Summer Goals: BL Favorite Thing #4

Lest the free form and lack of structure at Bear Lake corrupt the kids, it’s been an Eyre tradition for years to have summer “deals.” We did them growing up….every single summer. It’s how we raised our money for school clothes. So, this year, I figured my kids were old enough to have their own summer “deals.” They were really into it.

Charlie petered out after the first little bit….but Hazel went strong the whole time. Whenever she got a little board I told her to go and work on her goals. She’d look at her chart and get going. I loved watching that determination.

She was especially determined by the “be a rock star” goal. Practiced daily, almost hourly. She now knows quite a few rock songs….can sing them word for word, and even has actions. A very important skill, if you ask me.

Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers, Mom, Dad – Bear Lake Favorite thing #3

This should probably be favorite thing #1.  The sheer number of cool people at Bear Lake is astounding.  My kids love it, I love it.  We all feel so enriched afterwards.  So many good people to talk to and play with and learn from.  So many chances to lead, to follow, to learn, to teach.  I especially love watching these important relationships develop for my kids…..their relationships with their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents are going to be so valuable to them throughout their lives.  It’s just so cool to have so long to nurture those bonds. 

My dad has placed all the cousins into different “groups.”  Hazel is in group #3 with Clare and Camden and Eliza.  It was there special year this year to build “treasure chests” with Grandfather and go on a little sleep over Grammie camp with Grammie.  They felt so special and big and bonded.  I love it that Hazel is the youngest in this group….it kind of tempers her bossiness….and she learns so much from her good sweet cousins.      Charlie is a member of group #4.  Four rough and tumble boys.  And boy, did they tumble it up this summer.  They’re still more into parallel play…..and working on big projects along side each other….but they had moments of great connection. 

Halfway through the end of our formal family reunion Charity came home from her mission.  It was so good to have her HOME.  She served her mission with all her heart, so it was a little tough for her to adjust to life as just a normal human being.  The kids loved seeing “their favorite aunt” again.  (Char gave us strict instructions to make sure they knew who their “favorite” was before she came home. 

It was pretty easy to convince them.  She is pretty darn cool. 

Even Emmeline took to her (although she doesn’t look as if she’s sure about it in this picture).    In addition to those crazy boys, Charlie also really loved playing with Lucy.  He was so cute and sweet with her.  (They’re drinking their daily “green” smoothie here…..Charlie likes nothing more than having some sort of food mustache).   I’m not sure why, but I really like this picture.  It shows the motion that typifies cousin life at Bear Lake.  Exciting, and vibrant, but kind of a blur of chaos.

 Emmeline and Lyla really hit it off too (if you can call stealing each other’s food and smearing each other with sand hitting it off).  These two sat in these little chairs for large portions of each day eating whatever people placed in front of them and watching the chaos around them. 

I wonder if their personalities will hold true to these two pictures as they grow up.  Lyla Joy is certainly delighted by the thrill of being thrown in the air.  Emmeline seems to think it’s not such a prudent idea to be thrown into the sky.    I love Charlie’s expression in these.  He (and all the other older cousins) were constantly going up to these two babies and making loud sounds and strange faces.  What an odd experience that would be.

 

There’s nothing like having so many aunts and uncles to carry you around, read to you, teach you new things…..I love the influence I could feel my siblings and siblings in law have on my kids. We had a ton of different celebrations, birthdays, homecomings…..so fun to have an instant party all the time.  And so chaotic too. That room ECHOES.

Emmeline got so much great attention from her older cousins.  It was so nice to have so many eager mother’s helpers.  I can KIND OF see what my parents are saying about how it gets easier the more kids you have….the older ones really can be HUGE helps.  There was a week during our stay there where Saren was gone and had left us with her five, and Kristi left for a a few days, leaving her two in our care….and I was a little worried about watching 17 kids with just Shawni and my cousin Ashley…..but those big cousins put a HUGE dent in the work we were expecting to do.  I mean HUGE dent. 

And, of course, there are siblings.  Even with all these cousins and aunts and uncles around, Hazel and Charlie would sneak off into their room or to the beach and do their own little Shumway thing. 

a self conscious disclaimer

so, I’m feeling a bit self conscious about all the blogging I need to do to document our time in Bear Lake. 

Let me just put it out there for any cynics why may read my blog (and I know what cynics think, thanks to my dear husband :))….that the previous few posts and probably far to many to come are primarily for our family journal.  To document our time in Bear Lake, to have some bright shining light to look at and remember in the doldrums of Boston in the middle of March. 

I’m going to be cheesy, post way too many pictures (I didn’t have much more to do than whip out the camera and shoot it up), and go on and on about what a great time we had. 

Consider yourselves warned.

There, now I can just write and post away without worrying what people might think.  I love disclaiming. 

Bloomington Lake – BL favorite thing #2

One of the highlights of Bear Lake is our annual trip across the lake and through the Bloomington Canyon to Bloomington lake.  You’re all surrounded by sage brush and dessert and the barren beauty of the Bear Lake valley and then suddenly you pop into a place that so lush and different, it looks like the Alps.  You take a little hike through knolls and fields of wild flowers till you hit the aqua glacier waters of Bloomington lake.  It’s breath taking (beautiful, and super duper cold). 

Hazel and Charlie were quite the little hikers.  I think they were pretty excited to leave Bear Lake (we hadn’t been in the car in a week!). 

      Finally this year I got to take my first swing on the gigantic rope swing (I’ve been either too pregnant or too wussy the other years to do it).  This year, encouraged by Hazel and Charlie, I got up the guts to go and it was awesome. 

Hazel was a little afraid for me.  She’s a great blend of caution and adventure.  

I couldn’t get enough of these fields and the blue sky and the wildflowers. 

