84 Days of Summer: Parks and Pool, July 4th, and Brady's Birthday

The end of June brought hot, muggy conditions that made me sweat even when sitting down, and had me wishing for air conditioning.  Yep, I like to claim that I long for A/C about 7 days of the year, but that is such a lie.  I wish for it probably 7 days a month from July through October.  

I haven't been so religious with photo ops the last couple weeks, which means I've completely forgotten about everything we did except for the events captured below.  I do know there were quite a few park outings.

Shay and Tate played with us one day:

Zac received a coupon for a new ice cream shop, so the kids gave it a try.  

Mmmmmm....

Zachary had a filling replaced.  He looks like me in a dentist chair: like he lost sleep worrying about the visit.

Zachary had a few flag football games.  He is the kid on the right with his hands on his knees.

We went to the beach with several friends leaving on July vacations.

Brady put some sweat equity into our house.  He did all the tile underlayment and put about 2,000 screws in our wood floor to prevent squeaking.

 I think of our early years any time I see him with tools, reminiscent of our time working at The Colony.  I miss the duck tape shorts from those years.  I should have made him a pair for his birthday.

Look at me!  I'm a DIY girl!  I decided at a beach outing (not pictured, so it may or may not have actually happened, haha), that I absolutely could not STAND living with the cherry cabinets we planned to get for the laundry room and kids bath.  The only options in the budget-friendly cabinetry choices we had for those rooms were cherry or light oak.  Neither one appealed to me, especially with the granite we had left over from one of Brady's projects.  I already used all my "vetoes" on the house, so I really did not have say anymore, but I convinced Brady to let me sand down all the cabinetry and get our painter to paint them white.  This is about 2/3rds of them.  It took me about 10 hours total with an electric sander, and I haven't seen the finish product yet, but I'm hoping it is worth it.  (Just for the record, had we simply ordered white cabinetry, it would have cost about $1000 more just for the kids' bath...  I'm not one to sign on for DIY projects unless it is absolutely necessary.  I will say that I feel empowered by the whole experience, but that could change when I see the finish product.)

The kids earned water balloons.

Zac loved popping them on his head.

 Zachary created a lego creation each day.  I never understood the fascination with legos as a little girl, but now I totally get it.  It's awesome.

Kate is (still) obsessed with Repunzel.  She was showing off her "pretty, super long hair" to Zac.  I let the kids take one toy in the car anywhere we go, and she brought the frying pan.  The frying pan?  Yes, because she's Repunzel.  (She also knows that the fastest way to get under Zachary's skin is to call him Eugene.)

We used Nic and Heidi's key one afternoon, and that turned into a lot of afternoons when they left on vacation.  I truly hope they aren't annoyed.  This is my favorite picture ever of Zachary at the pool.  This child does not understand that belly flops hurt.  He does them and jumps up and does them again.

Kate opened up her knees so she was sidelined this particular afternoon.

 (I made him completely stop doing flips off the side, but this is a pretty sweet shot before that rule went into place.)

Kate now jumps in by herself.  She went from semi-terrified of the water to insatiable within a day, bribed by 2 chocolate chips.

They are all business, jumping in the water again and again and again.

My camera phone stinks, but I love these next couple:

Any time she has her hands on her hips, she yells, "MOM!  Look!  I'm doing ballet!"

July 3rd, we headed to the base for the PMRF fireworks show.  We let the kids choose a couple bounce houses and ate delicious Thai food.  Someone mentioned that at the word "Thai," everyone starts salivating and assuming it is good.  That's because Thai food is good even from a food truck.

Catching some air:

More "ballet":

They did this little ride together--similar to Tea Cups at Disneyland.  Unfortunately, Zac started spinning it--FAST--before the ride even started.  Kate was a good sport at first, but fell apart and started screaming with about 30 seconds to go.  Torture.

Zac spent his allowance savings on this trampoline thing.  I think that's actually what it is called.  He was disappointed he couldn't get the flip down.

Kate went and talked to her "friends" for about an hour--her babysitters Allie, Whitney, and Heidi.  They were so cute together.

The show did not start until after 10pm.  I don't know why, because it gets dark here before 8pm.  Zac was sound asleep until the first boom.

 I usually whine about Kauai fireworks, but these seemed much better than years' past.

Brady said all he wanted for his birthday was to go hiking all day and go to dinner with the family.  We went hiking on Friday because of the beautiful weather, and we remember how Waikiki-ish the beaches were last July 4th.  We went up to the Awa'awa'puhi trail and loved every minute.

We heart Kauai hiking.

Nic came with us, which was awesome because he's fun to talk to, and he booked it ahead with Zachary.  

He also fascinated the kids with his bird domestication techniques.

 ...AND he took family pics for us.

I love Kate's stance in this one.

The evening of the 4th, we went to what we were told was a neighborhood party in our new neighborhood.  We found out quickly that it was not, which felt kind of weird, but everyone was super friendly (and yes, we did have a legit invite from the host).  The kids swam in our neighbor's pool, we participated in a lot of little fireworks, and we met tons of new people.

The next day (Brady's birthday!), Brady took off on a mountain bike ride and worked at the house for a while.  Then, we went to the pool, and finally out to his requested dinner.

I feel like this is the summer I am defining by what I eat.  I've fallen in love with Living Foods, a hippie place that makes me crave kale and roasted beets, and I can't stop thinking about the piece of lilikoi and mango pie I ate at the Farmer's Market today.  We tried malasadas for the first time, and although I didn't care for them (I'd take lilikoi pie over those things any day), it somehow made the summer a little more exciting.  It's hard to look at everyone's social media pics of vacations and not have trip envy, but this summer has had some magic for sure.

Another magic moment: Nic and Brady getting us mangoes (and the balls that we lost in the tree).

We aren't just soaking up sweet treats--we've gone crazy on nectarines, peaches, cherries, blueberries, strawberries and corn-on-the-cob.  Ahhhh, summer.

But yes, there have been plenty of sweet treats, too.  This is our third time ever with shave ice, and it turns out that it is pretty good.  I've said that shave ice is not worth the hype for 7 years, and I might be taking back that statement.

Yep, selfies.  I'm terrible at them.  My teeth look really white.  This may be one of Zac's last pics with his top baby teeth...

A quick along Hanapepe Swinging Bridge:

I worried about restlessness and boredom this summer, but it is flying by and I am already freaking out about school starting in three weeks.  Summer is lovely, even with a touch of island fever.