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As the evening progressed, it became clear that our 40% chance of thunderstorms had increased to about, oh, I'd say ninety-nine-pointy-one. When the storm hit us, it was raging: the thunder was loud, the lightning was constant, the rain was...wet. Our power flickered a few times in the midst of everything, but it didn't go out until after we thought we were through everything.
We'd just gotten Alexander and Phoebe into their jammies and were about to gather for scriptures and prayer when...everything went dark. It was still light enough outside that this wasn't a huge deal, but Phoebe thought it was the best thing ever!
Andrew posted online about a swim meet the other day and someone commented on his post something like: "Lord, if I have but one day to live, let there be a swim meet, because those things last forever!"
With two swim meets this week, it has felt like this week has been at least two weeks (three swim meets within eight days).
Add in the girls going to YW camp, a heat wave, the girls being sent home from YW camp, daily swim practices, class, work, and everything else...it feels like we've lived an entire lifetime since last week.
Oh, and Benjamin had his woodworking camp this week as well! It was every afternoon from 1 to 5. And I think everyone had a good time—from the youngest boy up to the oldest teacher. Here's Benjamin when I dropped him off on the first day:
As you can see, the kids did well at their swim meets this week!
Benjamin had a whole fistful of blue (first place) ribbons:
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We did it! We made it through the swim season!
Our final meet was tonight and it was a little...touch and go in the beginning. A thunder storm rolled in just as we were setting up so we spent the next 1.5+ hours waiting it out. We got our meet started at 6:30 pm and the officiants really moved through things quickly!
On Tuesday the kids spent all afternoon in the neighbour's kiddie pool. This picture is just Phoebe...because at this moment all the other kids were sitting in front of the fans (they hauled up from our house) in the garage, dripping wet. That must have felt good!
My birthday was on Sunday.
I turned 40, which seems impossible and also just about right.
Our ward choir performed, which meant we had to be to church early to practice. Phoebe had been a bit of a...stinker...in the night and did not want to wake up in the morning. Here she is stubbornly asleep at 7:45 (we needed to leave at 8:00):
It was a scorcher today, but as hot as it was, tomorrow is supposed to be hotter!
Poor Rachel and Miriam are off to YW camp, where they'll have to suffer through the heat all week (their cabin has electricity, so they've each packed a fan and have a few more items to help keep cool).
The rest of us only had to suffer for a few hours at the swim meet this evening. Everybody was dripping—either from having just climbed out of the pool or from sweating to death on the sidelines—but we had a really great meet!
It was such a busy day between morning practice and Benjamin's woodworking camp in the afternoon. I changed into my blue shorts but somehow forgot to change into my white top (which I have to wear as a stroke and turn official) until I was walking out the door and Alexander said, "Oh, cool! You can wear navy blue and purple to judge now?"
No—I cannot! Good thing he said something! I had time to go back and change before heading to the pool. Andrew picked Benjamin up from his woodworking camp and brought him straight to the pool...it was chaotic.
But so good!
I worked with Alexander on his backstroke last Friday. I haven't been working with the kids as much this summer—in part because Rachel and Miriam haven't been around to help with Phoebe, who is still pretty hands-on in the pool, and in part because I've had bronchitis (have I mentioned that?)—but on Friday I did pull Alexander aside and we worked on getting his arms windmilling up-up-up into the air and down straight behind his head before pulling through the water.
And just look at how high his arm is, whizzing by his head just perfectly:
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We spent 9 hours at the pool today...which was...a lot. But we had another great meet tonight!
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Rachel and Miriam arrived home from London on Monday.
Grandpa and Darla stayed behind to do a bike tour through France and Germany, so Rachel and Miriam travelled home alone. They all went to the airport together—both Miriam and Darla got pulled aside for extra security—before going their separate ways. Poor Miriam had applesauce in her liquids bag and apparently it didn't pass the vibe...so after running it through several tests, security had her toss it, and then gave her a pat down. She was rather upset by the whole ideal (especially since she had brought the applesauce from the States...bug couldn't take it back to the states).
Anyway, the girls had quite the journey—their flight ended up being delayed, and then they were switched to a new flight, and then their flight switched back. They finally arrived home about four hours after they were supposed to.
We made a poster to welcome them home:
I swear we were at the pool for at least six hours today, between swim practice and recreational swimming. It was hot this afternoon, so we went to the pool and friends kept coming and wouldn't stop coming (to loosely quote Smash Mouth), which made it rather hard for us to make an exit. At one point we had about a dozen kids from swim team at the pool (most of the homeschoolers, too).
