Little Yackis: Summer Wrap Up

For the sake of posterity, before I can write about all sorts of exciting things that have happened this fall (and upcoming birthdays), I must document that we once again had an amazing summer and managed to do ALL OF THE THINGS (all together, socially distancing from others, and with the children only leaving our property line to go to an empty parking lot).

Despite 2020 being a total dumpster fire of a year, despite cancelling trips and plans and missing people so much, the kids repeatedly heralded this as the BUST SUMMER EVER, which makes me feel like despite the ever present feeling of being on the verge of a total breakdown, we must have been doing something right.

We.....

1) Made our own Dinotrux on June 20, and I must say, I think they came out quite adorable:

2) We had a family water fight on June 6, and the children were RUTHLESS :)

3) We had a Star Wars weekend May 24-25, with various combinations of family members making up a Star Wars movie watch party (I believe our couch still has indentations from Cooper and Steve's butts)

4) We ordered and then applied some very cool temporary hair dye on May 25.

5) We made costumes for a Star Wars battle and then the good guys and bad guys clashed on August 10:

6) We had a family football game that had to be called a bit short because Cal was TOO TIRED and TOO HOT and TOO THIRSTY, but was nonetheless, so incredibly fun. We then had a pool football game on June 18-19, which was just as fun, but way less HOT.

7) We grilled 5 times, including kabobs on June 8, hotdogs on June 16, August 8 and July 1, and steaks on July 8. And we also used the grill for S'MORES!

8) We wrote and illustrated a children's book on August 18, which I am sure will have publishers knocking down our door.

9) All kids had a slumber party on July 6 - in honor of someone's being FOUR.

10) We watched my favorite movie musical from childhood (Bye Bye Birdie) on May 30 (the kids did not seem to get how GREAT it is); we watched Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark on June 20 (did not stand up to the test of time IMO); we watched Feel the Beat (Netflix original) on July 9 (so good!), thus checking 3 new movies off our watch list.

11) We did family art for 3 hours, which included some very impressive papier mache on July 26.

12) We made homemade icecream MAY times, but the first time was on June 28.

13) We watched Mickey Mouse on June 1.

14) We had a family basketball game on May 30 (which was really more of a tournament, because it was actually many games).

15) We made homemade pizza on July 12.

16) We played 50 (times infinity) card games. Seriously - Pitch, Uno, Enders Rummy on REPEAT (not complaining - this is my love language).

17) We created a scavenger hunt on July 4, and then on July 6 sir Calvin got to hunt out his gifts on July 6.

18) We sent cards to family members on August 2.

19) We made homemade pasta (LOTS OF IT) on June 28.

20) We sent treats to Grandpa Cox on May 28, Corban on July 4, and to ourselves on July 9 (and possibly ordered more goodies throughout the summer, as needed).

21) We made homemade slishies on June 11 (technically we got a cheap sno cone maker off amazon with all sorts of syrups and indulged MANY times).

22) We had a family spa day on August 16 (where Steve and I get to employ some of our best accents):

23) We got Emerald (Velociraptor) Kowalski on June 21, and we got Hazel (Foot licker) Kowalski on June 23

24) We made egg people on May 30:

Cal focused on Star Wars characters

Cooper stayed with the theme and made Yoda:

And Daphne honored our public servants with a police officer egg:

25) In what was unexpectedly one of my favorite events of the summer, we had a firsbee throwing contest on June 21 (order of finishers: Steve, Cooper, Daphne, Whitney and Cal)