Finding motivation

For the past few days, things have been quiet here at the Ashby house. I haven't wanted to do any of the big projects that are crying out to be done. I know the weather is great, but I can't bring myself to paint the doors in the basement. It's too much work getting the doors off and outside. I have sewing projects I need to do but I just need a break from my sewing machine. I finished one big upholstery quilt only to have another one to start on. My craft room is a mess and really needs some attention. But I am lacking the motivation to get any of this done. I clean the house instead. I am avoiding folding laundry or cleaning the kids rooms. I made an attempt at cleaning Lila's room. The gullywumpus bag ate a lot of her toys, even some of her dress up clothes. We are still working on just how she can earn them back. The kids are getting restless with the activities I plan. We did lots of fun stuff in the beginning of summer so this last month seems to be dragging. I know it will go by quickly and I should be preparing for school. But I'm still having trouble finding the motivation to do stuff. Maybe I just need a few lazy days.

A new look

I didn't want to cut my hair and I don't have money to buy a new wardrobe right now. So I thought I would change the background on my blog to give me a new look. I seem to be putting things on facebook more than on my blog lately. Grant learned to ride his bike without training wheels on Thursday, July 8th. He told his dad later that evening that he "felt like a new man". We are looking at buying him a bigger bike soon. We have to pay off the vacation before we can do that. The kids are enjoying the grass in the backyard. Grant still misses his dirt. He thinks it was much more fun than grass. But yesterday he did somersaults all the way across the backyard. He was laughing and really enjoying himself. I think he just needs to spend more time outside and he'll see how much fun grass can be.

June

June went by so fast, but we managed to pack things in. We put in the grass and it survived while we left on vacation for 16 days. My sister came to stay at my house to watch the cat, and make sure my garden stayed alive. The grass is green, thick and is right out of my dreams. My lettuce bolted so I have to pull that out and start again. I think I'll try a different kind.
Our vacation took us through Wyoming, Nebraska, part of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota, back though Wyoming, then home to Utah. It was just over 4000 miles in total distance traveled. We had a wonderful time seeing old friends and showing the kids where Mommy lived when she was a little girl. Here's a list of some of the things we did on the trip:
Steamboat Arabia, Missouri
St. Charles Historic Downtown, Missouri
St. Louis Science Center, Missouri
River boat tour of the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri
Historic Nauvoo and all that entails, (many activities, a day and a half stop), Illinois
Wisconsin Dells, Upper Dells Boat Tour, Wisconsin
Miniature golf at Pirate's Cove, (Grant got a hole in one all by himself) WI
Lake Michigan, at the beach in Sheboygan, WI
Bonfire in the backyard, (how I miss that)
A friends' farm where the kids rode horses and pet all kinds of animals
Parnell Tower, 60 ft tower tall enough to see the Kettle Moraines
Kids did Blue Harbor indoor water park with Gma & Gpa Schuette
Crystal and David go to Six Flags Great America (since kids were otherwise being entertained;)
Milwakee County Zoo, WI
Toy Story 3 in 3D
Vollrath Park in Sheboygan to test out David's new golf discs, all 5 of them
Lots of Wii games (we won't ever have one, I'd never get Grant away from it)
Playing in the hot tub, (it makes a good pool for 6 and 3 year olds)
Walking around Wall Drug, Wall, South Dakota (what a tourist trap, but fun)
Mt. Rushmore lighting the mountain at dusk, ( at 9:30, late for the kids especially with a time change) South Dakota
Badlands National Park, SD
We missed driving through the Black Hills because of a severe thunderstorm that we managed to get caught in. We went back to the hotel and watched a movie and played in the pool, there was a slide.
In between all of these activities, we drove in a lot of rain for the first 4 days. Rain is different in the Midwest. It comes down in sheets for long periods of time. We don't get rain like that in Utah. We saw one amazing lighting storm coming home from Great America.
It was a great trip and the kids did pretty good in the car. We had no "Are we there yet?" statements, but we did hear, "Where's the hotel?"
We saw a lot of water towers on the trip and somewhere along the way the kids thought that if you were the first one to see it, you got to sing a song. Lila always sang "Follow the Prophet", and Grant's choice was "Book of Mormon Stories". So as you can probably guess, there was fighting over which song was going to be sung. My kids were fighting over singing Primary songs.
Now we're back and have no plans for the rest of the summer. I pulled out my "Oh, what Do You Do In The Summertime" calendar and started filling it with activities. We went to the craft store and got supplies for craft days. Grant wants to do them all right away. We have library trips planned. The Living Planet Aquarium was on the schedule for today. The kids were well behaved, and since they are both getting older it is easier for me to take both of them out. I had to stroller or diaper bag with me. I loved it.
I know my schedule will fill quickly one middle of August hits. I better get started on some of my craft projects that had to be put on the back burner for the month of June. I have two upholstery quilts to make for friends who got married in June. they make great picnic blankets.
I did both of my bike rides the first two weeks of June also. I wasn't able to go as far as I wanted due to time constraints, but I rode 33 miles the 1st week and 25 miles the next week. I love getting on my bike and riding forever. I might try to get another supported ride in this year. We'll see what July brings.