The Gist of August

Hello there, it's me again. Before I move on to September, I thought I'd fill in the missing bits of August.

I didn't jot anything on my calendar before the 4th, so let's begin there.

The 4th-- Not only was it Jane's birthday, my niece Maisie had her 5th birthday party that day. Her actual b-day is the 6th. I planned Jane's party around Maisie's, and it worked out fine. Maisie belongs to Gavin and Maren, and Maren is the queen of expert craftiness. Maisie chose Indiana Jones for her party theme. Maren went all out, fashioning her own vines and leaves out of paper, sewing felt satchels as party favors, etc. It was spectacular.

The 7th--  Jane's first day of school! The school she now attends is on a modified year-round schedule. That means her summer is less than 2 months long, but she gets longer breaks throughout the year. She's liking it there so far, and it's really helped that her friend across the street goes there. They are together most of the time they're at home, so it's handy to have them on the same school schedule. I'm loving that (for the first time) both our kids can walk/bike to school every day.

The 13th--  cousin Fletcher's 5th birthday.

The 19th--  Cora's birthday!

The 21st--  Ryan and I took the kids to the ever popular Western Idaho Fair to see Weird Al. I thought Cora and Jane would at least slightly enjoy it, but I was mistaken. It would have helped if I'd bothered to introduce them to his music first. The only reason I knew of Weird Al as a child was 'cause I had an older brother.
I understand why it was hard for them to appreciate the performance when they weren't familiar with the original songs, let alone the parodies. Ryan and I thought it was a really entertaining concert. Well, what we saw of it. Sadly, the kids were not amused, so we only stayed for about half of it. Bummer! But then we went and got some greasy fair food and shared an ice cream potato, so it turned out to be a fun evening overall.

The 23rd--  My mom watches Fletcher during the days while Megan and Mike work. Mom and Fletch wanted to get together with Oliver and me, so we went to the Boise aquarium. Oliver is obsessed with sharks lately, so he was ecstatic to be in the same room with a whole bunch of them, even though they are small. These are the kind that are safe for people to touch (perhaps because they're well fed?)  so they're in an open, shallow pool along with some mini stingrays. It's really neat to watch them.
Oliver's voice gets extra high-pitched when he's talking about something he loves. He kept yelling animatedly about this shark and that. It was cute. He and Fletch were running to and fro like kids (or me) in a candy store.
The people next to us were feeding dead fish parts to the little sharks and rays. I was standing inches away from the exhibit, laboring to keep Oliver and Fletch from falling in, when suddenly one of the rays whooshed up along the side of the clear barrier between it and me. Part of its body briefly extended over the edge of the tank. I was surprised and relieved that it didn't leap out and clobber me. (Sorry if you were expecting a better story.) It made me realize that those soggy sea creatures could probably jump out and touch someone if they really wanted to. Eeeeeeeeeeek!

The 28th--  Cora's first day of 6th grade. I think I was more nervous than she was. She said she made it to all her classes on time and didn't have too much trouble opening her locker. Atta girl.

The 29th--  Maria and I got together in the evening to shop for fun things to send in a care package to Renee. We miss her tons, and hope her family moves back from Florida before too terribly long.
We closed the evening by going to see "Snow White and the Huntsman" at the cheap theater. It was decent. More visually stunning than plotally stunning.

Welp, that about wraps up August.
Maybe it's kind of silly that I try and keep my blog current. It seems like they're going out of style or something. Not many people I follow have kept up with it. Their last posts are from weeks, months, even years ago. I just continue to do it because I like to, and it would overwhelm me to get too far behind. And it's a nice chance for me to ramble when I'm sure no one wants to listen in person. =)  I guess that's the courteous side of me. I don't want to spill out all my inner thoughts and such to many people in real life, 'cause I always feel like I need to hurry up and stop talking so they don't have to listen to me for very long. Here I can talk at typing speed, whatever that means. You can stay and read as long as you want, or skim through and leave as quickly as you like, and I will never know which one you did. That's the beauty of it. And that's one of the reasons I prefer to write right here sometimes...