1) a giant trampoline. the girls have been asking for a trampoline for years, and up until this summer, we've deflected with one of my most-used phrases: "not right now". there were the typical concerns about safety, and yard space, and expense. but this year, knowing that we purposely had lots of unstructured time over summer break (three whole glorious months!), we told the girls that a trampoline was on the table if they could demonstrate improvement in various areas, such as picking up their belongings without being asked, listening the first time, and -- sad to say but this is the truth -- flushing the toilet unprompted. while we certainly haven't achieved perfection, overall things are better in these domains. after a lot of research (which resulted in trampoline ads popping up all over my social media feeds and blogroll), I snagged a great deal on Memorial Day and the rest is history!
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| first jumps -- they were very conscientious about standing still while Elizabeth had a turn to jump |
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| there is plenty of jumping but also fodder for imaginative play! |
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| saving this one for posterity |
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| speaking of the pool... this photo is now framed in our dining room. Victoria's two tiny teeth and Elizabeth's cheese face just slay me! |
2) domestic delights. we're back to our summer routine with the older girls, which is based on principles from the Lazy Genius guru Kendra Adachi: decide once, and name what's important. on Monday through Saturday, they each rotate through a list of chores. screens are allowed only after 12 noon and only after the daily task list is complete (we are still in a phase where brushing teeth and brushing hair needs to be explicitly stated). there are inevitable exceptions to the rule for special events or sickness, but for the most part it works well to cut down on the screentime requests and also to teach them the necessary skills to keep a tidy house. last year I included a list of bonus chores, each worth $1, and they weren't very interested. this year, however, they will go through spurts of doing three or four extra chores in a day to earn some extra cash. my baseboards have never been so clean!
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| window washing |
one of the most popular bonus chores is to make dinner, made more enticing by the fact that the child gets to choose the menu. Greta learned how to make her favourite meal, pesto pasta, completely unassisted, and then made a spinoff of her own called basil pasta. not to be outdone, Cece made a pasta dish called "famozzmeat", a baked farfalle casserole topped with fresh mozzarella slices. bon appetit!
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| helping our neighbor cook for the Lasagna Love program that delivers free lasagna to families in need |
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| pesto pasta with sausage and roasted broccoli |
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| spaghetti pie casserole and green beans |
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famozzmeat: farfalle with homemade meat sauce, topped with fresh mozzarella
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| Greta's creation: basil pasta (rotini with kielbasa, olive oil, basil and parmesan). pasta plus meat, a winning combo! |
3) Walk for Children's. one of the girls' schoolmates was hospitalized last fall with sepsis. after being on a ventilator for several days, she has made an incredible recovery and is now back to all of her usual activities, including playing on Greta's basketball team. this spring, she headed up her own team to raise money for our local children's hospital with their annual walk and of course we wanted to join. our friends and family were generous with their donations and the actual event was great fun for the kids with lots of free food and activities. participants could choose to walk 1/2 mile, 1 mile, or 2 miles. while most of our group opted for the 1 mile route, the rest of us did the full 2 miles which led to some hilarious text exchanges ("where are you?! we're back already, hurry up slowpokes!"). there was the inevitable whining about being tired, and the last half mile proved to be our slowest as Elizabeth rotated between riding in the stroller, walking, and riding on Greta's back. but we made it! and over the course of the whole campaign, the children's hospital raised over 1 million dollars! we are so grateful for their excellent care of the children in our area.
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sweet Maddie!
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| walking to the park from the parking garage in the university district |
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| goofy girls before the walk began (Cece stocked up on the fruit they were handing out) |
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| and we're off! |
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| Pitt's Cathedral of Learning is in the background |
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| volunteers at the finish line handed out superhero masks and capes... then there was free Kona Ice to top it all off |
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| the whole team -- Maddie's family, friends, and classmates |
4) Kennywood. we took our first amusement park trip of the season shortly after school let out and had perfect weather! Greta brought along one of her best friends and we had a blast. I've spent many summers pregnant or newly postpartum, and loved getting to experience the high-speed rides again with my rollercoaster buddy, Greta. Cece and Elizabeth paired up on several of the kiddie land rides (it won't be long before Cece is too tall for most of them). since this visit, Nick took the older girls back with one of Cece's best friends in tow; and I want to go back sometime to ride the coasters in the dark!
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| Elizabeth loved the little Whip! |
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| we met freshman year of college at Duquesne, shortly before I visited Kennywood for the first time. if only I could go back in time to tell my 18-year-old self what joys the next twenty years would bring! |
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| Cece got soaked during the water jetpack show -- and wanted to pose just as the spray from the Pittsburgh Plunge erupted behind her |
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| hard to see but Greta and Nick are riding the Thunderbolt, one of the iconic wooden coasters |
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| the sign at the ride entrance said it would be a 35 minute wait, but Greta and I walked right on to Phantom's Revenge! it's one of my favourite coasters -- the adrenaline rush brushes right up against my sense of real danger but never exceeds it, so it just feels fun and exciting the whole time. |
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goodbye for now, Kennywood!
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bonus round: just unequivocal cuteness.
You are squeezing every ounce of fun and joy out of your summer. Lovely! And there is something so magical about a trampoline. My kids have been begging for one for years!
ReplyDeleteThe time finally seemed right for the trampoline, and Greta especially spends a long time out there perfecting her gymnastics moves! BUT we are certainly going to have a big dead spot in the grass... that's a problem for 10 years down the line!
DeleteWow, summer fun indeed! I was most surprised when we first got our trampoline back in the pandemic days, that our kids would just lay on it and talk or make up games similar to Duck Duck Goose on it. They loved it for all types of play, as it seems your girls do too! Just wait until the fall, it becomes even more popular once it cools off :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I had the same thought, but it makes sense that they can't just keep jumping forever! They've even discussed having a "campout" on the trampoline although that hasn't come to fruition. And I can totally imagine that it will get even more use when it's not 90 degrees out. Thanks for sharing the details of your recent trampoline purchase -- it definitely helped me make the selection!
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