Denise’s High and Lofty Goals:

1. To go camping often! Bring along friends, mine and the kids.
2. To read my brains out–particularly nonfiction feminist and anti-racial books, writing up my notes.
3. To see at least one national park.
4. Go through all Algebra II book.
5. Complete clock hours for STEM/ teaching certificate.
6. Play on the beach!
7. Finishing painting and staining the deck and roof line.
8. Heave both side yard projects completed by end of August.
9. Clean and organize garage (because if I didn’t get it down during 4 months of quarantine, then I’ll definitely get around to it this summer).
10. Eat veggies we’ve grown.
11. Get down to x pounds, by walking and eating healthy.
12. Connect with couple-friends.
13. Visit Dan and Deborah.

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Kyla’s Thoughtful Goals as written in the third person (edited for b/d reversals):

This summer, Kyla wants to ride her bike, feel the wind through her hair, and her muscles continually pulling. A summer trip to Cannon Beach. To clamber on rocks and splash in the waves. Get a donut sometime.

Kyla plans on seeing her friends. Maybe for a move or walk. Go adventuring, swimming, exploring. When all is done have sun-kissed skin to show the fun.

On a more academic note, Kyla wants to make sausages and practice Spanish. Listen to lots of books, and I mean lots.

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How Wesley Will Spend His Summer

1. Get to Wave 100 in Balloons TD6. (If this makes sense to you, you have wasted your life.)
2. Play with Abigail.
3. Have a sleepover with Abigail.
4. Get laser tag as a summer surprise.
5. Go to Oregon in the RV.

[Mother’s Note: All but the sleepover were pretty much accomplished by Day 4 of Summer Break. Well played, Son.]

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Piper’s First Summer Tantrum:

NO SCHOOL WORK!

I’m about to embark on a new blogging platform
that gives me more control of the basics–
font size being primary.
This platform is driving me mad. 
Let’s see if we come out of this on the other side intact, shall we?

(These are the 5 font sizes I get: smallest, small, normal, large, largest.)  I need “normal” to be more, well, normal.

 I don’t know what these two discussed, but I’m guessing Brian ended up compromising to this cutie.

  

This is the first time the kids (and Dwayne, it turns out!) got to travel in the Unnamed Beast.  It is exactly what they love about motorhomes, sitting in a moving living room.  Being a newb, I let them go into the convenience store themselves when we stopped for gas, and I let them bring their tablets.  So they basically ate candy (I found out how much later when we arrived at our destination) and played video games in their moving living room.  

We liked the location of our Leavenworth park–it was less than a mile from town, and Dwayne and I discovered some new neighborhoods to walk around before we fortuitously stumbled across the Icicle Irrigation Creek trail.

We spent the rest of the weekend camping and adventuring–and working on the broken motorhome, exactly as we’d be cautioned by….everyone.

Downtown Leavenworth was even more enjoyable than usual, with slightly fewer crowds and the main streets blocked off to cars.  Restaurants were doing take out, and the Gingerbread Factory was still selling cookies, so we survived.

I always think I love downtown Leavenworth best, but really, I try to spend most of my time on the trails along the river.   We walked in both Saturday and Sunday, returning to a “secret” place with a rope swing over the water. 

I read that Starbursts are THE new s’mores.  My review? There really is no need to look beyond the regular s’mores…particularly with dark chocolate or Thin Mints. 

And the RV repair?  Either we brought it home this way, or the connection was so tenuous that regular road bumps shook it loose, but when we showered Friday night, the drainpipe was not connected to the shower drain.  Fortunately (?), we were unlevel enough that the water ran out toward the front door, so we quickly discovered we had a major water leak somewhere.  Dwayne wormed his hand back through the spaces, and discovered the gap:

We were unable to reattach it ourselves, but we have an appointment to have it fixed (under warranty) before our next outing.  I was able to easily reattach the pantry door that fell off, and minimalize the water damage, so we’ll get the hang of it eventually.

Overall: I love it.  Even the first trip, when I had just hours to go from bare shelves to outfitting it with everything we might ever need (from tools and power converters to TP and dish soap) while still packing all the usual camping gear…well, it may have been a bit too much to do single-handedly.  But the kids loved it, I slept well, we ate well, and mostly, it was an easy camping experience.  

In a fit of madness and enthusiasm, we bought an RV!  Dwayne, kindly, graciously, capitulated to my desire to have a motorhome.  And today, we picked her up and brought her home. Her name was only “Baby” until we got her into the driveway.  Now she’s missing a first name, but I’m pretty sure her middle initial is “T” for “Trouble”.  

Wes needs academic breaks that are full-body, and ideally, ripe with opportunity to damage himself or property.  So he took what was meant to be a target practice dummy and decided to replace throwing balls with throwing his body.  After 10 years, it takes a lot more than this to impress Mama. Jumping jacks on his hoverboard almost did it. 

    I opened the book, and we read about Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, and Daisy Bates. We looked at pictures of civil rights marches, and we talked about why people march. “Someone once said that marching is praying with your feet,” I told them.

 

    Amma pointed to a white woman holding a sign, marching in a sea of black and brown people.  Her eyes popped and she said, “Mama, look! Would we have been marching with them?  Like her?”

 

    I fixed my mouth to say, “Of course.  Of course we would have, baby.”

 

    But before I could say it, Tish said, “No, Amma. We wouldn’t have been marching with them back then. I mean, we’re not marching now.”  Untamed, by Glennon Doyle (2020), p. 207

Gut punch. Ouch.

Our community held a Black Live Matter rally this afternoon, and I invited my family to join me.  While it wasn’t technically the least I could do, it was a far gap from the most that could be done.  Dwayne was the first one to volunteer to come with me, even though it was “sixteen miles” out of our comfort zone.  By the time we left, all three kids were with us.  (Wesley agreed to join us when he found out he would not be allowed to play video games while we were gone.)  

Photo bombed by Piper’s BFF and her dad

I was so glad to share this with my family and proud of my children for participating and listening during the two-and-a-half-hour rally.  I was able to grab a box of ice cream treats for the kids so they ended on a sweet note.