July is always my favorite summer month. We got to do so many “summery things”–some of our old favorites and a few new things too. It was hot. It was busy. And it was fun!
1. Lazy Days of Summer. Most of the month of June was rainy and a lot cooler than summer should be. So the boys couldn’t wait to break out all of our summer toys when the summer weather finally hit in July. They played daily badminton games, corn hole and we all enjoyed the pool quite a bit.
 
2. 4th of July trip to Kansas. Our annual trip to my parents house included one glitch. My mom has been having some chronic pain for a while. It turned extreme the week of 4th of July and she ended up going to the ER and being admitted to the hospital. Some tests and x-rays later revealed blood clots on her lungs. Good grief. What a scare! Thankfully, some medication and rest allowed her to come home the day we arrived. We got to shoot off fireworks with she and my dad and my sister Steph and brother-in-law Todd were there too. It’s always so fun to shop for all the stuff and then see the guys plotting elaborate strategies as to the best order to shoot them off. The highlight is always an epic tank battle they come up with–complete with smoke bombs, soldiers and lots of firecrackers.
Super Rockstar, the boys and I went to the Hutchinson 4th of July parade.
And then we went to Salt City Splash–the big swimming pool in my hometown. It was kind of overcast the day of, and we found out that they were considering closing early since not too many folks were showing up. But they ended up staying open and we got to watch the boys do their 120 trips up and down the high dive.
We also explored the Hutchinson mall. Many moons ago, I worked at what was then called The Brass Buckle (now known as The Buckle). The mall is mostly abandoned now–which my boys think is SO cool, but there are a few stores we like to visit including a nice antique/vintage market.
The next day we drove to Steph and Todd’s house in Topeka for steaks and homemade ice cream. We also got to see my niece Amy and her husband Zach and enjoy their sweet baby Aiden who toddles around like a champ and is thoroughly entertaining. It was such a fun family trip.
3. Airsoft Event for the boys. The boys got to do a unique air soft event this year. A friend of Morgan has a family cabin outside of Fairplay, CO right next to national forest land. He and his friends had been texting and planning for weeks and this friend’s dad helped organize the whole weekend. They slept in tents on the property, played airsoft battles all day and enjoyed lots of good food, campfires and movies. They had an absolute blast.
4. Breckenridge trip for Super Rockstar and I. While the boys were doing their airsoft event, Super Rockstar and I got to sneak away to stay at one of our favorite places to stay in Breckenridge–Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center. Breckenridge is only about a 30-minute drive from Fairplay and we loved having a “just us” vacation–swimming in the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, eating lots of good food, shopping, hiking, sleeping in and doing whatever we wanted for 2 whole days.
5. Super Rockstar’s Birthday. This is the first time we had been at home for Super Rockstar’s birthday in a several years–we’re usually out camping somewhere. We had a great time having him do a scavenger hunt for his birthday box (up and down the stairs, outside and all around). He wasn’t too exhausted afterward and enjoyed all of his treats and gifts. Dinner was at Longhorn Steakhouse (our favorite for all special occasions) and an ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins.
5. Castle Lake Camping Trip. We have loved going to this campsite for about 7 years now. It’s a long drive from our home (about a 6-hour drive), but so worth it. Our favorite campsite is right next to one of their small fishing lakes and the panoramic views are gorgeous. We enjoyed fly fishing on the Gunnison river–Grayson caught our one and only fish for the trip on his new fly rod (although Super Rockstar snagged several–they were particularly wiley this year and kept getting away) and we kayaked and fished on Lake San Crystobal. One morning we wandered around the nearbby town of Lake City and found a cool place to have lunch. We also stopped at the town mini golf place and enjoyed our time there. The whole trip was so much fun.
6. Movies and Shows We Watched–Episode 102. Just click the link to read about what we watched this month.
7. Books I read. I read H is for Homicide (another in the Sue Grafton Alphabet series)–I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others as it strayed from her normal pattern and beloved characters that I love. But it was still ok. I also continued working my way through the HUGE Trim Healthy Wisdom book. There is so much good information in this book. I like that if you don’t want to wade through all of the words, they do chapter summaries so you can just get gist if you don’t have the time to do all the reading.
8. My Favorite Memes.
