{week 31}

The theme of this week seemed to be "lots of family time"! We started the week with the end of our staycation. On Sunday we went to the movies for the first time as a family. None of the kids had ever been to see a movie at the theater so it was super exciting. We saw Monsters University and they all loved it - even Cade stayed through {nearly} the whole thing. Then, on Monday, Michael took the day off & we went to Six Flags Whitewater. It's a huge - nearly 70 acre - water park that is just down the road about 20 minutes from our house. Although Michael had visited a long time ago, I'd never been there & neither had the kids. It.was.a.hit!!! There are tons of things to do for all ages. Cade & Kalea were most content in the sprinklers & toddler splash pads while Cassidy braved some of the bigger kid slides with Daddy. I'm sure it's something we'll do again {many, many, many, gouge-my-eyes-out-because-I'll-get-tired-of-it times} as the kids get older & they can be more safely independent. We picnicked for lunch & spent the majority of the day there. We ended the day with a trip out to dinner for seafood, since this was, after all, a replacement for our beach vacation. Delicious. Cade found a phone (I think it's honestly the first non-cell phone that he's ever encountered. How's that for a generational difference) & called Ming in Taiwan. Well, we pretended that at least! A fun and tiring day for all of us!

The rest of the week was pretty low key. Cassidy had her last Kilometer Kids practices, we went on a field trip to Publix {& got lots of samples} with MOPS friends (just like last year!!!), went back to school shopping for new shoes {of course both of the girls ended up with the crazy light up ones before I even knew what was happening. it's some sort of conspiracy.}. Cade was beside himself with the sheer number of SHOES in the store. It is, you know, one of his favorite words. "Shoes, mama!! Shoes!!!! Mama!!! Shoooooooooooooes!!!!!" Oh my gosh. He kills me with cuteness.

The three year old food battles are in full effect. Although only documented occasionally, it's thrice daily battle with Miss Kalea Lynn. She is just so SLOW. I was lamenting her slowness the other night when it took more than an hour for her to eat: 1/2 a veggie burger & a baked potato the size of a golf ball. I kid you not.  She kills me. (And also with cuteness. Just not in the moments I'm repeating, "Put your food in your mouth, chew and swallow. Sixty-ninety-forty-gazillion times.) My only consolation is that it's got to be a phase, right? One that every three year old goes through. Cassidy did. And we're destined to repeat in exactly two years with Cade. Oh man.

The week ended with an early start for The Run for Wounded Heroes here in Kennesaw. It was the culmination of Cassidy's summer training with Kilometer Kids and she did a fantastic job on her one mile race, not coming to a complete stop at all and only once or twice slowing to a quick walk. We are so very proud of her!!! Michael did the 5K portion of the race after the mile with Cassidy...and we're so proud of him too! We ended the day with fireworks that had been rescheduled from the 4th of July. What a week!