They played Wax Museum, Go/Go/Go/Stop, What Time is it Mr. Shark, Sharks and Minnows, Refrigerator, and all kinds of things. Sometimes my kids were among the youngest there—and Benjamin and Zoë were particularly delighted when some older (more teenager-y) friends ordered a pizza, had it delivered at the pool, and then offered a slice when they realized they wouldn't finish. Other times Benjamin was the oldest one there and was delighted that he was the uncatchable one during Sharks and Minnows (because that wasn't the case when the older swimmers were at the pool).
Phoebe got bored of it just being me and her in the shallow end and requested to play in the deep end. She has never done this before. She likes to stay where she can touch if she needs to (if only on her tippy-tippy toes) and we've had to coax and encourage her to believe that her swimming skills are the same in any depth of water (if you can swim in 4 feet of water you can swim in 10 feet of water...or 40 feet of water...or whatever). She hasn't yet willingly gone to the deep end this summer, but today she did.
The kids were having a diving contest and she decided she wanted to participate.
"Sure, you can go off the diving board..." I told her, though I didn't believe she would.
She has always chickened out before (or has needed a lot of assistance to make it off the end of the board—like, having me lower her down while someone catches her at the bottom). Not today!
Today she walked right out there and jumped in the pool. She pulled herself up to a floating position on the surface of the water and started swimming to me like a champ!
And then proceeded to do it about a dozen more times!
Here's a video Benjamin took (while the teenagers were eating pizza, and before pizza was offered to Benjamin):
She did great today!
And then she was moved to play in the 3 feet zone with the kids when they were playing Wax Museum and things instead of staying in the 2.5 feet zone where she's played the past few years.
Soon she won't need me in the pool at all! What will I do without a baby to play with at the pool?!
I'll have to start...swimming laps again...or something...
These are the faces of some very disappointed children whose swim meet got cancelled this evening:
I had a dentist appointment this morning and when I walked into my exam room (following the dental assistant), I was shocked to find the room full of people. My dentist waved a magazine in the air.
"I didn't know you were famous!!" she squealed.
Everyone clapped...and then dispersed and went about their business.
It was very embarrassing. Our dentist is...a really fun and wonderful person.
"My daughter went to UGA so I get this magazine! And I was reading it and I was like, 'I know her!' I highlighted your name and everything! It's just too bad that you're not showing your beautiful smile..."
Honestly, I'm a little crushed that of all the pictures the photographer took of me that is the one that they decided on...but...you know...whatever...it's fine.
I had no idea my picture was in there! I saw the online copy that did not have my picture, so I was as surprised as anybody to see my face in a magazine! The copy with my face is also online, but in a different place. I only looked for it after I saw the magazine, which my dentist let me read (but not keep because she's keeping it).
And then tonight one of Andrew's colleagues at BYU (who was previously at UGA) emailed him a picture of that very same spread! So I really am famous now, I guess.
On Sunday afternoon, Rachel, Miriam, Grandpa, and Darla piled into Grandpa's car to head to the airport. Andrew was their chauffeur.
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They made it to London without a hitch...except for the fact that their accommodations fell through.
Benjamin celebrated his birthday at camp this year—along with two other boys. Their camp leaders threw a little party for the three of them, complete with cake and candles. The highlight of Benjamin's time at camp was canoeing on the lake. He's also proud of the fact that they put four kids in a ten-man tent and stuffed ten kids on a two-man canoe—getting all into the stats side of thing.
He was a little bummed that he missed the last swim meet (especially since Zoë did so well and he didn't get any ribbons at Fun Friday...because...well...he didn't swim), but he's excited that he gets to try swimming an IM at this coming meet (that's and "individual medley," where he'll swim butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle).
We opened presents after Fun Friday (so Benjamin is in his swimming suit). Phoebe wanted to have the best seat in the house right beside the birthday boy. And is she still in her pyjamas? Why, yes, she is!
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As we suspected Zoë had quite a few ribbons waiting for her at Fun Friday this morning. Uncle Patrick asked if she had robbed the ribbon giver—but, no! These ribbons were all hard-earned!
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Well, Phoebe woke up around 3:00 in the morning today.
When it became clear she wasn't going to go back to sleep I let her get up...but made her unload the dishwasher. And then we folded a load of napkins together (she was actually getting quite good at it by the end). And then we did a reading lesson.
At some point she asked if she could go back to bed, but was unsuccessful at falling asleep.
So we got up again and put in a load of laundry.
And then the kids got up for swimming practice, so they all had breakfast together. I made Phoebe play on her own while I did some work and when the kids got home, I went down for a long nap.
