June 2020 Roundup

June was a great month for us! After weeks of not doing much or anything or seeing anyone, we were able to venture out to do some fun things and play with friends again! Even though a lot of things were still restricted, it felt good to have some normal in our life. 

Our playgrounds are finally open again! We bought lunch at Sonic this day as a special treat and enjoyed playing and eating with friends. 

Dave found a large toad in the backyard while he was mowing and called Sophie over to see, who caught it before he could hop away - she loves critters! After playing with him for a bit, we drove to the pond across the street where he could live a better life. 

We got a couple fun Pixar puzzles this month to add to our collection

Static hair from the slide!

Climbing trees at the splash pad

A sign that little boys live in this house

Now that we are done with kids, I've started cleaning out all the girl stuff I had saved from Sophie that we will not need.  It was fun to look through it all and we had a good time seeing what Griffin would like as a little lady

Bowling outing with my motley crew

I made angel food cake (it looked awful, but tasted delicious) and the kids devoured it

Sophie volunteering at the food bank with her friend Emery

We had a low key Father's Day with church and dinner at home. Everyone loves dad!! Dave's favorite gift was a song from the kids that the made up on the spot (video below).

We love swimming! I think we average 5 days a week at the pool, unless there are thunderstorms to close it down.  It's a lot of work for me to take them, but the kids always have a great time, and leave happy and tired.

 

The zoo reopened and we made a couple trips to go see the animals. It was a great outdoor activity to add something different to our routine.

Me hanging with Griff while the other kids played in a tree

Big brothers heling little brother do his tummy time

Sophie finished working through her entire math book so we went to Sweet Sipz to get a rainbow drink and cookie as a special reward. She is becoming a math wiz!

June 2020 Video Clips

Griffin at 3 Months

Griffin is 3 months old! We love this guy's squishy lips and cheeks and snuggle him all day long. He's started laughing, cooing and has become an amazing sleeper - 12 hours with just one feed. Favorites right now include sucking on his hands, hanging out with mom, and being naked, which happens often because it's officially summer in Texas. 

I took his blanket photo before leaving town, but didn't look at it until later and just noticed some rude hand gestures were involved... oops, but it's too late to fix it now

Griffin at 3 Months

• Wearing 6 month clothes, mostly for length and not width. He's also in size 2 diapers and goes through so many each day because this kid loves to poop!
• Just like his brothers, he is a fast eater who likes to eat every couple hours. 
• He was totally bald last month after all his hair fell out, but now it's coming back in and we are loving how soft his little head is.
• He makes full use of his daylight hours and never wants to miss out on anything. His naps are normally short and he stays up until almost midnight every day, but then sleeps real well at night so I can't complain.
• He does not like his car seat, but the only places we really go right now are the pool and grocery pickup, which are both only 5 minutes away.

Sweet baby lashes and chubby cheeks

Mr. Big Eyes helping me check out our new doorbell camera

We are loving his smiles these days!

Always wide-eyed and ready to engage

Now that he has better neck control, I feel a little more comfortable about letting the other kids (especially Davey) hold him

Charlie has never shown any jealousy or aggression towards Griffin, but hasn't totally warmed up to him either. Most of the time he is happy to keep some distance.

Naked at the pool - I took him for a quick swim because it gets hot even in the shade, but he prefers laying on a towel with me nearby

The Pool is OPEN for the summer!

No public pools in Amarillo are opening this summer due to COVID, but the pool at our gym opened at the end of May! I was worried for a long time that they would also close, which would have made me cry because you really can't survive a Texas summer without a pool. At first they opened at just 25% capacity, which was actually really nice as long as you got in. Now they are operating at 50%, which feels busy, but still not as crowded as a typical summer. We have been swimming 4-5 days a week because it's one of the only things to do right now, and the kids love it!! 

On June 1st we were one of the first in line to swim!

Griffin also had a huge blowout on our first day and spent the rest of the afternoon naked. Now I have a backup onesie in our pool bag :)

We got this fun dragon float at Sam's once I heard the pool was opening.  

Griffin showing off his old man body

We talked our best friends into joining the gym so they could swim with us! Now we meet up with them 3 or 4 days a week. Sophie and Emery could swim together for hours. 

Griffin all bundled up after his first time in the pool! Some days it's just too hot to sit on side with him, even if we are in the shade, so I dug our our baby float and brought him in with me. At first he cried, but once he got used to the water he really liked it and eventually fell asleep!

Some tired boys - another wonderful side effect of swimming

Fun with Friends at Lake Makenzie

I would never take four little kids to a lake in the middle of nowhere by myself, but when you go with a friend it makes the day not only possible, but really fun! Neither of us had ever been to Lake Makenzie before, and we only knew about on recommendation from my friends pest control guy. It's a reservoir near Tulia, TX which is about an hour southeast of our house. Once you arrive, however, you have to drive down a crazy steel, unpaved road to get to water level. And there is no cell reception in the area. We were both worried about whether our minivans would be able to handle it, but we made it in and out okay!

Once you get down the hill you can pull your car right up to the water to unload your stuff, which was wonderful! We had a cooler, towels, toys, a shade tent, and more and I was so glad I didn't have to try and haul it all from a parking lot to the water. We just popped the trunk and dumped everything out right on the beach. We stayed and played for almost 4 hours, and even then the kids weren't ready to go home. Hopefully we can make it back once more before summer is over!

Overlooking Lake Mackenzie. The beach where we swam was on the other side of the lake. When water levels are high they allow motor boats and wave runners, but since we are in a drought right now the boat launches are closed and we had the lake to ourselves. 

We made it down the cliffs to the water!

Emery and Sophie spent hours digging a river in the sand

Jaxon, Davey and Tayson

Charlie enjoying a popsicle with his best frenemy Rossi

There was lots of sand to play in and the water was nice and warm. There was some muck all around the shoreline that I didn't care for, but it didn't seem to bother the kids.

I brought the baby bouncer, which turned out to be a fantastic idea. Griffin had somewhere to sit/sleep up off the sand and it wasn't as hot as me holding him in my arms.

Charlie loved floating around in the river tubes

These silly girls decided to turn themselves into mud monsters. Luckily it all came out in the  wash and her swimsuit was not stained black.