July Ends, August Begins

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the grand opening of Edith's Café as one of the first patrons. Edith's food was varied and delicious. I highly recommend it. And it says on the sign out front, "All Organic and Local" and "NOT Fast Food." Bud was a nice brother to help her make the sign. 

Big and Edith can be so hot and cold with each other. They either get along so perfectly that it seems almost fake, or they get along so miserably that you try to ban them from being in the same room together. One day, when they were struggling to get along a little, Big walks up to Ginger and starts to tattle on Edith who was trailing along behind him.

Big: "Edith called me a name. She called me a"

The dialog stopped abruptly because Edith had slapped her hand over Big's mouth to keep him from saying anything further.

Edith (with her hand over Big's mouth): "I called him a Fabulous Joy Angel. That's what I called him. A Fabulous Joy Angel."

She then removes her hand from the incredulous-looking Big's mouth. 

Big (with a tone of amazement): "No, she didn't. She called me a poopy!"

Edith: "Whatever."

Pretty quick thinking on Edith's part. She really is awfully clever. Too bad she was lying. 

Luckily, Big and Edith make up for the fighting by continuing to be strangely self-motivated workers. Edith took it upon herself one day to re-shelve the books left on the fronts of the shelves by her siblings. The cutest in-house librarian I've ever seen, that's for sure. 

And Big was at it again cleaning windows. Seriously, I like it when they're like this. 

They also took it upon themselves to clean the dirt from the cracks in the driveway. Pleeease no one tell them about power washers! It keeps them occupied for ages!

I took the kids (both Ginger and Pen, too) to that lake with the beach again. It was fun to wade into the water with the girls and count down until we all dunked our heads under the water. Takes your breath away, but it's a blast. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Next time we go we'll definitely bring Rophone along. 

We threw another float party, too. A bunch of families came and it was a lot of fun. I think we'll definitely make it a summer tradition to throw a few. 

My sister, Martha, arrived in town with her family at the beginning of August. The cousins play together really well, so it's always nice and relaxing to just hang out while the kids amuse themselves. Her husband, Plumbean, and I mostly hung out at the house while Martha was busy at Sunstone, but on Saturday he joined her so I took the kids on a hike by myself. Why not? I mean, Ginger was babysitting at Sunstone (an awesome paying gig that Martha helped get her set up with) and Pen was working her job, so I only had 6 kids to take rather than the potential 8. Piece of cake. 

The hike was kind of funny. At first Edith was in the lead and was setting a pretty good pace as she always does, but that kind of led to a daydreamy Cindy Lou getting left in the dust. I pulled Edith back from the front so we could more easily keep everyone together and then it worked out great. It was really enjoyable and relaxing.

It was so relaxing, in fact, that when the kids were exploring and scrambling over rocks at the end of the hike I realize I could maybe enjoy a moment sort of alone. Well, as alone as you can be with kids around you. The fact that no one was talking to me for the first time in a few hours made me feel like I was alone, though. 

I sat on a huge boulder for about 5 minutes. So nice.

Then I decided to get even more comfortable. Wow, this is great!

Then I closed my eyes...and Edith fell from the boulder she was climbing and landed on her back. So much for that. It was good while it lasted, though. Edith was okay, but I took it as a sign that it was time to head home for lunch. 

After lunch, Rophone and I left Pen and her cousin, Mathman, in charge and went up to the big city to pick up Ginger from her babysitting gig. Here's a photo of my date, Rophone, and the third wheel.

Just kidding. It was really fun to hang out with just Ginger. It isn't very often that we can both be with just one kid together. It seems like we're usually split up to divide and conquer. 

I asked Edith one night to please get in her pajamas and brush her teeth so she could go to bed and she replied, "Ugh. I don't think I can. My elbows really hurt. I think I pulled a groin." How awful! Sounds really painful. Nice try, kid.

Martha took Ginger and Bud camping with her for a few days. I was kind of glad we didn't go with them when the first night and day looked like this:

I managed to swing a couple of daytime visits to the camp with Big and Edith. We all had a really good time. I think next year we'll try to make it as a family.

After all of Martha's commitments were done with, we got to spend a few more days together. This included lots of game playing, of course. 

Martha's intense dice-shaking face was the best. :) We take our games very seriously.

I loved it when everyone told Edith she was too young to play Apples to Apples but then she was in the lead. So perfect. I'm sure happy about all the visits from family we've had this summer. Such a fun time. We're glad you could come, Martha!