Happy Independence Weekend! Jared spent a lot of last week sick (also we've been doing a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon in the evening after the kids are asleep--would recommend), but I'm so glad he recovered in time to enjoy some great July 4th activities with us. I appreciate July 4th extra because it brings up memories from the medical training years--nearly a decade of sad or nonexistent July 4th celebrations. First we were living in the Caribbean for a few years, where of course America's birthday isn't celebrated. Then we were living in Georgia, with no family or friends nearby to spend the day with (also, pregnant Laura=near-dead Laura). Then Jared had 3 years of residency, during which I may be mistaken, but I think he had to work on July 4th for every one of those years. I remember trying to take colicky little Jack to our neighborhood parade by myself, and we lasted about 40 seconds outside of the car before he started screaming because he was terrified of the fire trucks. I got really good at disassociating from most holidays during that decade, because I had to. So now I try to appreciate the holidays a little extra, especially the ones when we are lucky enough to do fun things with extended family.
We weren't going to be able to see much family on the 4th this year, so I invited everyone to go kayaking at a nearby neighborhood pond on July 3rd. Chris and Tim's family came, which meant playmates for Jack and Alice, and we had a great time watching tons of kids on kayaks and paddle boards cruising around the pond. To me, every 4th of July needs some type of water play.
The next day, we invited all family available to come to our patio for a July 4th brunch, and then swimming at our neighborhood pool. This went great too! It was our first time hosting in our backyard. Our backyard is far from finished and it might not be done until the end of the summer, but for now we at least have half a patio and a bit of grass, so it was a good time. Swimming at the pool was fun too--my dad played in the water with all the kids and they were in heaven, and I got to lounge poolside with my mom. Now I'll get to some pictures from our week:
Another beautiful (smoky, post-apocolyptic-looking) summer week! There have been lots of wildfires in Utah and the smoke and ash falling from the sky is something else. Truly I don't want to talk about it. We're staying inside as much as possible but trying to make the most of it. Here are some pictures from our week:
Mama's tired. For some reason I've been stuck in a thick brain fog all weekend. I'm still fresh enough in my POTS diagnosis that I don't always know what the culprit is. I have suspected for some time now that there may be some food triggers at play, and I did eat lots of processed treats over the weekend--something I've tried to stay away from for the past few months because it tends to flare up the fatigue/brain fog. I also wasn't on top of my electrolytes as much as I usually am, because there were lots of back-to-back events. That did make for a fun weekend though, so since my brain isn't so sharp right now I'll get right to the pictures:
We had our first family camping trip ever as a family of 4 over the weekend. Our kids aren't known to sleep well outside their own beds. However, Jack has been doing better at it this last year, and we haven't tested Alice for a long time (we didn't travel really at all last summer--it was the year of moving). We decided that this summer might be the time to try dipping our toes back into camping by way of renting a camper for the very first time. I have never slept in a camper/RV, and I'm pretty sure Jared hasn't either. I grew up camping, but Jared doesn't love sleeping in a tent. We figured since our house happens to have an RV garage, we may as well try out RV camping and see if an RV/camper could be a 10-year dream for us.
Unfortunately, the night before we were supposed to pick up our camper rental, the owner called Jared to make sure our car was all set up for towing. Turns out we overlooked needing 7-pin trailer wiring and brake adapters. Luckily the guy was willing to reschedule our rental for later in the summer, so we can have time to either get our car fully set up to tow a camper, or borrow a family member's truck. We decided that since the campsite was booked and family was coming, we would still do the camping trip in a tent. It was a good time to leave town and let our freshly poured patio cure and mellow in color for a few days. I was stressed for a few days there since the patio was a bright oompa-loompa red-orange color for its first few days. It's supposed to be a subtler earthy brick color once it's fully dried in a few more weeks. Back to the camping trip though.
Preparing and packing to camp was a lot. We made poor choices driving there and back during Alice's sleep windows, thinking she may take some good car naps. Our kids don't do car naps though for some reason, and so she basically was tired and grumpy and whiny for both 2.5-hr drives. Oops. We camped at Fish Lake--a place we had never been before. It was beautiful and we made some good memories. If I were to go back again someday, I would definitely go in the fall to see all the Aspen trees in their golden glory. Otherwise, it was nice nature by a nice lake, which is something we can find closer to home next time.
Highlights of our weekend included watching the kids kayak on their kid kayaks with cousins, s'mores around the campfire, and even though it was cold and Savvy dog tried to bust out of the tent a few times, I even liked sleeping in the tent as a family of 4. I know my people well so I packed our best camping mattresses, fitted sheets and cozy blankets for all of them, and our warmest sleeping bags. If it weren't for the restless nearby cows and Savvy, I think it would have been a great sleep. Alice woke up once wanting me to move closer to her, which meant a thinner pad for me, but she stared me straight in the eyes and said, "I wuv lou mom" (that's how she says I love you). Melted my exhausted lil heart.
It's getting late so I'm going to jump to pictures:
