Max's Birthday

We got to celebrate Max a couple times since things didn't go as planned on his actual birthday. But the boys and I had fun preparing for his birthday, wrapping his gifts and making his apple pie. We had picked out some motorcycle gloves, and one of his favorite treats (Milano Cookies) as gifts, We also gifted him a massage table, oil, and sheets (for the table) Since January, I've been wanting to get him a massage table for his birthday. A long time ago we took a class to learn how to do couples' massages together. We loved it and have used that knowledge for many in-home date nights. We realized we are getting old and seem to have more aches and pains so we pulled out a rickety fold out table and were using it as a massage table, and it worked fine but I still wanted to get a real one and they were a lot less expensive than I thought. So that happened. Anyway, we had the table hidden at a house next door because I figured Max would know exactly what it was.  

Once I got the kids from the bus, I made them bring this into our house. Max had a Dr appointment after work, For some reason he thought it was a good idea to schedule on his birthday. ha! It was just a physical but it ended up being really good because at some point during his work day, he pulled a neck muscle and had been in extreme pain all day. So, sadly he was in pain for all of his birthday celebration. He got home in time for his requested burrito dinner. 

We then moved his old man body onto the couch so he could open his gifts. He was actually super surprised. and super excited about the table since he was in a lot of pain and hoped a massage would help. He got a quick massage then we ate some pie then put the kids in bed. And that pie was one of my best apple pies thus far. He picked a good recipe!

Then Max was feeling so horrible that he got in bed and went to sleep before 8pm. and that was his birthday. 

A couple days later he was feeling better and we had arranged to go out on a group date to an escape room. (Max said he would prefer more of a small group party this year as opposed to a minute to win it party in our yard)

We got to go with a couple of other friends. And this was also the first time I got to ride with him on the motorcycle. So that was pretty fun except for me imagining what would happen if we flew off. haha, but really we got to ride off into the sunset and that was nice.

The company and the escape room were fun and we did escape but Max and I agreed that it was one of the more lame ones that we've been to. ha, we then made our way to Coldstone to get some ice-cream then call it a night. It is always fun to spend time with other grownups.

And then Max was 33! He was so grateful and excited even though he couldn't fully enjoy everything on his birthday. We sure hope we made him feel special. 

And I was beyond lame at taking photos as you can tell. 

Oaks Park

We usually plan at least one trip to Oaks park a year, We hadn't done it yet and the rides close at the end of September. My very kind aunt had some ride bracelets for a company party that she was unable to attend and she gave them to us. She had 3 bracelets so I made my way with my big boys and Max stayed home and had some work time with Edwin. It was a beautiful end of summer day. And we had so much fun. There were a couple rides that Miles was originally scared to go on, but he always loved it. We didn't do any crazy roller coasters but we had a lot of fun and played for awhile until it was time for Charlie's soccer game. 

He was nervous to start this roller coaster but loved it when it was over.

Tilt-a-whirl...Charlie picked the most spinny of them all

It always looks so funny when there's an adult on this ride, and it was even funnier that he couldn't sit by his kid because my kids had picked the two seats next to the adult seat first.

So then we ran out of time to get cotton candy or do a bunch of rides or roller skating. We went to the soccer game and then back home to see what Max and Edwin were up to. We grabbed some food then decided to go back to Oaks park to do some Go Carts and maybe roller skate. This time, Max and Edwin came. 

 We went on a couple more rides and got some cotton candy but the park closed before we could go roller skating. We still had a wonderful day and it was enjoyable to spend that time with my older boys. And we are very grateful for Aunt Val's generosity.

Motorcycle night

Through an interesting and surprising (to me) turn of events, Max ended up with a motorcycle that he purchased (probably temporarily?) from his brother. It has actually been a great thing with better and cheaper parking options at work and better gas mileage. After he had it for a couple weeks, he said he could take the boys out on a little ride (Thanks to Brent for hooking us up with all sized helmets) So, first he took Charlie on a little ride to a nearby parking lot. Once he came back we ate dinner then got ready to all meet at the parking lot. This time, Max took Miles and I walked with Edwin and Charlie who took bikes/scooters. 

Edwin was so excited to wear the little kid helmet. 

 Miles riding. The big boys did a good job holding on tight, the parking lot is only a couple blocks away.

