August | 2020 | Our Armstrong Family

Going through all of the photos and looking back at August – we had a really fun month! Soaking in the sun with lots of time at the pool with friends and our final swim lesson. One of the days was only in the high 60’s so the kids enjoyed the hot tub for the first time. That was quite a treat.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I used to grow plants. Seems like a former life! I have enjoyed having a garden again this yet but find that I am terrible at regularly watering our patio planters and garden beds. Argh! But we have enjoyed a good harvest of cucumbers, red, yellow, and green peppers, and a few yellow squash and zucchini. I didn’t realize how susceptible zucchini are to blossom end rot – well we had our fair share of that this year! We’ve been adding the veggies to our Hello Fresh dinners.

After nearly 6 years of not having the pantry doors trimmed out since our kitchen remodel, Kevin and I teamed up to get it done! He was measured and cut all the trim and I painted it; then he put it in. Yay! One thing off the list.

We’ve also been finishing up the porch since returning from vacation. The carpenters trimmed out all of the windows, both the skylights and the wall windows, they finished the ceiling beam, and painted it all white. We decided to put in a wood laminate floor to make it feel a bit more finished. We chose a light grey, which, along with the white walls makes it feel very clean and bright. We did some touch ups, caulking, and then put together the new sectional couch and table and now it’s ready to be enjoyed.

Griffin’s upper tooth has been sooooo wiggly yet he doesn’t want to have it pulled! One night I was worried he might choke on it in his sleep and Kevin was looking at it – and surprisingly pulled it. Griffin was pretty upset as he wasn’t expecting it hence the teary eyes :(. But in the end, he was looking forward to the tooth fairy visiting later that evening.

Here are a few other random photos of our month – super cute cowboys playing around the house, Reidy wearing his oversized Camp B shirt, our family adventures to Rita’s and Culvers on our bikes.

Griffin was invited to his 1st grade friend, Kara’s, birthday party. It was to be a socially distanced drive by – but when we arrived people were in the driveway. We had our masks on so we went up for a quick hello. It was really sweet to see how much these friends enjoyed being able to see each other in person. They played a quick game of hide and seek, colored in the driveway, and enjoyed popsicles. It was a really hot afternoon.

We had left a driveway gathering in our neighborhood (our driveway actually, lol) to head to the birthday drive-by and were gone longer than we anticipated. So on our return home we picked up pizza for all the kids to have outside while watching the CBJ game that Brian setup in their driveway. These kids have so much fun together. Before long they were all playing hockey and each had gone home to get their jerseys to wear. We’re really thankful to have such a great pod of neighborhood friends. Both kids and adults enjoy hanging out together and it’s provided some sense of normalcy during the times of Corona.

Our neighbor, Karla, had organized a private rental of Sky Zone for our neighborhood crew. We were able to have the entire place to ourselves for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. The kids had an absolute blast and left there a sweaty mess! Everyone wore their masks (other than Reid who takes his off after a short bit, and baby Abbie).

Later that day was our socially distanced neighborhood Block Party. Chrissie arranged for the Pitabilities food truck and Lyndsey arranged for Kona ice. It was mostly our regular crew of neighbors who attended and a few others as well. The adults wore masks and spaced out in Chrissie and Scotts driveway and yard as well as Don & Beth Maxwells yard. Beth makes the most wonderful and perfect looking desserts that she made for the gathering. She and Don are in their late 80’s and are just the most fun couple. They participate in everything before and during Corona (socially distanced and masked) and comment on all the facebook posts our neighborhood crews make. Since our kids play together regularly we allowed them to play and sit together without wearing their masks. We were able to meet new neighbors who just moved in within the last week, Katy & Eric Deister, who are expecting a little boy in early November.

On August 28th we took the boys to our first inside-dining experience since early March. We went to Bd’s Mongolian Grill where Reid ate not 1, but 2 orders of Mac and Cheese. Griffin had chicken tenders and the other kids created their own made-to-order dishes. The boys did great sitting together at the table and not touching things. Kevin and I were both a bit nervous as it was our first time sitting inside, but it turned out fine and it was nice to do something “normal”.

