The final camp of the summer was Bella's band camp. She worked very hard but had a great time too. I'm so happy that my kids found band/marching band. What an amazing group of people with whom they get to associate, and what amazing friendships they are developing, and what amazing skills and character traits they are developing as well. Sadly, her band leaders/chaperones didn't post any pictures of camp with her in them, so what I have is from the events since then - concert for the parents and their day at the University of Michigan.
Other random happenings this summer:
Benjamin got his wisdom teeth removed. He walked around in a zombie walk with his bloody mouth and looked sooo realistic. Hearing Benjamin speak with a numb mouth full of gauze is absolutely hilarious, but sadly he was never loopy enough to say anything truly embarrassing. I'll spare you the bloody pictures.
Benjamin also got his patriarchal blessing. What a momentous and special occasion! It's so incredible to remember your own experience and then watch your child receive one too. His blessing was beautiful and inspiring. I hope he will always cherish it.
Kelly and I and the younger two participated in the yearly Huron Valley River Clean-up project sponsored by the Milford Chamber of Commerce. I've been doing this with my kids for years and years but covid put a damper on things and it was so fun to get back into it and have Kelly along too. Float down the river picking up trash, enjoy the beautiful scenery and screen-free family time and get a free breakfast and lunch for it. Christian was the hero of the day diving into the river and picking up things our nets and grabbers couldn't reach. Even other boats were calling to him and having him get things for them.
I took the boys to Spring Mill Pond many times this summer. We love our new paddle board that we bought just before spring break. Our last visit was the best because the weather was cooler and overcast so very few people were there. We love nothing better than having the lake to ourselves. Christian's favorite thing was to play football from the paddle board. It just got tricky if you missed a catch. Then you had to go swimming for it.
I also took the boys mini golfing. Peter refused to be taught correct form. Any effort I made to show him how to swing was met with a club throw and a frustrated stomping off. So we gave up and let him do whatever he wanted. By the 5th hole he'd had enough of any kind of swinging and proceeded to jump in and out of the water hazard at hole 17 and to steal our balls and throw them around the course. Thankfully the course was empty except for us. I tried all my best parenting tricks but nothing really worked so I finally locked him in the car while we finished holes 17 and 18 and then we let him put the balls into the little ball return. He enjoyed that as much as any of the game. In the end, we all had fun and left happy and I discovered that Christian is a much better golfer than I thought. I was impressed.
Our trampoline finally reached it's end this summer with a hole big enough for Peter to fall into. So we got a new one.
We also got a new piano after Peter poured a glass of water over our old one. No matter how often you tell kids not to put their water glass on the piano, they will still put a water glass on the piano and then little brothers just can't wait to see what will happen if you pour it out. For the curious: the electric piano makes really funny sounds, even while no one is playing it, for a few days and then never makes another sound ever again.
So we got a new one which came in a VERY large box. What did the boys do with the box? Of course, a marksman's hideout. Ankles beware if you walk past this one. We had a great time rolling things in front of the box and trying to see if we could hit them.