It was finally Edwin's turn and he was so excited. We decided that it would be best if he was in the Ergo, so he wouldn't fly off if he forgot to hold on. You can't really trust those two year olds right? Granted he has the sharpest focus of any of my children at this age...like he will bring a toy somewhere and actually remember to bring the toy back home. And he remembers where he puts things...it's weird! Anyway, Edwin loved it so much. He had been asking and waiting for a turn for a long time (at least it seemed like a long time to him)

Anyway, we made it home as it was getting completely dark. I didn't have my turn yet on this night but we did get to have a date night a week later and we rode the motorcycle together so that was fun!

Harvesting

Our garden got a little out of control this year. We planted large tomatoes, grape tomatoes, green beans, snap peas, eggplant, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, sunflowers, some red wildflowers. We also have a newer apple tree and peach tree and this year we got a couple apples from the tree. All of our tomato starts grew, so we transplanted all of them and it made a big old jungle of tomatoes. Sadly, my boys weren't as excited to snack on the grape tomatoes as they had been in the past so we ended up with a lot of bad tomatoes. Many of our large tomatoes had black bottoms which my brother later told me that it could be from a lack of calcium in the soil or from inconsistent watering. The snap peas would get eaten as soon as they were ready. The green beans got covered by a large tomato plant, Max was able to harvest a bunch of them but I wasn't organized enough to cook them, ha!. We had plans of making salsa and ketchup and maybe even spaghetti sauce but I just never got it together. We did use a whole lot of romaine lettuce and most of our zucchinis. The pepper and eggplant are still not fully grown so I hope they finish before it gets too cold. I gotta make some Armenian stew. Anyway, I guess I'm just writing this out to learn for future years. we don't need so many tomatoes, have a plan when it comes to green beans, grow lots of romaine because it grows fast and is delicious, and more snap peas because everyone loves them! And I didn't really visually document the garden much but here is a day that Edwin and i went out to collect tomatoes. 

The start of my one and only eggplant, it has been growing!

I've only tried one pepper so far and it wasn't very good so I'm hoping that I just had picked it too soon and the rest will be good.

Anyway, I feel like we were kind of wasteful with our food, but I'm learning a lot for next year. Also, before we planted our garden, we would let our chickens play in the area we were going to use so they could eat up the weeds and fertilize the ground. We kinda felt like farmers, so that was fun. 

Labor Day Beach day

We knew we needed at least one more beach trip of the summer, it has seriously been such a therapeutic thing to do, all of my children are old enough to enjoy it and not stress me out.  Like, I don't really care if they eat sand anymore so....awww...free of stress! Anyway, Max also pointed out that he hadn't been to the beach since Costa Rica so he should probably go and be reminded what a cold ocean feels like. We had a group of friends that were planning on going as well so we decided to meet up with them. We checked out a new beach too and it was pretty great.

The My little Pony kite was flying high moments after we arrived.

There was a campfire and barbecued bratwursts and tons of snacks and a bunch of friends. It didn't take long before the ocean called to my boys. Charlie brought a boat he invented out of a salad container and a string...and he had so much fun with it for so long. 

But then he sadly lost it in the ocean which was counterintuitive since we make efforts of keeping our garbage out of the ocean, (partly by creating new things from garbage) so it all kinda backfired. 

Sometimes this is the only way I end up in a photo...

Edwin would have the funniest little jog toward the ocean. He sure loved letting the waves chase him. 

Just casually flying the My Little Pony kite...

 We brought a volleyball net and next thing we knew, there was an intense game of volleyball happening. And I only took pictures when Max was in on the action.

Getting sleepy!

We knew we couldn't stay too late since The boys had school in the morning and it would be Miles' first day of kindergarten. And we figured there would be Labor Day traffic getting back, but before we left I wanted to get some photos of Miles doing headstands. He's been practicing his acrobatics!

And daddy got in on the action! The fact that Miles has a liking for gymnastics makes Max so happy!

 Then Miles wanted to take the towel to different parts of the beach and get more photos. He's been improving on his headstands, cartwheels, and floppy flips (on the trampoline) He is constantly twisting, turning and upside down.

Anyway, we are so glad we were able to enjoy summer down to the last moment. And we will probably do some fall and winter and spring beach trips too!