We have been doing so many wonderful things this summer. We wouldn’t want the kids to have nothing to talk about for their “what I did over the summer” chat on the first day of school. I guarantee you, my kids will still all answer by saying “nothing.” As I’ve mentioned before, we have a summer bucket list made up and have been checking off things as we go!

Last weekend, we went to a train museum, which was one of Joseph’s items. We got to look around the museum, meet some awesome people, and go for a train ride. We even got to experience an old school turn-table. It was pretty neat and the kids were quite excited. Taylor was a little less excited on this trip, but she powered through.

Yesterday, however, was quite possibly one of my favorite days ever. We went a bit upstate to a sunflower festival, where most of the money raised goes to the Make a Wish Foundation. There were fields and fields of sunflowers; fourteen acres, to be exact! There were sunflower mazes, tractor rides where we got to feed cows right off the side of the tractor, etc. We met a teen pageant queen who was there volunteering and took pictures with the kids for her website. It was such a magical morning for me. Sunflowers are my absolute favorite flower. They are so bright and cheerful, and they are so strong. I really love them. I was definitely emotional yesterday. It was one of the only moments this summer where I knew spending “that much” money was a good thing. The money was going to such a good cause. For those who aren’t familiar, the Make A Wish Foundation helps grant wishes to children who are very ill. The wishes include, but are not limited to a family vacation, trip to Disney, sporting event, meeting celebrities, etc. It’s an incredible organization. It was amazing to purchase a few bouquets of fresh sunflowers ($10 each bundle) and pay for some tractor rides and know that I was helping the cause. I teared up watching my healthy children carry bundles of sunflowers, laugh as the cows licked their hands, and frolic through fields of beautiful flowers. At one point on the tractor ride, I looked down and saw my handsome boys holding each other’s hand as they took in the world around them. I took a moment to just watch in awe and be thankful that they were all healthy and thankful that this is an organization I can support for kids who need extra happiness. It really was amazing.

Since we were so far up the line anyway, we ended up going to Mystic (for the second time this summer) and hanging out there for a few hours. We had homemade ice cream at our favorite spot, walked around the village, and visited the penguins (another favorite of mine – it seriously was my lucky day) and all the other animals at the aquarium. By the time we headed for home, Todd and I were starving, since we only packed lunch for the kids and it was already dinner time. He and I ended up getting takeout Mystic Pizza for dinner and eating it in a parking lot behind a convenience store as the kids watched a DVD in the back and started dozing off. It was such a random, unpredictable afternoon, but that’s what I love about us. We just go with the flow and have a good time. Todd and I had so many good laughs and reminisced about all the times we came to Mystic alone, prior to kids, and how different, but equally magical it is now.

I am really dreading the fact that it’s nearly August and the start of school is just around the corner. We are going to absorb every bit of summer that we can and continue our adventures!

Have you ever heard of “suck and sweet?” I heard about it in a book I was reading a while back. Sometimes, families sit around the table and say one thing that sucked about their day and one thing that was sweet. Cute concept. Let’s play.

My Suck: So a few nights ago, the kids and I were downstairs playing. It was close to bedtime, so I told everyone to finish up and come upstairs. Taylor went up, but yelled that she needed me to help her with something immediately, so up I went. I told the boys to turn of the light and follow right behind me, which they did. Sort of.  We all got pajamas on, teeth brushed, and got into bed. I was exhausted and was so proud that I had managed to be caught up on all of the laundry and the house was clean. Awesome. I actually grabbed a blanket and a book and curled up on the couch with the dog. About an hour later, Todd came home. He was exhausted, and we thought about how nice it was that the kids were all asleep and we could go to bed “early.” He went to walk Ranger, came in, and went to put the alarm system on (downstairs.) A few minutes later, he came to the top of the stairs yelling for me to come down. “Ri, the boys flooded the downstairs.” Todd and I are no strangers to flood damage. When we lived in our condo, the woman above us caused a flood which left us out of our home for months. Fearing the worst, I went downstairs and instantly felt the cool squish of the carpet beneath my feet and felt my stomach churn simultaneously. We had water in our family room, the laundry room, the hallway, the garage, and the bathroom, which was the source of the carnage. Apparently, when I told the boys to come upstairs, Frick and Frack thought it would be a good idea to turn on the water in the sink, PLUG the sink, and come upstairs. I can not even describe how much water there was everywhere…and this was only about an hour and a half later. Thank goodness Todd went downstairs, or we would have had a much worse situation to deal with. I frantically called my friend who lives down the street, and Todd ventured down to her house to borrow the shop vac. It must have been some sight to see Todd lugging the shop vac along our street at 10 pm. After a few hours of cleaning, we were done for the night. While Todd was exhausted at work the next day, I cleaned out the entire garage, cleaned up the water we missed in the dark and did countless loads of laundry. Between the laundry and the twin-made Niagara Falls scene, I don’t even want to know what our water bill is going to look like.

My Sweet: Taylor told me she had never seen a rainbow in real life and was sad about it. She said they are so pretty on tv and in pictures that I’ve shown her, but she never got to see one for herself. The sun was shining bright as we were out on the deck, so I grabbed the hose and made it happen. I made a rainbow for my girl and became an instant hero. As I tucked her into bed that night, I asked her what her favorite part of the day was. We had done a ton of fun things all day, yet her answer was not about the new toys, pool time, or ice cream sundae. She got tears in her eyes, gave me a huge hug and said “The rainbow, Mom. I really love that you made me my own rainbow because it was so special.” That, my friends, is as sweet as it gets.

What’s your suck and sweet?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I have the sweetest girl of all time. She is always doing something kind and she just makes me so proud.

Today, we pretty much stayed inside doing nothing. It was overcast but really humid and was the perfect day to catch up on some tv and snuggles. We’ve been spending a LOT of time outside (mostly in the pool). We’ve been doing activities on our “Summer to-do list” and having so much fun. Since it’s summer, the kids are staying up later, and we are generally just having a blast with each other. This explains my lack of blogging, but all is well here.

So today, I mentioned to the kids that we needed to go to the vet to pick up heart worm medication for Ranger. Taylor asked me why he needed it and I explained the reasons. She asked if the vet just gives it to me, and I told her that we had to pay for it first, but then we would bring the medicine home. She looked puzzled, and then said “Mom, can you help me reach my piggy bank, please?” She came out of her room with five crumpled one dollar bills and a dime. She brought them to Ranger to show him and told him that she wanted to help pay for his medicine to keep him healthy. She stuffed the money in her purse, and off we went, nightgown and all.

Clearly, heart worm medication costs much more than $5, but she didn’t know that. All she knew was that Ranger needed something, and she wanted to help contribute. She loves him so much, and the feeling is quite mutual! She asked him to pose for a picture with the medicine so she could always look at the picture to see how happy and healthy he is. I mean, come on! Does it get any sweeter than that?

Heart of gold.