July

We all enjoyed having Hyrum home from Europe!  He had to work a few days clearing his last unit, then took a long weekend.  Then he started his new job (which was different than what he thought/hoped, but will be better in the long-run.)  We made plenty of time to play.

One of the first things we did was go for a walk.... except I was walking with the girls in a double stroller and Hyrum was running with Tiago in a stroller.  Tiago kept asking to get out and run with Hyrum, which was adorable. 

Over the summer the kids were in a gymnastics class.  The big accomplishment of the class was learning how to do a somersault, so nothing too intense.  The timing worked out perfectly so Hyrum could go watch their last class.  It's nice when he can be involved in these things occasionally.

 

My kids finally went to the dentist. I put it off for a long time because I didn't trust that my kids would even let the doctor look in their mouth.  But a few months ago our insurance changed and automatically puts you on a family plan if you have kids.  So since I was paying anyway...

I found a very kid friendly office and my kids all loved it.  The waiting room was a bit like Disneyland and everything had an underwater/treasure theme.  Siena was the only one that cried while they were cleaning her teeth, so they used sunglasses to distract her.  (And of course there were TV's in the ceiling... times have sure changed!)  After, they each got to pick out a treasure, and luckily there were no cavities.  

One interesting thing I found out is that both Mila and Siena are missing an opposite tooth.  (I knew they were both 1 short on the bottom, but I thought it was the same one.)  It got me thinking about "mirror twins"-- when the egg splitting occurs late in the game you can get opposite DNA, like birth marks on opposite sides of the body, even organs in some cases.  My girls didn't split late (they had 2 separate sacs) but I've heard that a lot of identical twins have their hair swirl in the back going different directions (that's true for my girls.)  Having an opposite missing tooth (which is also genetic) makes me wonder what else is mirrored.

I apparently made dinner and dessert one night... that's big news, because I rarely cooked while Hyrum was deployed.  And these are the candy bars I requested Hyrum bring me from Germany.  Out of the dozen he originally sent, I ate these last because I didn't have high expectations.  But they're now both my favorite and I spent $2 at my grocery store yesterday buying another coconut one.

Over the long weekend, one of the fun things we did with the kids was hike at Garden of the Gods and then visit Manitou Springs.  The kids are old enough to walk around on their own and do short hikes without complaining, so it was surprisingly enjoyable. (Mila is in gray, Siena in red).

Manitou Springs is a town next to Garden of the Gods that's very touristy--they have these arcade rides we've visited several times, and delicious fudge and ice cream.

The next day we went to the zoo in Pueblo, about 30 minutes south of us.  The zoo here in Colorado Springs is pretty amazing, but also amazingly expensive.  We could all go to this other zoo for less than $25.

I normally don't like taking pictures of animals, but these monkeys were hilarious!  They sounded like ambulance sirens.  And the two of them were competing to show off their best tricks for the guests.  My kids were completely entertained and loved mimicking the monkey noise for weeks.  

Siena and Hyrum.

Our last big fun outing (ie: expensive) was going to see Cars at the movie theater.  Seriously-- how is a morning movie more expensive than the zoo??  It was the girls' first movie, and Siena was in and out several times.

We took advantage of Baskin Robbins $1 scoops on the 31st.  It was really messy and there was a lot of crying and fighting.  

Tiago went to his school to register for pre-school.  He wanted to carry his new backpack everywhere.

I took this picture after Costco one day because I thought it was hilarious with them all back there drinking soda and watching something on the DVD player.  I usually bring sippy cups for them to split a soda 3 ways, but I obviously forgot so they each got their own.  It's SO worth it to have quiet kids while I shop.

The month ended with Hyrum leaving for his first of many Army training this fall.  Back to doing the bedtime routine on my own after a few weeks off!