Respectable Laziness

Summer is flying by and before you know it the kids will be back to school and it will be time to think about Halloween costumes. In an effort to slow things down and make it feel as if the school year is not starting in two short weeks I'm taking a trip back in time to July when summer still seemed as if it would stretch on forever. We had a full calendar in July with company in town, Independence Day, two weekends away, two races, a temple trip, family pictures, and more time spent playing board games than is likely healthy or normal.

At the beginning of the month, we took Emily and Bethany for a day trip to London to see the big sights and for a show. The weather was great, sunny but not too warm, and we were able to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, take a walk through St. James' Park, people watch in Trafalgar Square, and learn a little about the history of the Tower of London from a friendly Yeoman Warder. We went to see 42nd Street that evening, a show that was on Jared's list because it's a play he was in way back in high school. It was super fun and didn't disappoint.

We kept it close to home for the Fourth of July and took advantage of the many activities that were held on base that day. First off was a morning color run. We had a rough start to the race as Natalie collided with another runner and was left with a pretty spectacular bloody nose after only a minute or so of running. She and I headed back to the starting line to get things under control while the rest of the family continued with the race. Even though she didn't want to, Natalie persevered and finished the race. That afternoon the kids went back to the base for the Fourth of July Carnival which had rides, games, food, and perhaps the best part, the chance to see all tons of school friends they'd been missing. We had a family barbeque for dinner before driving to the base yet again for a little more carnival fun followed by fireworks. We set out our blankets and chairs and played card games and listened to music until it was time for the show.

We loaded up the car one Saturday and headed to the London Temple so the older girls and Bethany could spend some time in the baptistry doing family names. The temple in London requires you to make a reservation to do work in the baptistry. Unlike some larger temples, there just aren't enough workers to accommodate walk-in patrons so you need an appointment and you have to bring your own priesthood holders to perform the ordinances. We called a few days ahead and the temple was able to combine our four girls with a ward group that was already scheduled, hallelujah! I thought it would be a good idea to take some family pictures while we were there since the temple grounds are beautiful, and we were going to be in our Sunday best, and we had an extra person with us to take pictures. Simple, right? Sort of, but not entirely. The grounds were teeming with people the day we were there and it was a struggle to get shots that didn't have strangers walking in the background. Plus we had about fifteen minutes to take the pictures before our baptistry reservation. Nothing like a looming deadline to make us all smile awkwardly and struggle to keep our eyes open or even look at the camera. We're grateful for Bethany who was patient and flexible and happy even when we weren't.

Yes, this picture was taken in July and yes, we are wearing hoodies, long pants, and long sleeves. England in the summertime is pretty much like England the rest of the year - damp, grey, and lukewarm at best with occasional days of weather so beautiful it makes up for the grey skies the rest of the time. Stonehenge was much as I remembered it from my childhood visit there - a bunch of stones in a circle that you couldn't even go and climb around on. But it was sort of on the way as we were driving to Wales and now we can say we've been there and it's always nice to have something to break up a longish drive. 

Unlike Stonehenge, this waterfall in Wales was something we could go and climb around on and we totally did. This is Melincourt Falls, which are in the same little village as the Airbnb we stayed in for the weekend. It was an easy one-mile walk through a narrow wooded gorge to the falls. We're a kind of loud group when we're all out and about together. Or as Emily likes to mutter under her breath, "You guys are so extra." That loudness is only amplified when we're scrambling around an echoing, rock-walled gorge. 

The whole purpose of our trip to Wales was the Great Celtic Trail Half Marathon. The day before race day was one of those unexpectedly fabulous weather days, but race day dawned cold and rainy. The start of the race was delayed because one of the vehicles that had been transporting some of the mountain guides, who were to ensure no one took a wrong turn during the race, rolled off the side of the mountain. Conditions were definitely not optimal. No one was hurt, but it did throw the schedule off by a half hour or so. Meanwhile, the rain kept falling and all the poor runners kept shivering. The rest of us headed back to the car to stay warm and dry once the race started and we had cheered for Abigail and Jared as they crossed the starting line. They finished and didn't get lost, injured, or lose any toes to hypothermia so it was a successful race. We were all happy to head back to our little rental house and have hot chocolate and pizza and spend the rest of the day wrapped up in blankets watching television.

Jared and I went to London for an overnight anniversary trip to commemorate twenty-one years of wedded bliss. We took the train into King's Cross Station, which got me into a bit of a Harry Potter mood. We found our fancy hotel (just around the corner from Buckingham Palace!) and then went to Leicester Square to buy theater tickets. Maybe we should plan ahead one of these times, but we've always had good luck finding deals on the day of a performance. Every time we go to London I want to eat at Five Guys. Jared humors me, partly because his favorite German place is only a few doors down from the Five Guys in central London. So we ate burgers, fries, and a schnitzel sandwich (classy, I know) for our anniversary dinner. We went to see School of Rock that night and it was such a fun show! If you've seen the movie with Jack Black and Joan Cusack you already know the basic storyline. The musical has songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber, an amazing cast of musically talented kids, and was one I would be happy to see again. Our seats were spectacular and so was the pizza we stopped to order at a little hole in the wall place on the way back to our hotel.  

The next day we didn't have anything planned but wanted to do more than just get back on the train and come home. We headed a little outside of central London to Camden Market.  We weren't sure what to expect; we were only aware this place even existed because of the fire there earlier in the month. I did know that the area was the birthplace of punk rock and it still had a sort of postcard punk feel, but it was mostly packed with tourists. Many of the stores along the main road had these amazing 3D signs. Giant shoes, dragons, elephants, tattooed angels. It's well worth doing a google images search because I don't have the appropriate words to describe it all and the picture above doesn't do it justice. The market itself is stall after stall jostling for space in the narrow alleyways off the high street. We found a teeny little game store with room for maybe four people at a time where we bought the game of the year from 1998 from a lovely German lady and convinced some other customers to give Siedler a try. We spent a good hour just walking around looking at the different food stalls trying to decide what lunch should be. 

The rest of July and the beginning of August was filled with games. More games than we've played in a long, long time. I think we were all trying to get six months of game play in before Jared left. Lots of different games were played, but we kept coming back to our all time favorite, Stadte und Ritter. Amazingly, Jared didn't totally dominate and win every single game. 

There's something about the middle of summer that can't be found any other time of year. It's okay and almost expected that you be a little lazy. We're holding on to that feeling for as long as possible and squeezing every last bit of fun we can out of August.

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