Every year our city of Dublin, Ohio hosts an Irish Festival. This is the first year we have gone. We enjoyed the music, the booths, the performances, the food, and the dancing. They even had a large inflatables area that the boys really enjoyed!
For our last week before school started we wanted to pack in the fun. On Monday, August 7th we went to Hocking Hills where there are lots of beautiful hikes.
On Tuesday we went to Zoombezi bay with the Kleins and the Whitney girls.
Wednesday we regrouped and then Thursday we went to Lake Erie and motored across to Put In Bay. We set up tents and then explored the island.
Here we are playing Mini Golf.
Once the rain stopped we went to explore the island again and did a fun maze, a butterfly house, and went fishing. We waited a long time, and Christian finally caught a fish! He was so proud!
The boat ride back to the main land was a bit adventurous because the water was more choppy, but Matt took it slowly and we enjoyed the ride!
We also stopped on the way home at a reservoir to let the kids tube since that was what they were expecting and were disappointed when it wasn't part of the original plan.
The next day, Saturday the 12th Matt got three hens for his hen house. It has been fun to get about 3 eggs each day.
On Sunday the 13th Christian learned to ride his bike without training wheels. (The wheels came off and he had to learn so we could finish our bike ride.) He had a few scares with the hills, but he ultimately succeeded. He didn't gain a lot of confidence until later in the month. We were very happy for him!
Here the kids are finishing their skirt sewing projects.
On August 16th school started for the older 3 kids. Eve started 8th grade, Sterling 6th grade (middle School), and Sheri 4th grade.
Christian started preschool again a week later.
Sheri planned a back to school picnic which got rained out. SO . . .we did it inside.
On August 19th Sheri had one last girl scout activity at some cabins and the rest of us went to a ward camp out. We also brought the boat and had fun in the water the next day.
On August 21st we watched the solar eclipse through some special box viewers that Sterling made. I must admit I didn't want to look in the box much because I wanted to make sure the kids (especially Christian) weren't looking right at the sun.
Other notable events include
- When Chirstian accidentally stuck himself with his Epipen. I think he was fiddling with it to see how it worked. He got himself in the thumb. Fortunately nothing bad happened to his finger (like loss of blood supply).
- Christian did, however enjoy some great play dates!
- I joined a group of women in my ward that do Cross Fit exercising together. I get to go a couple days a week.
- Some workers damage water lines in front of our house and we had just a trickle of water most of a weekend. Sterling gained and bore his testimony about prophets counseling us to be prepared. We used some of our stored water. :)
- We continued to dance and read a lot! The kids completed the library reading program.
- I made a new awesome recipe- Ratatouille. Now I feel gourmet!
- Eve continued with her physical therapy each week.
- Christian got his allergy results and we were able to start some food challenges. The doctor did an in office challenge for milk which Christian failed (he is still allergic). Thankfully he can still tolerate it baked in. We were able to challenge some things at home. So far we know that he can eat pork, but is still allergic to walnuts (and Peanuts - too high of numbers to challenge).
- I also started a family health challenge to help all of us be motivated to get to sleep on time, exercise, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, brush our teeth before school, etc. It was fun to have a goal. Sheri ultimately won out of the kids, but they all did pretty well.
- Out of the 100 things we wanted to do this summer we accomplished 78 things. Next year I hope to hit more of the parks in our area. There are so many great ones.
I am grateful that this summer the kids were really able to learn how to pitch in and help with more household duties, gain more cooking experience, and learn some sewing skills. It has been one BUSY but fun summer!
