June 2026 part 2

 The second and third weeks of June were filled with lots more activities and arguing 😂. The way kids just confidently say shit that they have absolutely no idea about just blows my mind 😂. Quinn, especially will argue with me about literally anything, and I've taken the bait way too many times. I have finally started telling him that I'm going to let him be wrong and that I'm done talking about it. However, I think there's a valuable life lesson in learning that if you don't know what you're talking about, you should just zip your lips. There are far too many adults walking around already who didn't learn this lesson, I don't want my kids to be one of them someday 😂. 

Quinn tells Ash that he's going to let him be wrong sometimes, too. Who knows if Ash is actually wrong though 😂. Quinn accuses him of being "sassy," that's his favorite descriptor for his brother, but he really means grumpy. Anytime Ash doesn't wanna do whatever it is Quinn wants him to do, he gets called sassy. Sometimes Ash is a little sass ass, but not nearly as often as Quinn claims. 

They had an opportunity to get out some of their aggression when they attended Ninja Camp at Mustard Seed Arts Academy. It was advertised as being for kids ages 5-9, so only Quinn was initially going to attend. I told Ash I would ask if he could go, too, but he said he didn't want to. However, he changed his mind the day of, so I asked and they said yes. I'm unaccustomed to dropping my kids off places, and I failed in having forethought about them needing water bottles 😩🤦🏻‍♀️. They were there for 3 hours and didn't have a drink. I left awful when I picked them up and they told me 😩.

Ash initially told me he liked it and it was fun, but as soon as Quinn shared his opinion, which was negative, as is his nature 🙄, Ash followed suit in saying it was boring and he never wants to go again. I've reiterated several times that it's okay if he likes something that his brother doesn't, but he said he wouldn't want to go again without Quinn 😑.

Iris came to hang out with us the following day, so I planned to have a picnic in the park. We went to Story Time at the library and then to Brooklyn Park. It was sprinkling a little bit, but we still had a good time!

I ordered two big balls in my Walmart pickup order and surprised them when I pulled them out at the park.

At the end of the week, we met up with my friend, Lil, who was our old neighbor, at Playgroup, and then she told me about Shiloh Days happening in Friendly, so we headed down there after. It was ridiculously hot, we watched an unusual performance by an alpaca trainer, saw animals from Oglebay Zoo, and Quinn got his face painted. It was an eventful experience. 

They had a sandbox at Playgroup and I bet they'll be sweeping up sand until the end of time

He played this catchy song called Alpaca (Not a Llama) and Ash still occasionally belts it out and gets it stuck in my head 🙄.

They got to feed the alpacas,

and pet a snake, 

a tortoise,

and an armadillo. Ash wouldn't pet that one, for some reason.

He also wouldn't get his face painted. 

Sully and Quinn as a tiger and a lion 🐅🦁

He got a compliment by a bigger kid when we stopped to eat at DQ on the way home. 

We had another eventful day the following morning at the Sheriff's Kickoff to Summer Picnic. They played on inflatables, climbed the rock wall, and practiced target shooting

I had to get creative to remove a photobomber behind us 😂. I know there is software that can do that, but I didn't care enough to find one. 

Quinn did really well. The attendant wouldn't let Ash go too high because he was afraid he would get stuck. 

 Quinn shot the outer part of the bullseye!

 Ash got all three shots in the paper!

We went to the pool after the picnic, which was a mistake 😅. Every child who attended the picnic got a free pool pass, and the majority of them used them that same day. It was packed and awful 😂.

The next day, we took a trip to Sam's Club and then stopped at Kroger on the way home. Quinn complained, as he does every time, but we let him choose some candy to buy with his allowance money. When we got home, he asked if he could have more candy since he had eaten tons of "real" food that day.  We decided to let him have the bowl that still has candy in it from Easter, and he went to town. He washed it all down with a Gatorade he also bought at Kroger. A little while later, we told me he thought he was going to throw up. As I was grabbing the trash can from the bathroom, he puked all over the (carpeted 🙄) floor of my office. It was a big enough mess that I had to get out the carpet shampooer to get it clean! Later that night, as I was laying in bed with the boys until they fell asleep, Quinn said it was the worst day ever. I assumed the cause was the vomiting, but I asked why anyway. He said, "Because I puked, and because we went to Kroger!" I was like, "What?! Going to Kroger was as bad as puking?!," and he said, "It was worse!" 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️🙄🤦🏻‍♀️🙄🤦🏻‍♀️🙄🤦🏻‍♀️🙄🤦🏻‍♀️

week 3

I saw that the movie theater at the Highlands was offering a free showing of K Pop Demon Hunters, a movie that Ash has seen before, and one that he loves all of the characters from. We've only tried the theater a few times, none of which went very well. However, I told him about it and he was excited to go. We got up early to make it for the 9:40am showing, got our snacks and settled in. After about 25 minutes, Ash asked if we could leave because it was too scary 🫠. 

So, that was a fail. At least it was free 

We went to Target instead, and Ash pretended to be a hamster on a wheel 😂

Iris came to hang with us on a non-library day, so we took a walk to see Patrick at his bakery to kill some time. 

Ash and Iris loved playing tic tac toe, although I'm not sure either one of them truly gets it 😂. 

We headed downtown for Stalder's United Way Fundraiser Night and the boys played some games, won some prizes, and waited 125 years to get balloon animals from a clown 🙃. She was truly doing her best, and bless her heart, she popped the pigs she was making for the girls in line in front of us at least three times, but she kept on! They were cute when she got them done. I was proud of the boys for being incredibly patient in that long lasting line. 

Ash got a Spiderman, and Quinn got an axe that he promptly busted on the sidewalk 🫠.

I got to do another 5K in Sardis with Marsha, which was where she did her very first one 10 years ago! I used to bully all of my friends into doing them with me. We weren't trying to go fast, it was just a fun day of catching up without me being interrupted every five seconds by one of my children.

We spent Father's Day at Oglebay Zoo and we got to do all of the things this time--ride the train, jump on the Jumbo Jumper, and play on the obstacle course. 

I didn't realize until 9pm that Father's Day was also the first day of summer, so we made a last minute decision to let the boys stay up past bedtime and make smores with their friends 🔥🍫🌕

Sternos work great in a pinch 😅

Parker, Lawson, Asher, Quinn 🙂🙂🙂🙂