The Rest of July 2022 - Ever Cracked Her Head, Friend Nights, Horse Camp, and More

Two days after we got back from our road trip, Ever and Ella were doing back flips into Cikaneks' pool. Ella does lots of things, and Ever does them too because she is competitive and wants to keep up. Rather than put a stop to it, I actually filmed them doing simultaneous flips. I couldn't see very well through my phone, but I heard a thud. When I put my phone down, I saw Ever come out of the water looking a bit stunned. I asked, "Did you hit your head?" and she nodded. Then she started to get freaked out. 

Brenda, Scott's mom, was there in charge of the Cikanek kids (who were not swimming) at the time. She came out to help. I held a towel on Ever's head for a while, and then we took a look and sent a picture to Jim.     

He thought she'd probably need stitches and told me to take her into urgent care. Brenda offered to keep the Littles, which was very nice. They did some rock painting. 

If I recall, the urgent care thing didn't take too awfully long. All the nurse and doctor types who helped us asked if anyone had seen it happen. I said, "Yeah, I was there, and I heard it." I didn't tell anyone I was videotaping the whole thing. Ever was completely freaking out - like a total anxiety attack - at the prospect of getting stitches or staples in her head. I tried and failed to calm her down. Getting the staples wasn't actually that bad, it turned out, and the second it was done, she was completely fine. 

Staples in her bloody-haired head:  

These pictures don't totally capture how bloody her hair was. It looked as if she had dyed it pink. So much blood. 

The really gross part was that she was so scared to put her head in water that she refused to wash her hair for days and just lived in that blood.

The next day, Friday, the Littles had friends over for a game/dessert night. The girls spent a long time using the tall grass stuff from our front yard to make birds' nests.

Amelie Oddou and Tiny Tot

The dessert planning had been intense. We had French silk pie with an Oreo crust, double chocolate s'mores cookies, fruit, and whipped cream. It was a very cute group of girls: Piper Bunnell, Amelie Oddou, Norah Gustafson, Tiny, Wrenzy, and Evie Gustafson.

After dessert, there was more outdoor play. We ran out of time and didn't end up getting to any board games. 

Tiny gave me a note. It is trying to say, "Thank you for teaching me. I am so [glad or happy - a word is missing] you are my mommy. Thank you for always being there for me." The word "so" is spelled "tho" because of her tongue thrust, and "always" is spelled "oeese" because that's how she says it. 

Saturday was Ever's friend night. She had Ella Rondo, Ellis Martindale, and Lelei Thompson over. We made peppermint brownie parfaits, which I thought turned out super delicious, and a treaty dip that we served with strawberries and apples. 

There was some disagreement over what game to play, but they did play something. I can't remember what. 

Tiny came up with this really funny thing she'd say all the time in a weird way - "Ahoy, do you know where my friends are?" I don't understand where it came from, but it was the best. When I asked her to do it for the camera, she rushed it and did not deliver her best performance. 

Ever's version:

Tiny and Wrenzy played sick patient/doctor. It had been a while since they'd played that, and it was very cute. It really warms the heart when siblings play well together, especially when it's imaginative play. 

Berry wrote a rough draft of a sort of love letter for Jim on the table in the new room (the arts and crafts center). "My dad is very kind. He is also very [?]. I don't know what I'd do without my wonderful dad. He is very good at sharing and comforting and can love like no other. I am very lucky that I [?]." 

Wrenzy and Ever did a horse camp at Ivey Ranch Park Association. Ever had done one before, but this year Wren was old enough to join her. (Tiny's birthday was just a couple weeks too late.) The last day, they showed off their skills to the parents. 

They leaned forward while the horses "jumped" (really, stepped) over these pieces of wood.

They did a little trotting.

After that, Ever did a little volunteering there.   

We got Ever's staples removed. 

We enjoyed Cikaneks' pool some more, without further incident. Love these twins:

Berry had a grilled cheese sandwich with red and orange bell peppers, carrots, and sugar snap peas. She organized her fruits and veggies by color and ate lots of them. She is our best fruit-eater by far.  

One evening Jim and the girls were outside playing soccer. It was a lovely evening, and it all seemed so idyllic that I took a couple photos to remember it by, even though the photos don't capture much. Some moments, things just feel perfect. 

Olympic National Park Road Trip, July 2022 - L.A.

Sunday night we got checked into a cheap motel in Valencia for a couple of nights. Monday, July 18, it was decided that the Littles and I would have a fun day doing whatever they wanted (bowling, movie watching, swimming, whatever) while Jim took Ever to Six Flags Magic Mountain. So we dropped those two at the amusement park, and the Littles and I went bowling first off. 

Berry wanted her bowling name to be "Sweet Cakes" - her favorite nickname that I call her. I had to take a picture of the scores because I pretty much never break 100 anymore. 

Jim was getting very ill at Magic Mountain. It was a terribly hot day (over 100°), and he gets super sick on all rides in his old age. We decided that I would pick up Subway for lunch and take food to Jim and Ever. By that point, though, they were so hot and Jim was feeling so bad that we all went back to the motel for a break. The girls enjoyed popcorn and a movie while Jim napped. 

The view from our room was amazing. After the fancy Hilton in San Francisco, we were back to our roots. 

Jim mustered the energy to return to Magic Mountain, but he managed one more ride. The motion sickness was too much, so Ever had to ride alone the rest of the day.

Back at the hotel, we ate cookies and went for a swim. 

Jim and Ever stayed at Magic Mountain until pretty late. I don't remember what happened for dinner, but Baskin Robbins happened for dessert. 

Tuesday, July 19, we went to Griffith Park, which is a great place for viewing the Hollywood sign and L.A. I always thought the Hollywood sign was romantic and exciting. I kept pointing it out to the girls, though, and they seemed not to care about it at all. 

The family-with-a-view photo didn't work out. 

The observatory wasn't open at that time, so we just walked around the grounds and then went to the La Brea Tar Pits. 

Jim's shirt was absolutely ridiculous. Stained and shredded.

The last stop was Santa Monica. It was weird to be back in my old stomping grounds after so many years. 

We went down to the pier and splurged on a bunch of ride tickets. 

We took turns on the rings that Jim and I remembered doing in the olden days. I couldn't quite complete them, which was very disappointing. Rings and monkey bars are my thing! These were so slippery, though, I just couldn't hang on at the end. 

For dinner, we talked about Fritto Misto (an old Santa Monica fave that was maybe a little fancy for the fam) and then looked for a little corner Italian restaurant we remembered fondly (their meat lasagna!) but whose name we could not recall. We couldn't find that one and ended up at Earth, Wind, & Flour - another Italian restaurant near our apartments on Texas Ave. where we (or at least Jim) used to order take-out. The restaurant definitely had not been updated at all since we were last there, and the food was terrible (and not even cheap). Struck out on that one. After dinner, we drove home.