Late Summer 2015

We spent a lovely week in Utah with both the Bailey and Vandagriff families. It was the first time all the Bailey siblings have been together since 2009. Way too long! With 19 grandchildren, Carl and Claudia were brave to host this brood. Because of their mission responsibilities, we saw them primarily in the evenings. The kids were never without a buddy (and often, a dog), and I was grateful for my parents and their willingness to let us stay at their house. Sharing two bathrooms with six people is a lot easier than sharing two bathrooms with 20+ people! The week went by quickly. Then we got to return to consistently triple digit temperatures. Which, strangely enough, I have now grown accustomed to and don't mind. 

Moms and kids went to Avila Beach right before school started. The water is never really warm there--a fact I still don't like and can't get used to, but the kids (and moms) still had ample fun. Jack and Jalen Manivanh spend the entire time day out in the water (the reason I don't have pics of them), and the youngers played on the shore or in the sand. 

Astrid ate so much sand, I started to worry. However, I had never seen her so happy in her thirteen months of life.

Nathan was terrified of the water, excited about the sand, and ecstatic about the snacks.

Micah would get in the water every so often (and get a mouthful of sand). For the week after, he constantly talked about building his house in "San Luis Pobipso". 

 Nathan, Micah, Tatum, Emma, Quinn, Decker, and Carter: 

Allan was finally able to compete in that Half Marathon he's been training (by running thirteen miles every Saturday) for nearly TWO YEARS. Now he's got an official time under his belt. This race is appropriately named "Hell of a Half Marathon" because it takes place on August 15th with a rather late start time. It also involves running up Mt. Doom (or something like that). We arrived at the perfect time to cheer him across the finish line. 

He was sweaty.

The finishers' swag included some pretty decadent breakfast burritos. Allan graciously shared, and half of our children were devastated when it was gone. It was that good.

There is an ice cream shop about 45 minutes away that pretty much blows away any ice cream shop that you've ever been to. Allan read about it in, of all places, The New York Times. We got two single scoop bowls. This is one of them:

This is after. We were slightly concerned that Nathan seemed unphased by the massive amount of ice cream he had just consumed.

I continued what has to be the one of the more easily maintained traditions in our house: The Back to School Feast. More often than not, it involves spaghetti and meatballs and caramel apple cake. This year I got to make three crowns for three students.

"Look intelligent, Micah." Jack struck the exact same pose the night before his first day of kindergarten. 
 

 

Their first day of school. This was a bigger first day than usual. Not only was Micah starting K, but both of them were at a brand new school (to us), in a brand new district (again, to us). There were a lot of unknowns for these children and their parents. Thankfully, it went off without a hitch. Other than the fact that four months later, Micah still thinks that the school day is way too long, things have gone well. (I still strongly dislike the two different release times, but what can I do about it?)

 

I choose this as my final image of summer--the constant struggle to  try and keep Nathan out of the peaches.