Phoebe...did not.
She played in the basement with Alexander and Zoë.
I left for the swim meet early with the kids (and still had to park on the street quite a distance from pool) and got them settled in "the bullpen" and checked in for my volunteer shift—I actually switched shifts with someone else. I was scheduled to be stroke and turn judge for the second half rather than the first half, but I just didn't know that I would have the stamina to make it through the second half (given my track record this week—cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze).
Zoë sang the national anthem (as she has for every meet we've hosted for the past two years—I think she's up to five times now...but she'll probably sing next week as well, bringing her total to six). Considering she's also coming off a cold, I think she did well! That official was so nice (I'm not sure what his name is, but you can see that he tries to step in when Zoë lost her place in the song—and that wasn't the only nice thing he did today, either!)
It's always hard for me to say goodbye to the beach...even though I know that regular-ordinary life is piling up back at home so we need to get back to real life. It's just so beautiful...
Our last beach day was a beautiful one.
When we got to the beach we found that the shallow waters were filled with jellyfish of sorts, so we were a little hesitant about getting into the water. Eventually we caught one and identified it as a brown comb jelly—so not a jellyfish at all. While jellyfish often have stinging tentacles, jellies are typically harmless.
Here's Benjamin holding one:
The kids had their first swim meet of the season this afternoon. It was drizzling when we arrived and soon started a veritable downpour. The chairs that I brought got completely soaked. All the children's towels were drenched. Everything was soggy.
I had Andrew bring an extra canopy for the kids when he came. I should have brought one when we set out, but ran out of time to grab it. Next time we'll be better prepared. It would probably be good to set up the canopies when it's sunny outside as well, truth be told, so it's good we dug them out.
Here's Alexander doing his warm up (he's adjusting his goggles—you can see "A Heiss" on his back):
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Zoë woke up early on Friday morning and convinced Grandpa and Darla to take her and Alexander to play pickle ball. So by the time I saw her she already felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
After breakfast we headed down to the beach, where we found so many creatures. Brown comb jellies, sand fleas, clams, fish, crabs...animals were everywhere.
Here's Zoë pretending to pop a clam into her mouth:
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I hardly took any pictures this day. When I got up, Phoebe was already wide awake, watching video montages on a phone. Sunrise was at around 5:45 every morning, so the day was already bright and well under way by the time we were getting up.
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Andrew didn't actually have to work on Wednesday, so he came to the beach with us in the morning for a quick splash in the gulf before playing tourists. It was another red flag day and the waves were just right for boogie boarding again.
Here's Phoebe enjoying some snuggle time with Daddy (she sure likes being held):
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The water was much choppier on Tuesday, which made it perfect for boogie boarding (but less perfect for Phoebe, who has given everyone a real arm workout this trip). Here you can see Phoebe in Grandpa's arms, along with all the kids (except for Alexander) and Darla:
We went in to St. Andrew's yesterday to visit the Panama City Publishing Company Museum (which was fantastic, by the way), but we arrived a little bit early so we did a little self-guided walking tour to see the Oaks By The Bay park and to look at the marina and things.
On the boardwalk just behind the park, Phoebe spotted a baby (doll) that had been left by the garbage can.
"I need to rescue that baby!" she said. "Can someone help me to rescue that poor garbage baby?"
Benjamin went to pull it out of the weeds. It was a little waterlogged but otherwise in pretty good shape.
Phoebe is always so happy when Daddy finishes his meetings (teaching classes is what he's mainly doing) and joins us at the beach. Look at her grin when she gets in his arms!
I've decided that I'll upload videos later since there are a few more steps to that and I...miss my desktop setup. So for now pictures will have to do.
We spent the entire day at the beach on Monday. Grandpa and Darla headed out to the beach with the littler ones as soon as they got up in the morning—which was quite early because the sun rises at 5:45 am (and not until 6:30 in Atlanta). The sunset feels early as well. And I'm still trying to figure out the tides because...what is happening tomorrow? Some kind of reset button or something?
Here are the tides for Panama City Beach:
Look how small the difference is between the high and low tide! We have hardly been able to notice when (and whether) the tide is changing—it only comes in/out 2 feet over the course of the entire day!
We left for our trip quite uneventfully. Alexander and Zoë rode with Grandpa and Darla. Our van was quiet with the rest of the kids in there. We listened to Hamilton until Columbus, where we stopped at the Infantry Museum (which has been declared America's #1 Free Museum for several years in a row). It was a pretty good stop to make, especially on such a rainy day—we had plenty of space to stretch our legs inside and by the time we were ready for our picnic lunch things had dried up a bit.
