We have been extremely busy at our house this summer. We started it off by heading to Kansas City to visit my parents and my sister (Marcie) and her family. They moved back to the states for the summer so my BIL could complete some of his pharmacy intern hours. We had a great time visiting with everyone! I was able to love on my 2 week old niece Layla who is an absolute doll and my 22 month old niece Presley who has grown up way to fast. While we were visiting for the week, we hit the Kansas city zoo (my boys loved this), the Children's Science City at Union Station (this was way cool, think children's museum but way better. This was a three story area filled with tons of hands on exhibits for kids and adults). We visited the planetarium were the kids were able to see a light show, went swimming, went to the movies (I was able to go in the evenings, while the kids were in bed. I saw the proposal with my mom, sister and SIL, it was hilarious! And Dan and I watched transformers 2.)
We returned home in time to rewash and pack everything, then we flew to Utah to visit Dan's family. We flew out on the 4th of July and stayed for a week. The weather was beautiful! I forgot how much I miss the mountains, trees, dry climates and temperatures other than HOT! We were able to see 5 of Dan's siblings and their families. The kids had way to much fun seeing their cousins and playing outside all day. I loved it because I wasn't really having to babysit them. Utah has a great dinosaur museum located at Thanksgiving point. This is the one and only thing Adam wanted to do. It is a great museum.
The only downside of our trip was Ethan getting sick. The 2nd day in Utah we ended up in urgent care, the poor guy had strep throat again! He was miserable for most of the trip, but he was a trooper. I had a ton of fun seeing my SIL's, we shopped and had a lot of girl time.
Once back home, Ethan and Adam had 2 weeks of swimming lessons. This was Ethan's 3rd year of lessons. I couldn't believe how much he learned, he was actually swimming like a fish. His favorite part was jumping off the diving boards. This was Adam's first year of lessons. He was very excited about them at first but then he started disliking them once he realized he had to keep his face in the water. He unfortunately didn't get to finish his last week of lessons, he got a severe ear and throat infection. I definitely need to buy ear plugs next time.
Ethan and I went to Six Flags over Texas. He earned a free ticket from school by reading a lot of books. We were going to take the whole family and go but Adam was still to sick, so Ethan and I had a mom's day together. He had a great time, we rode way to many roller coasters for my taste and ate greasy food (yuck, but he loved it).
Adam was really disappointed about missing out on Six Flags, so Dan promised to take him to the children's museum and visit the nature and science museum, so he could see the dinosaurs (of course!) They also watched a cool IMAX movie. This was definitely more his speed, six flags is a place for older kids.
We have also had a lot of surgeries at our house this summer. I've had three surgeries and still probably need 2 more. Long story short, for those who may not have heard, my cardiologist found blood clots in my main leg veins and arteries, so they have been trying to remove and dissolve them before they can do some future damage. This has been just an in and out patient thing, and so far the only down side is severe bruising up and down both of my legs (I've been told it could take 6 months to 1 year for them to go away, good thing winter is approaching). Ethan had his tonsils and adenoids removed, the poor thing has had strep 7 or 8 times this year and we could hardly keep him well. The surgery went well, he was definitely a trooper. He was in a lot of pain and lost a ton of weight (which he didn't need, you could already see his ribs.) It took him a little over 2 weeks before he started feeling better. Let's just say I was pushing the ice cream and anything else with a high calorie content but it still didn't work. Then Dan decided he was tired of contacts and glasses and he opted for lasik. He loves it! He said, "I should have done this 10 years ago!" I am so happy for him. He giggles every time he thinks about going into the bathroom to take out his contacts, I guess old habits die hard.
The last two weekends my family has been in town. The kids love this! They have been able to spend time with their grandparents and my two nieces; Katie and Maddie whom they adore. We had a great summer, but unfortunately today is the last. Tomorrow begins a new school year, and all I can say is YEAH!!! IT IS ABOUT TIME! (OK don't get the wrong idea, I love my kids to death, but I need to get back to a schedule and to the gym!)
