the boys. They keep busy going to the museum, the zoo, and playing in the backyard. The second week Samuel took swim lessons every evening. Unfortunately, July was a fairly cold month so he spent most of the lesson shivering like a popsicle! Only in the bay area do the swim instructors wear wet suits in July!

Week Four: G&G Badgett come to our house to watch the boys. They went to many parks, on the ferry, and to the aquarium. Swim lessons continued and thanks to a slight warm up, Samuel practiced his floating in the backyard pool.

Week Five & Six: Claassen Family heads to Ohio & Indianapolis for a Hospital House reunion and some fun with Aunt Amy and Uncle Ryan. There were so many highlights. Overall the plane ride was enjoyed by the kids (less so by the grown ups and, most likely, even less by those sitting next to us!). The intense humidity reminded us why we love the bay area but seeing green reminded us how dry California is in the summer.

Hospital House Reunion--Samuel very much enjoyed playing with his new friends. He often asks if we can invite "those kids" to our house sometime. The grownups enjoyed watching the kids, talking about the kids, and laughing with the kids. We did manage to talk about other things but our lives are all pretty family focused right now!

Oliver, TJ, Xavier, Samuel, Luka, Anika

Lisa Gunden, Brooke Kandel, me, Carrie Fisher

Columbus: We left Indy and spent the day and night in Columbus, Ohio. Samuel LOVED the hotel pool (an ugly, inside, square pool). We went on a marathon walk ending with the worst restaurant experience to date--Oliver threw food, screamed hysterically, and refused to sit down. The night at the hotel was fun but poor Oliver took a nose dive off the bed in the middle of the night. We had a great time the Columbus Zoo watching the polar bears.

Aunt Amy & Uncle Ryan: We spent several days in Hudson Ohio visiting Kevin's brother and sister-in-law. We packed a lot into our time together. Picnic and swim in Lake Erie, farmer's market, pool play, BBQ and cave touring, crazy Amish exotic animal ride, science museum, and just hanging out.

Week Seven: Samuel to G&G Claassen's house for the week. Samuel reports he enjoyed the trip to the zoo, feeding the animals, collecting the chicken eggs, playing Candy Land, and playing in the pool. Oh, and I think he enjoyed being the center of attention for 5 straight days! Oliver, Kevin, and I met everyone in Reno to end the week. Samuel and Kevin went river rafting. The first rapid went really well. The second was even more fun. Unfortunately, the third rapid dumped both of them off the raft dunking Samuel and putting an end to river rafting!

Week Eight: Samuel goes to G&G Badgett's house with Anna and Gilman. Day trips to the many rivers kept the kids entertained. Samuel's highlight was riding in the car buck naked after falling in the river and getting wet.

Summer Changes--this summer provided many changes for everyone:

• Oliver mastered climbing on anything and everything. The higher he gets the more excited he becomes. He loves following his brother onto the tippy top of the couch and then flinging himself off (hopefully onto the bean bag but sometime onto the floor). He has made little progress verbally except to develop a pretty infectious laugh. He thought about giving up nursing but is currently demanding the goods at any whim (he enjoys pulling up my shirt and giving a very clear grunt indicating his intent).
• Samuel had a blast this summer. He seemed to grow up a lot. He spent 5 nights in a row away from us on multiple occasions. He became a fish--at the beginning of the summer he barely stuck a toe in but at the end he was jumping off the docks, swimming by himself, and loving water. His sense of humor and overall personality continue to keep us entertained and laughing.