Our week has been full of hanging out with fun people at our mountain house. One of Amy’s best friends spent one night, Grandma and Grandpa spent two nights, and Amy’s bestie and her parents came for three nights. Skeeball and ping pong were enjoyed by all. The weather was incredibly perfect with cool evenings and clear sunny days except for one day of rain. We went to a lake beach many times and I swam! Years ago I tried swimming in this lake and felt tense and like I couldn’t relax and swim as I do in a swimming pool. So I stopped trying. I never swam. At most I got in the water to my shoulders, but usually just to my knees. This week, as I watched Amy basically being a fish, doing swim-nastics and clearly quite comfortable in the water, I questioned my belief that I couldn’t swim well in lakes. I decided to try again. At first I did feel a bit tense, but I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see the swirling green, and I swam easily and comfortably! I loved it! I took a break and swam again. Then I swam twice the following day! I was planning to swim again yesterday but the lake was closed due to the algae level, so we found a public pool instead, and I swam there.
Carl did a ton of yard work, clearing prickly plants and trees. He assembled our small crowd to witness the “timbeeeeer” moments for two trees, both of which were hilariously anticlimactic in that the trees ran into other trees on their way down so didn’t actually crash into the ground. Part of this clearing work was to make a path for a zipline which he put up with the help of a friend. I was worried that it would be too high and fast for me, but it’s not! It’s perfect. All of us had fun taking turns on it. Sarah opted to be attached to it via a harness, but I think she would also be fine without the harness since you have a little wooden seat and two handles to grip.
We enjoyed camp fires and s’mores. To get ready for the fires, Carl started to take apart some old wooden pallets. Sarah quickly asked to help so he taught her what to do and she started using his electric drill to remove several screws all by herself.
Sarah also used a hot glue gun as if she was born to do so. I was surprised to realize I had never used a hot glue gun before, but I did it! I realize now that it is easy, but the concept had always seemed a bit intimidating and I was scared of owning one because I didn’t want the girls to get burned, but clearly they are more experienced with it than I am! The reason we were using the glue gun is that Amy’s bestie brought foam craft supplies for making hand-puppet creatures. I haven’t made a creature, but I did make a ring. Carl made a person, Sarah made a ring and a bracelet, and Amy made a full creature that instantly takes on a personality with one little movement of its head on her finger.
One night Amy and her bestie entertained us with skits where Amy pretended to be a stereotypical grandma and her bestie was a tiny grandchild with tons of energy. The two of them were hilarious. Speaking of hilarity, Sarah found a Daniel Tiger episode in which Daniel empties buckets of sand on his floor to make an indoor beach, and Mom Tiger gets mad. Her eyebrows are notably dramatic. Sarah plays the moment of the mom saying, “why did you bring buckets of sand into the house?” over and over and over again, laughing uproariously as she says the line with Mom Tiger.
Another moment that brought Sarah and the rest of us great joy was learning that she will have her beloved bus driver from the past two school years as her driver again! This is a relief! He is one of her most favorite people in the entire world and he adores her too. They have been best buds from day one, and there is no better way to start and end your school day than hanging out with someone who thinks you are wonderful. Together they make it through tunnel monsters and delight in their lucky day if there is a slow down.
Yesterday we went to a Bluegrass Musical festival, which we went to last year. This time we were more prepared with chairs and a canopy for shade, but it was still very hot. Sarah was thrilled to get a new t-shirt to commemorate the experience, and she did one round of archery. Amy and I shared a funnel cake, and then we all went to the pool to cool down.
Overall things have gone swimmingly, with minimal upsets. Sarah’s sleep hasn’t been sound or settled for about 6 weeks, so I’m hoping with the start of school she will somehow settle back to being the champion sleeper that she usually is. I hope this for her sake and for mine, because when her sleep isn’t sound then neither is mine.
May you challenge a belief you may hold about yourself so that you feel more freedom and joy as you move through your life.
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