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Sunday, July 2 - dooms: Visiting Dooms - White Family Gathering We spent the day at the Dooms with much of the White family. The Raymers showed up, too. Melissa and Jeff took out the paddle boat a lot. The grinning baby is Kyle Raymer. This is the day of the big volleyball tournament, which we won, as we have for the past four years. Go SLYC! |
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Monday, July 3 - dooms: Visiting Dooms The kids got a haircut first thing in the morning. The Raymers headed home in the afternoon. I got some adorable pictures of Kayli playing with the mirror in the dining room while we were eating dinner. |
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Monday, July 3 - whites: Cleaning the Storage Units All of my dad's sisters came into town to clean out my grandparents' storage units. It has been a sad time. I had come over to Jackson from the Dooms' house and the weather got bad, so I spent the night at the Hampton with the girls. It was very fun. They have such a great time together! |
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Tuesday, July 4 - photos: Family Pictures These are pictures that I found while we were going through all of the photos we found in the storage units. |
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Tuesday, July 4 - whites: Cleaning the Storage Units We were cleaning the storage units more, but mostly just collecting everything we could to take to my parents' house, so we could look through memorabilia and pictures in more comfort. It was a fun night, surprisingly. We teased each other about our ugly hair and clothes in the pictures, and found some cute pictures of my parents when they were first married. The cousins were here, too - Brett, Morgan, and Sarah. |
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Wednesday, July 5 - dooms: Visiting Dooms - Fishing! Xander was playing fishing with Travis! He had Travis on the rope, and reeled him in while Travis jumped and pretended like he was a fish. It was pretty funny. Travis is a pretty hilarious father. Xander was giggling his head off. |
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Wednesday, July 5 - grandpa: Boy Scout Camp My dad and his sisters donated some money to the Sauk Trail Council toward their new dining hall and shower hall. A man walked us around and showed us all the features of the dining hall, as well as some of the camp sites and the swimming area. It was interesting, but somehow very sad. We left them with some things of my grandpa's that we found in his things, including a bandana, a Boy's Life magazine, and several nametags from conferences he had been to. They have a museum there, so maybe it will find a place there. |
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Thursday, July 6 - whites: Melissa's Pictures of Kayli Melissa took a bunch of pictures of Kayli while they were playing outside, entertaining Kayli so I could sort through things with my aunt. Melissa's boyfriend Jeff is holding Kayli in some of the pictures. There are also a few pictures of my grandparents' things and the sisters. |
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Friday, July 7 - whites: Sorting Grandparents' Stuff Another day of sorting my grandparents' things. We went through some memorabilia, and we also looked at jewelry. There were some beautiful items. I tried to get pictures, but my camera wasn't cooperating. The cousins came home from Cedar Point late in the evening and relaxed on the porch for a few minutes before heading home. |
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Monday, July 10 - momsclub: Fire Department at General Meeting The fire department came to our general meeting today. They did an excellent presentation for the kids first, then let the kids climb around in the truck. The presentation was so good... they had the kids paying close attention, and included useful information like "this is what we look like all geared up - don't be afraid of us!" |
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Friday, July 14: Waterpark! We headed to the waterpark on the way home from the MOMS Club playgroup, and that was perfect. It was SO HOT at the playground, and the pool water felt so good! We had a fantastic time. Kayli loved splashing in the water, and clinging to me as we swam around, and Xander was very independent, but playing with me. He didn't need to be very close to me to feel secure, and he's so stable in the water now that I didn't worry about him. So much fun! Really a perfect time. |
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Friday, July 14 - momsclub: Castle Playground We went to a castle playground for a MOMS Club playgroup. It was a very nice playground, but it was devastatingly hot and nasty out. We didn't stay too long. |
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Saturday, July 15 - birthday: Happy 8 month Birthday, Kayli! Kayli turned 8 months old a few days ago! Here are the cake pictures! She got her hands in the cake during the first set, and the second set shows her crying because I washed it off her fingers instead of letting her eat it. Poor thing. |
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Wednesday, July 19: Pool Day! We put water in Xander's pool and the kids had a great time playing in the cold water. Kayli loved it, as you can see from her huge grin. I think she's a mermaid like her mom. |
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Wednesday, July 19 - library: Turtle Lady We went to the library first thing in the morning to see the Turtle Lady. She was fantastic! She showed the kids turtles, snakes, toads, and dragons. She spoke to them at an appropriate level, so they were riveted, and yet I learned a lot, too. I was fascinated. She let them touch them, which Xander enjoyed. |
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Thursday, July 20: My Dad's X My dad made a wooden X when he was just a kid. We found it in my grandparents' things and he gave it to me to give to Xander, saying, "I made this a long time before I knew I would have a grandson named Xander!" |
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Friday, July 21 - miniu: Mini-Olympics Xander's preschool had a mini-olympics, in which the kids all participated in non-competitive age-appropriate activities, with an audience of hot and sweaty parents. Very hot that day! I had to take Kayli to the doctor, so Travis took pictures for me. |
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Sunday, July 23: Columbus Xander, Kayli, and I went to Columbus today, rather spur of the moment. One of my livejournal friends was going to COSI, I'd never been there, and I knew Travis would appreciate a weekend day off from childcare. So, we hit the road about 11am. We got home at 9pm. Long day! We got to COSI just as it opened, and quickly found the KidsPlace, which is a locked area for kids. Xander and I played together for a while, until my friend showed up, along with her friend. Amazingly, Xander played by himself for a long time and I got to sit and chat with my new friends. Great! After playing at COSI, we met Frank, who was just hanging out at the jazz fest outside. We wandered around a bit, got some fantastic lemonade, rode a John Deere tractor, and watched a hot air balloon take off. Finally, we hit the road for home. Xander was very good, especially considering that he hadn't eaten since a small breakfast at 10am. He really is a good boy. And cute! |
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Monday, July 24: Fountains with Holly Holly had been gone for a week, so Xander, Kayli, and I headed downstairs for a quick run through the fountains. That was our plan, anyway. It turns out that 10 foot fountains are a bit intimidating to 3 foot boys. So, we sat and chatted and Xander ate a hot dog instead. |
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Tuesday, July 25 - moonbeams: Megan's Last Playgroup It was Megan's last playgroup! Very sad. We'll miss her (and Mackenzie and Hunter) a lot. |
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Wednesday, July 26: Park with Delia and Kids Delia and I met at the park and I watched Connor there while she went to an eye appointment. That was pretty nice. The kids got along pretty well, and there were other kids to play with, too. Xander played tag with some of the kids that showed up. |
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Saturday, July 29: Peaceful Picket for Midwives My midwives are no longer welcome at Greene Memorial Hospital, so I went to a "peaceful picket" to show my support for midwifery in general. It was a hot day, but we were in the shade, and I got to chat with a lot of like-minded women. Did it make a difference? Who knows. But we tried. |
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Saturday, July 29 - momsclub: MOMS Club Spa Night We had our MOMS Club annual spa night at my house. It was, as usual, quite fun! We had a masseuse and an eyebrow threader who also did pedicures. We played silly games and ate lots of food. We laughed a lot and kept Xander awake. The best part about this year was that Travis's mom was here and got to play with us! |
