I think July is one of my favorite months of the summer. It's the only month I have out of the year with zero babysitting and it still feels like school starting up is a long way off yet which is awesome to have so many days to play with the kids, work on projects at home, stay up late and sleep late-ish (if I can sleep till 7 it feels like sleeping in),play games, watch movies, go swimming, etc. etc.
I did pretty well this summer with a daily exercise plan which felt great. I had hoped that Kalen could join me for morning walks like we used to do but he tried one day and it didn't work out. His knees and feet have been killing him lately. We took a shorter route but even that was torture for him and we had to go so slow that I felt like I didn't get much of a workout. I really, really want him to be able to go with me again sometime but I don't know how to get him in a condition to do that. In the meantime, Lynnsey and Spencer took turns being my walking partner on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Spencer made a great trainer because he would push me to run certain distances during the two miles we walked together. And Friday's with Lynnsey we called 5K Friday and would actually do a 5K route around town together.Tuesday and Thursday I stayed in and worked out to an exercise DVD and then we would go swimming at the college pool on those evenings so I got a second little workout. The pool was great for Kalen too since it was low impact and about the only exercise he can tolerate. The exercise was awesome and made me feel tons better, but I didn't actually lose much weight. If I'm going to do that, I have to actually do better with my eating habits and that's a tough one because, well, chocolate exists for one thing. So I still have lots of work to do, but it did feel good to at least have that start to getting healthier. Once school started it has been a lot harder to work in the level of exercise I was getting accustomed to over the summer, so I feel like I have slacked off. I do try to work in some good exercise throughout the day and when I wear a pedometer I find that I get between 7,000 and 10,000 steps a day on average, so I'm definitely not idle. It just doesn't feel the same as my concentrated summer workouts.
Anyway, Kendall wrapped up his visit to Utah. Just a couple of days before he had to head home, Justin came home from his mission and Kendall was able to go to the airport to welcome him home. And then he was there to visit with him and have a party before he had to head back to Michigan.
Once he got back, he had a couple of days here before taking off again for scout camp. All of his trek and backpacking experiences in Utah had him in great condition for backpacking on his high adventure Wilderness Survival Kodiak Challenge trip in Michigan. He had a phenomenal time.
We had made one zoo trip earlier in the summer, but Kendall had missed out on that one, so we made another trip back. It was so great that the weather was so mild this summer, so we had a beautiful day there.
I also made good on some of the dates that I owed the kids and it's something that I absolutely want to keep doing. It was so amazing to spend that one on one time with Lynnsey, Spencer, and Kaya (I still owe Kendall because he couldn't stay home long enough for me to take him somewhere!)
For the date, each kid got to choose the activity that they wanted to do (within reason, of course). Spencer chose to go miniature golfing followed by lunch at Burger King. We had the place nearly to ourselves so we took our time getting through the course. It had rained recently, so we kept finding these little tiny toads all over the green and Spencer carefully inspected each area for toads before we were allowed to play. He rescued quite a few of them.
For Kaya's date, she chose a trip to Marshall to get ice cream and hang out at the fountain. It worked out perfectly because we went during the other kids youth activity so I just dropped them off at the church and then got to hang out with Kaya talking and playing together for an hour and a half on a beautiful summer evening.
And Lynnsey chose for her date to see the new Inside Out movie. It was a super funny show and lots of fun to spend some time with this amazing daughter of mine who is growing up faster than I can even stand.
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One not so fun day of the month was spent at the allergist for Spencer's check-up. They decided to do a skin prick test to just get an idea how he is still reacting to certain things. His poor back was just covered in welts afterward and he was so itchy. Basically we learned that he still has allergies. A lot of them--and not just to food. He reacted to pollen and cats as well as a few other things. So now he's begun getting allergy shots once a week. Kalen gets them too so we arranged to have Spencer get his done at the same office in Marshall that Kalen goes to. They go every Thursday morning and Spencer has been a real trooper to go through it every week. I'm hoping that it will help!
Later that night we had a family celebration for him with our gifts to open and a real cake that Kendall made for him that actually turned out pretty amazing for an allergy-free concoction.
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