Phoebe and I were snuggling in bed the other morning and I decided to ask her about her favourite things. Just to make conversation.
"What's your favourite colour?" I asked.
"Umm...all of them!" she said.
"I feel that," I said...because she seems to have inherited my own dis/satisfaction with everything in the world. I simply don't understand how to choose a favourite colour. That feels like too big of a commitment. I admit to feeling drawn to certain colours of certain items at times, but I don't feel like I often seek out specific colours for things...if that makes sense. All colours are beautiful.
"What's your favourite animal?" I asked next.
"Ooooh! Dood question...all of them!" she said.
"All of them?" I asked.
"All of them—dogs, cats, horses, giraffes, lions. Just all of them."
"So what about spiders?"
"Not spiders! I do not like spi...well...nice spiders. I still like nice spiders."
"And snakes?"
"If they're nice."
"So you just like animals in general?"
"Yup. Hey, Mom—you know, like November, January, February, April, June, May, July and August?"
"The twelve months of the year? Yes, I'm familiar. Should we sing them?"
"Yes. But first, what's your favourite schedule?"
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Something else that has been taking up a fair bit of my time lately has been getting all our paperwork in order to apply for proof of citizenship in Canada for the kids. They've all been citizens since birth...I've simply never registered their births with the government...if that makes sense. So they are Canadian by right...but had no evidence of it.
It was not unlike the process we had to go through to get Miriam her American citizenship of birth abroad record. She was never not American, but she doesn't have an American birth certificate. She has a record of birth abroad. Her birth certificate is Egyptian. But she doesn't have Egyptian citizenship.
I submitted her birth abroad certificate when I applied for Canadian citizenship, but that didn't count. I had to send in her Egyptian birth certificate (along with a translation...and an affidavit from the translator...who was Andrew). It worked out fine.
Other than that we had to provide:
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| All the important information is on the back of the certificate (sorry, scammers) |
To say nothing of Andrew's work schedule (which doesn't always populate on my calendar), today...
It's not unusual to see some swimming regression in young children at the start of the swim season. Typically I've made my kids pass a little "swim test" before I unleash them in the pool, but with a season of competitive swimming under their belts, I wasn't too worried about Benjamin, Zoë, or Alexander this year. In fact, I told Benjamin that he's 100% in my worry-free zone (along with Rachel, Miriam, and honestly Zoë). Alexander was a bit of a grey zone for me, but he jumped in the pool and started swimming like a champ so I think he's fully confident.
Phoebe, on the other hand, who has been asking "When's it gonna be May?" and begging to go to the pool since the beginning of October (the pool closes at the end of September), was a little less confident when she dipped her toes into the chilly water earlier this month.
And then we had a spate of unseasonably cold weather that prevented us from going to the pool at all...so we've only been to the pool three times this month (maybe four)!
The first day Phoebe would hardly do anything. Yesterday she saw some of her little friends from co-op (who are a bit older than her) doing things like bobbing under water to look at each other and they invited her to join in their game...and she did! They'd count out—1, 2, 3!—and then all the little girls would go under water, blow some bubbles, and bounce back up to yammer about how good they all were at holding their breath. It was cute and really helped Phoebe feel brave again.
Today she declared that she "can swim now!"
And she's really doing pretty well—she even held a back float for a few seconds!
Yesterday we were going around the table, asking the kids what they'd learned in church that day. Phoebe was first. And sometimes (like yesterday) she's just not in the mood for discussion.
"What did you learn at church today?" I asked.
"I dunno. You tell me," she retorted.
"I can't tell you what you learned, because I don't know what you didn't know before. Only you know that."
She eventually told us that they played a game in class, but she doesn't know the name of the game or how the game goes. And she didn't want to mention a favourite part of the day, either. So...we moved along to Alexander...
Phoebe had some iPad time while I was taking a nap after church. Technically Daddy ended up having a nap after church as well (only he napped on the couch).
She took many, many pictures of the carpet before deciding that she was a better subject—not in a vain way, I'm sure, but in an artistic, self-exploratory sense. Probably.
Her curls...still smite me...
Turns out graduating is pretty low key when you're a homeschooler.
While Andrew was in his meeting on Monday afternoon I walked the kids up the street from my building to the natural history museum (after sending Rachel outside to wait with the other kids while Zoë helped me in the book room for a little while).
It's a pocket (of a) museum—a tiny little space—but the kids had a good time and learned some things.
Zoë and Alexander did the little scavenger hunt they have for kids:
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As I suspected, the playground at the botanical gardens was a huge hit with the kids.
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