First June Thing: Fishing
Tristan, Oliver, and I started learning how to fly fish at the end of May so we could go with Daniel. Once we realized how fun it is, there was no stopping us, and June was a little bit out of control. Fishing all the time! Daniel still had a lot of teaching to do, since the three of us didn’t really know what we were doing. The nice thing was that with our kids being older now, Daniel and I could take off with Tristan and Oliver and leave Rachel home in charge of the younger three. Pretty sure fly fishing wouldn’t have worked out as a hobby for me when our kids were younger.
Oliver would be mortified at these pictures of his early casting attempts (now, just a year and a half later, he is pretty much an expert. For reals. I had no idea that it was going to become his main passion in life).
At first the boys caught more snakes than fish (and I caught neither fish or snakes, but just enjoyed being out on the river trying):
Sometimes Henry came along to try to catch snakes, too. And fall in the river. And make stacks of rocks.
And sometimes the best part was going out to dinner after a long day on the river.
But pretty soon we actually started catching fish. (All these fish got put right back in the river after they were caught; catch-and-release only for us):
Tristan climbing up a tree to try to untangle a fly that got snagged up there. This happened a lot. We learned that fly fishing is really, really good at giving you chances to work on patience. And then trying not to get too frustrated when lots and lots of frustrating things happen.
Another snake. The boys weirdly viewed all the snakes they would see as an added perk to fly fishing; I did not. But I did like how being out on the river all the time helped me get more brave about that kind of thing.
My first fish:
Sometimes we took the whole family along. The younger kids loved playing around in the river and helping net the fish and then putting them back in the water after we caught them.
Second June Thing: Forts
If you think June was pretty much all about fishing, you are mostly right, but there were a lot of blanket forts being built also. I guess it’s because I generally make my kids sleep in their own beds during the school year, but it seems like every single summer the second school is out the kids start making forts. Because it was summer, I let them keep them up for a week or two until things got out of control messy, and then they’d take them down and do a big clean up and then build another one right away again.
Rachel and Elizabeth helped make super fancy signs for the fort in Henry and Cindy’s room (or H.C. headquarters, I guess I should say):
They were pretty inclusive; everyone is allowed. You just have to ask for permission, and be brave, cheerful, kind and respectful. Let’s go!
Another fort in Rachel and Lizza’s room, also with signs:
At first glance it seems like theirs was a typical “girls only” kind of establishment, but if you read the fine print, you can see that boys are allowed, but only with permission. As long as they respect their hosts (see rules).
Another giant fort in Rachel and Lizza’s room.. The younger four actually all slept in this one for awhile. It looks like this one had the same rules as the first fort, with an added warning to be very careful. I guess it was a risky fort, Henry’s favorite kind.
Another fort. This one was out in the game room and involved chairs and the futon.
The Blind Mole Rat Game. This is not really a fort, but since there’s no “blind mole rat game” category, I figured this was probably a good spot for it.
I can’t really explain this game. I will let Tristan do it.
I have no idea how they come up with this stuff. Also, this is what a blind mole rat looks like:
Here are some much cuter pictures: Elizabeth turning 9 on June 15th. Everybody loves Lizza, and Lizza loves everybody. She is friendly and cheerful and probably the hardest worker in our family.
The whole group. posing with Lizza and her strawberry tres leches cake:
We celebrated her birthday by going to my aunt’s house in Orem and spending the day swimming with Grandma and cousins:
Which brings me to:
Third June Thing: Hanging Out With Cousins
A lot of this cousin time was spent at my aunt’s pool – she lives just a few minutes away from my parents, and generously opened up her pool all summer to us and all of the cousins who were in town.
There was also quite a bit of hanging out with cousins not at the pool:
American Fork Canyon:
Studying geography together (my sister’s kids spent the night at our house, and in the morning Henry was kind enough to let his cousin Pace “help” him with his summer jobs)
Including folding laundry (with nerf weapons somehow involved):
There were also lots of games of “hair salon”:
Back porch picnics:
And snow cones at Snoasis:
Grandma came, too:
Other cousin things included playing at the park:
A bunch of cousins together with Grandpa on Father’s Day:
And lots of fun at the Provo Beach Resort:
One nice thing about living back in Utah is that even though not everyone lives here, it’s the passing-through and summer-visiting place for lots of our family. It makes me so happy for my kids to be able to see their cousins a lot.
Miscellaneous June Things that aren’t Fishing, Forts, or Cousins
Summer morning football practices for Tristan:
Kids hard at work drawing together:
Lizza and her bike:
Soccer/baseball/made-up games at the park.
Cooling off with millions of other children at the Highland City Library splash pad:
Doing puzzles. Hundreds and hundreds of puzzles. Henry is still our most passionate puzzle child. There were times when I’d wake up to noises and lights on at 5:00 in the morning, and when I would go out to investigate, there would be Henry crouched on the puzzle table. “Mom, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it and I needed to get a few more pieces in!”
Also jobs. I love summer jobs! Some of my children also love them (the ones who think new checklists are super exciting), and some of them just tolerate them. Cindy was one of the ones who loved checking off her list every day. Although looking back, I’m thinking having her be in charge of vacuuming the stairs might have been a questionable move on my part.
Questionable move on Cindy’s part: letting all of her “pets” (including several hard plastic dinosaurs, an owl, and a dragon) sleep in her bed with her
Bonus videos:
Besides summer jobs, I also have my kids do “study time” every day in the summer. This includes doing some math on Khan Academy, and studying geography on Sheppard Software. When they’re around Cindy’s age I have them learn all the states and capitals, but as they get older they start working on learning other countries. They really like it, I promise! The summer that Henry turned seven he learned all the countries in the world and their capitals (he then forgot most of them throughout the school-year and had to relearn them last summer, but still). I like them knowing that the world is a lot bigger than our little city in Utah, and I figure that what they don’t get to see and experience on our road trips, they can at least learn about online.
Here's Oliver working on Europe (includes some very special singing since he didn't know I was filming him):
Henry working on Africa:
And Cindy practicing her states:
The end!