We felt alive.  (Above is Hazel’s “I FEEL ALIVE” photo pose….you’ll notice as you look through the blog that she does it a lot.  Oh, I love that girl!)

will they ever get tired of the beach? BL favorite thing #1

 

Oh the joy of the beach.   Nearly every day at Bear Lake (and we were there for a month) included hours and hours at the beach.  The beach is magical.  It can captivate children day in and day out.  I kept thinking, “oh, they’re going to not want to go the beach today….how could Charlie dig one more hole.”  But I was always wrong he always had more digging in him.  Sure, nearly every day they’d throw a small fit about suiting and slathering up for the beach….but once they were there it was heaven for all involved.  They were happily entertained by the sand and waves and I was happily relaxed by beauty all around, good books and cool people to talk to.

These little boy cousins were serious about their projects down there.  Always busily working to collect “goo” (not sure what that was, but it was serious business), or dig to china or create rivers and cities, or search for dinosaur bones.             Even Emmeline couldn’t get enough of crawling around and eating sand. 

She’d get a little worried anytime a pair of legs would walk away (she couldn’t really distinguish which legs were the ones she was supposed to be attached to, so she just got a little worried anytime anyone walked away.)  Bless this little girl, she napped so well that a lot of our beach time was without her crawling everywhere….which was pretty nice.    My favorite time of day at the beach is late evening….the lake gets all shimmery, the light slants and it seems there are little crystals all around in the air.  Everything looks clear and slow and soft and illuminated….and time kind of stands still for a bit till we realize it’s past 8pm and time to tub, eat, tuck and sleep so that we can start all over the next day.

plane ride 3:1

I was pretty much dreading our plane ride out to Utah for the summer.  Just me and the kids.  Oh, the thought of being stuck in such a small space wrestling three kids for 5 hours didn’t sound too fun.  My expectations were low….and BINGO, they were exceeded.  The kids did a great job.  There were even long stretches of the flight that were quite enjoyable. 

It helped that we got to fly direct.  I had originally booked us on a horrible lay over long flight out of Manchester (an hours drive from our home).  But thanks to the blessed delta/northwest merger they kept changing our itinerary until at one point Charlie was on a different flight from me and the girls (I would have taken that scenario had they let me!).  I called to let them know that they probably didn’t want Charlie without me and they changed us all the the non-stop leaving right from Boston.  It was awesome…..maybe a little karma compensation for the Delta/bathtub/house flooding incident. 

Anyway, I just have three things to say about airplane travel with three kids:

1. Blow Pops.  Most effective bribery…..and it helps plugged up ears.

2. Beco, baby bjorn or some other kind of baby carrier with no metal.  You don’t have to take them off going through security!  What have I been doing taking my kids through in strollers all these years?  Getting them out of those, folding them up, putting them on the belt while holding a baby and then putting the whole assembly together while your belt-less pants are falling down and you’re trying to put on shoes (all the while surrounded by a thousand impatient people) is not fun. 

3. those mini tv’s on the back of the seats ROCK.

This little gal was as happy as a clam the entire time.  I’ve decided that she is my favorite toy.  Yes, I’d rather be on the plane alone with a good book, but she’s not bad entertainment. 

And oh, the views.  I love flying.  And it was actually kind of fun sharing my excitement and love for it with my kids.  Charlie was bursting from the seams he was so excited…..he was explaining to me and anyone who would listen, his ideas on how everything worked on the plane.  He spent an hour fiddling around with his little controls and his head phones.  He loves having buttons to push and things to figure out.

And, it helped that we were flying into one of my favorite places on earth.  How can you not LOVE those mountains. 

where do I begin again?

So, tonight we’ve been back from our long long delicious vacation for exactly a week and it already feels like years ago.  My re-entry hasn’t been too graceful.  It’s quite a shock going from my Bear Lake life back to my Malden life.  I’ve been trying to process it this week as it’s been hitting me in the face and the result hasn’t been too pretty. 

It’s difficult to go from glorious-guilt-free-bear lake-un-productive-mode to try-to-be-productive-but-fail-and-feel-guilty-about-it Malden mode.  Especially when your relaxed vacationed rejuvenated self made all kinds of resolutions to live life perfectly upon re-entry.  Everything seems easier from far away. 

It’s still summer and, just like at Bear Lake I have no schedules, no routines, no rhythm.

But, unlike Bear Lake, I have a monstrous list of to-dos.  Bigger than ever after being utterly neglected for a whole month.  And the lack of structure and routine just makes it harder to switch back into production mode.  So, the result?  A crabby mom who can’t seem to make a dent in her growing to do list.

So, where do I begin again?  How do I tackle this to do list?  How do I make it less paralyzing?   How do I enjoy the rest of routine free summer and still feel happy and productive?

I was talking to a friend today who said (in so many words) that one of her main priorities this summer is to have fun with her kids.  What?  That’s not on my to do list.  Maybe it should be the first thing, then I can check it off every day and feel like I accomplished something.  Maybe then my kids wouldn’t be in the way of what I’m doing, they’d be what I’m doing.  Just a thought.

But still, there’s the weeds to be pulled, the blogs to be written, the photos to be edited, the friends to be called and cared for, the home repairs to be managed, the shopping, the laundry, the cleaning….the darn cleaning….the bills and emails and phone calls and scheduling…..on and on and on.

So, anyone out there (if there is anyone after my long blog silence), any thoughts?  Any ideas on how to manage productivity? How to prioritize all the bazillion to dos that fly through your head each day?  How to be productive while still enjoying those things that matter most? 

Oh boy, what a pathetic great re-entry post. I didn’t mean for this to come out….I just started typing and out it came.  Hopefully something more uplifting and less venting will spill out next.