We’ve gone to Nocterra a few times where we’re able to sit outside at picnic tables and enjoy some relaxing. They’ve partnered with a local Powell company called Sharecuterie, makers of grazing boards and boxes, that you can have delivered to Nocterra on Monday’s for free. We decided to try it out and it was delish! Tons of fun sweet and savory things in our grazing box that we shared with Lisa and Brian in celebration of their 2 year wedding reception-iversary, lol.

I finally scheduled the boys dental checkups after much delay. I was nervous that they would both have cavities and wasn’t sure how Reid would do as he is very shy and apprehensive in new or uncertain situations. Both boys did really well when it was their turn in the chair. Griffin, unfortunately, had 2 cavities – each between teeth – which makes me feel like a terrible mom as I am not a good regular flosser for these boys, nor do I remind them to do it! So – we will be working on that! Reid had a perfect checkup, no cavities.

After the dentist we had a little fun visiting the new pedestrian bridge in Bridge Park. It gave this mama quite a test of my nerves! I held both of their hands tight – even though there are wires and rails, I get pretty freaked out these days about heights and especially with Reid in situations like these. But we walked across from one side to the other where the boys did a little running around. Then we headed back over the bridge and went home. Whew!

I’m not sure why I didn’t really put much thought into a workspace for Griffin to do Distance Learning, but about 2 weeks before school started I began to think we needed to have a dedicated workspace for Griffin. That began a total basement cleaning/purging/painting party and the quest for desks (which by the way are in short supply everywhere since everyone in the world is looking for desks for kids to learn from home!). As it turns out, Lexi broke her foot at a horse show and needed to have the week off work. The timing actually was perfect as I was forced to stay home with the kids, which enabled me to get the basement complete. The kids built a lot of forts and kept themselves busy for a few days. I NEVER would have gotten it done on time otherwise; it was a much larger and time consuming project that I had anticipated. In the end, we have new white walls, found desk parts at IKEA, and turned the kids side of the basement into a classroom. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.

We were able to stop at Tyler Run and pick up the school supply kit that I had ordered for Griffin. He was excited to be able to go to school and see it! And when we got home the boys each organized their school supplies. So much joy in school supplies!

While we see a lot of our neighbors, we haven’t seen many of our friends in what seems like forever. Thankfully, we were able to connect with the Manning’s one evening at Nocterra. We had so much fun just sitting around and talking!

After five years, we have finally arranged to have Memorials placed at our cemetery plots in the Dublin Cemetery. We’ve ordered our Armstrong family stone as well as Nathan’s marker. We started this process in July and it is pretty much a slow-going-thing. Coordination between the cemetery and the stone company is not so efficient! And then the weather has to be just so, so that the cement footers can be dug out and then poured. We stop by occasionally to check the progress. So far, the footer has been poured for Nathan’s marker, but only the foundation has been dug for the family stone.

Random photo of me outside enjoying coffee in one of my favorite mugs – a painting of Griffin’s from 1st grade 🙂

We had fun at the Bethune’s to celebrate Rowan’s 9th birthday. Nine, what? Not sure how everyone is growing up so darn fast, but it seems to be happening despite my best efforts to slow time down. Rowan had an all-things-Pokemon party complete with an awesome Pokemon cake made by Amy as well as homemade Pokemon cookies. Reid was in sugar heaven. Rowie received a hover board and was already demonstrating excellent skills. He allowed Griffin to try it out and he, of course, thought it was pretty sweet.

Lexi invited us to one of her horse shows, which was local in Marysville. We headed up about mid-morning and thought we’d be there until mid-afternoon. As it turns out we were there until 10 pm! But it was such a fun time we couldn’t leave! We were able to see Lexi compete with Tango in several events and the boys were enamored with petting, feeding, and riding Tango. Pretty sure Griffin wants a horse now, lol. It took Reid a bit to warm up, but then he was all-things-Tango. Lexi’s Mom and Dad were there and we enjoyed spending several hours talking with them throughout the day. Others from Lexi’s barn were there too, including some she gives riding lessons to, so it was neat to see her in her element. She really helps kids boost their confidence.