Summer is in Full Swing.

The summer has started out with a bang.  Despite June being a bit cooler, the girls have taken the opportunity to enjoy a little pool time.  Kendall is 'throwing' Sidney in the pool.

One of the ladies from church held a 4-week bible study for the 6th (soon to be 7th) grade girls.  They have met one morning a week in the park.  The girls have really appreciated the bonding time, as well as learning how to navigate the tricky lives of a 12 year old girl, biblically.

Kevin had been hanging on to the ashes of Cooper and Coco and had always wanted to take them to a special place along the river where we used to take the dogs to swim.  The girls and I finally made it happen.  It was bittersweet.

Kendall took her first solo plane ride to visit my parents.  Sid and I will be joining her after a week.  She was excited and also super nervous.  She did great!

My parents were waiting for her at the baggage claim on the other end.  Nice work, Kendall!

Sidney has been gaining a lot of confidence in handling Bailey lately.  She has been taking advantage of the alone time to spend some extra time with him.

Golfing with my Pop.

My dad came down for Father's day weekend, which was coincidentally my birthday weekend and Camp Lolo weekend as well.  We made a golf date for Saturday morning.  It was beautiful, and I golfed magnificently.  

Afterwards, we went out to lunch.  It was great to spend time with my dad.

The girls stayed the night with Hannah to help celebrate her birthday on Saturday night.  So, my dad and I made a tee time for Sunday morning.  I knew this was a bad idea, as I do not have that much golfing endurance.  Yes, it was a terrible idea.  I golfed horribly bad, but I made a vow not to get frustrated and just enjoy the morning.  For that, it was great!

Sunday evening, Terrell had us over to celebrate Father's day and my birthday.  We celebrated with Kevin's favorite, pineapple upside down cake.  Terrell bought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Each milestone brings with it a small bit of sadness.  It just does not feel the same.  As I told my sister, I will not pretend that before Kevin died things were perfect and now they are imperfect, but they are just 'different'.  Each 'different' thing is not necessarily bad, but it is just 'different'. We are figuring it out, for sure, but we miss him each and every day. 

Camp Lolo 2019.

A number of people had told me about Camp Lolo.  It is a camp for kids that have lost a loved one.  When I told the girls about it, neither one of them wanted to attend.  They both imagined a camp where kids sat around and cried and talked to counselors.  Being the understanding mom I am, I signed them up anyways.  

I am so glad I did, as they had the most amazing time!  It is a two day camp.  Parents drop the kids off at 8:30am and pick them up at 5pm.  The second day of camp, the parents arrive at 4pm for our own session on how to support our kids.  

Here are just a few highlights and pictures I stole from Camp Lolo's Facebook page. 

The kids made posters and shared about their loved one.  I watched the Facebook live video of this and could barely keep myself together.  Kevin's poster is on the left.

Clyde the camel visited.  Sidney also got to go horseback riding.  Kendall opted out of that activity.

There were dogs and goats that visited as well.

The kids went fishing and also had the opportunity to go kayaking (which both of the girls happily did).

They participated in yoga classes and arts and crafts.  Each of the kids had a camp 'buddy' that spent the full two days with them.

There were lots of laughter and a few tears.  They second night, my dad joined me for the parent event.  It was so good to have him there.  I have found that I can keep myself together until it is time to share.  As I told the group, despite the tears, we are doing well.

What an amazing gift this camp was.  The girls felt so supported.  They also met peers who had lost someone, be it a parent, sibling, grandparent, etc.  Each of their stories was unique, but they shared a  common thread.

Student Government (oh and beach bags)!

Oh my goodness, Sidney reminded me that I had not blogged about the student government elections.  Both of the girls decided to run for positions for next year.  Sidney threw her name in the hat as student body president.  She filled out an application, created a campaign speech and made a few posters.  When election day came, she delivered her speech to the student body.  She ran against two other hopefuls.  She was excited to learn the following day that she had been elected as president.  She is super excited, but mostly in title, I think.  The realities of the position (i.e. administering the recycling program, etc.) have not quite set in:).  I am just super proud that she put herself out there.  This is a huge step for Sidney.  She has been showing so much courage lately.  It has been awesome to see her doing more and smiling along the way.

Kendall ran against 18 hopefuls for 7th grade representative.  Her school is so huge, they elect 9 representatives.  She was able to do a bit more campaigning in the middle school.  She passed out jolly ranchers with her name on them.  She strategically waited until the other candidates had run out of candy to pass hers out.  She was also excited to learn that she had been elected as one of the 7th grade representatives.  Nice work!

I included these pictures to show of the beach towel beach bags the girls made with Celia last week.  They are beach towels that fold up into a beach bag for carrying their items.  They are super cute and convenient.  Celia's Craft Room Summer Sewing Camps

Mystery at the Big Top.

Sidney performed in her fourth Drama Kids play this year.  It is amazing how much she has grown through this program.  The girls and their grandma's had a lot of fun on the red carpet before the play began.

Sidney was asked to introduce the play this year.  She did an amazing job.

The play was about a circus group that kept having their performances sabotaged.  They set a trap to catch the suspect in the act.

All of the kids did an amazing job.  It takes a lot of courage and hard work to get on the stage and perform.

Oops and 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!'

This is what happens when you start filling the sink with dish soap and get distracted.  How did the girls see this and not say anything?  We all got a good laugh out of this one.

I have an obsession with round colorful placemats.  Rarely do they match, but they are so fun.  My mom bought me an early birthday present...new placemats!  These ones are just lovely and remind me of Dr. Seuss.

Sidney painted this beautiful picture for my mom.  I batted my eyelashes at her and sweet talked her into giving this one to me.  Sorry mom!  She did agree to paint you another one!

I tried my hand at Ombre hair again.  The girls were much braver and I was feeling much more accomplished. 

The Capitol Classic.

The girls ran the Capitol Classic again this year.  My mom came down to volunteer for the second year in a row.  It was so much fun.

Kendall found her friend, Brookelyn, at the start line.

My mom was a line leader, while I escorted kids from the cars to the starting line.

They changed it up this year and had the girls and boys run together.  It was great, as a few of those girls gave the boys a run for their money!

About halfway to the finish line, I got a call from Brookelyn's dad, Corey.  He told me that Sid had taken a huge dive onto the asphalt and was getting bandaged up.  I met up with her shortly after.  Two hands, two knees and one elbow later.  She was able to pull herself together and finish the race.  She did cry for a few minutes, but it had very little to do with her scrapes.  She was frustrated, because she had been on pace to beat her personal record for the mile.  I shared the story about the time my dad crashed his bicycle during a triathlon.  Yikes!

In typical fashion, the girls closed the place down.  They enjoyed the race, the food and the fun!