Our last seven days were pretty quiet (well, with the exception of the fireworks!), but full of fun. The 4th of July holiday falling on Tuesday offered us some extra excitement this week!
We Had Great Day of BMX Racing
Between baseball commitments, a mom and dad live music getaway, and a family camping trip to Cape Cod, we haven’t raced BMX in weeks. We made it to our local to us (about an hour away) track on Saturday.
The sun was shining, the boys were excited to be back in the BMX scene, and because we renewed both boys’ USA BMX memberships at that track, both boys raced for free! (Our local track offers 5 free races to riders who renew their membership at their track – an awesome perk that amounts to $120 in savings for our family each season. We appreciate the offer so much!)
Our 9 yo came home with a solid 3rd place finish, and our 6 yo finished 2nd after just narrowly being passed at the line. I love BMX for so many reasons, not the least of which being the lessons it teaches riders in hard work, resilience, and sportsmanship. We got a little taste of each of those lessons this weekend – and then a taste of Rita’s Italian Ice, which is a definite highlight for our family when we travel to that track!
We Enjoyed a Not-So-Lazy Summer Day Family Picnic
My mom put in a pool this spring. She hosted a 4th of July picnic over the weekend, and the boys were in their glory swimming, showing off new rubik’s cube solving prowess, and sharing all of their newest jokes with family.
I struggle with living in our small, rural area sometimes. That struggle has been exceptional lately. I often wonder if the grass is greener somewhere with more opportunities for our family. A place with, I don’t know….traffic lights?
But living near family is truly a gift. And days spent splashing in the pool, playing catch in the yard, and laughing on the deck with family are priceless.
The Boys Became Entrepreneurs
Living on a small lake, the 4th of July brings a lot of activity to our typically very quiet dirt road. Our lake is encircled by a lot of three-season cottages, and the 4th of July is one time a year we can plan on nearly all of our neighbors being at the lake. And they often bring a lot of extra family and friends along.
Bored, and trying to pass the time until our small group of guests came over for fireworks on Tuesday night, the boys decided to clean their room and playroom. They came upstairs with a bag of toys, books, and trinkets and declared they were having a yard sale.
They’ve also recently set up a firewood bundle sale shed. We’ve spent weekend days here and there for months cutting, splitting, hauling, and stacking firewood from fallen trees on our property. Recently, the boys decided to bundle the wood and sell it for any of our lake neighbors in need of some nice, dry firewood for a campfire.
I’m so proud of their hard work in helping put the firewood stand together, and it was so much fun to watch them tackle their yard sale project all on their own (they only asked for help in setting up a table). Budding entrepreneurs!
We Found a New (to Us) Local(ish) Bike
Park and BMX Track
Local is a relative term where we live, because everything is at least 30 minutes away. But – we do have a bike shop about 40 minutes from our house that has a skate park we have never visited.
Our 6 yo here rides his bike all. of. the. time. Mike built a bike ramp about a month back. The day he built it, the ramp seemed way beyond anything Mr. 6 yo would be mastering, or even using, any time soon.
But, you probably know where this is going.
The 6 yo has put the ramp in a ditch, and regularly flies down the yard, into the ditch, and easily up and over the ramp, landing in the driveway.
I’m going to need a steel-ier set of nerves.
Both boys have been into bmx stunts lately. We watched the movie The Ride as a family one night this spring. The movie (which they’ve watched over and over again) inspired them to get out and try out tricks on their bikes and scooters.
For $5 a day we can use the bike shop’s skate park with all of its ramps and half pipe any day during business hours.
The boys had the park to themselves and loved riding their scooters around the park. They were even more excited that the shop owner gave them a tour of the new BMX track he’s building behind the shop.
A new BMX track less than an hour from our house?! Hooray!
Swimming, Boating, Cycling, and Fishing, Oh My!
I am really and truly grateful to live on our small lake. The boys swam every single day this week – often more than once. Most swims are broken up by kayak rides, and this week Mike went for a couple of swims around the lake, and the boys accompanied him in kayaks.
When we’re not in the water, we can usually be found biking around the lake or fishing off the dock.
Our youngest got a flat tire on his bike late last week and we had to order a tube. That left him having to ride his brother’s 24″ REI Co-Op REV 24 for the few days it took to get the new tube delivered.
He loved riding his brother’s bike, learned to shift, and was sailing over his ramps and up rooted sections of trail he rides around the lake.
Looks like someone needs a new bike (oy!). REI had a phenomenal sale on the Co-Op REV 24 , but it ended on the 4th, so we just missed it. We have loved the Co-Op REV 24, though, and we have a nice chunk of change (a little over $50!) in member rewards points we can use toward the purchase. We’ll keep our eye out for the next sale, and are especially interested in the 24″ model with front suspension that would serve him well for any future mountain biking adventures.
After a hit or miss spring with fishing success in our lake, the 4th of July week brought us big fishing success. It seemed like every line we dropped brought back a sunny, bluegill, or bass. Fishing brought us hours of enjoyment and time with friends on the dock this week.
We Sang, We Danced, We Acted – We’re in a Musical!
Well, two of us are in a musical. Our local regional arts council is putting on Matilda the musical this summer. Our 9 yo was cast as Bruce Boggtrotter, and I am playing the villain, Ms Agatha Trunchbull.
If you’re familiar with the story line, yes – I am making my son’s character eat the entire chocolate cake.
Rehearsals at the theater are consuming most of our summer evenings these days and our house is full of reciting lines and singing songs. I love the one on one time the whole experience is offering me and my first born. We are both having a blast and loving every minute.
We Enjoyed the Fruits of Summer
Our 6 yo found, (and picked and ate) the first ripe wild raspberries of the year along the road by our house this week. We’ve also seen the first couple of ripe wild blueberries on our walks around the lake.
We visited a local you-pick raspberry patch, and the boys and I picked a little over three pounds of big, beautiful, red raspberries. We’ll eat as many as we can fresh, and the rest will go in our freezer for a taste of summer in our smoothies and on top of our oatmeal or yogurt for as long as they last. Next up: blueberry picking!
This is our second summer living in our house. Our soil here is rocky – not at all ideal for gardening. We’ve only established one small raised bed, and this year we filled it with sugar snap peas and sunflowers.
We harvested enough peas to make up a stir fry with them early in the week, and picked enough throughout the week to freeze five servings for future use!
We’re eating a lot of them fresh off the vine too. Yum.
We Took in ALL the Fireworks
All three boys of this house are big firework enthusiasts. Watching them, buying them, setting them off – they love it all.
Our small lake community shares their enthusiasm, and we enjoyed smatterings of fireworks every night for a week surrounding the 4th. Our neighbors put on a big, impressive show on Saturday night, we went to a show just up the road on Monday night, and Mike and a bunch of other lake residents set off their shows on the night of the 4th.
To be honest, I’m a bit of a worrier and am always relieved when the booms are over and no one has gotten hurt. But I find myself enjoying the firework scene more and more every year. The joy that watching fireworks light up the sky brings all of my boys is contagious, I guess.
That sums up our week of adventures. What adventures are keeping your family busy this summer?
