Lyon Family Fun

It’s been a busy fall, but very fun. We are excited to bring on winter and Christmas. Here’s a look back at some of the fun times of fall 2025 in the Lyon family!

It’s hard to believe, but my daughters are 8 years old!!! Eight feels like such a “big kid” age to me. I had tears in my eyes dropping them off at school yesterday as 8-year-olds. It feels like just yesterday they needed me to hold their hands, walk them right up to the school gate, and give them extra kisses in their palms for later. Now, they hop out of the car (sometimes still asking for those palm kisses) and say, “Bye, Mom!”—not even “Mommy”—just “Mom.”

Yesterday I spent some time looking back at photos and videos from the past eight years, and I just kept thinking: “Wow—time has flown by, and we’ve had so much fun along the way.” So, for my own memories, here are some things about my girls at age 8.

Claire is a kind and loving girl who adores her friends. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to say it. She’s immensely creative with her toys and craft supplies, building entire worlds and advancing storylines that are funny and adventurous. Claire doesn’t give up easily; if she wants to do something, she’s not easily persuaded otherwise. I think this determination is a power that can be harnessed for good.

Claire is also a reader—she loves Ivy and Bean, Ramona, Humphrey, and Magic Tree House. And she’s become an athlete. She looks at her performance in sports, notices where she’s improved, and feels proud of her progress. To me, this shows maturity and a growth mindset—something even adults struggle with. I love her so much.

Riley is an incredibly thoughtful and powerful girl. She’s a top-notch friend, showing empathy and kindness to everyone. She’s powerful because she has very strong feelings—and she’s brave enough to share them. Riley also isn’t afraid of hard work. Whether it’s a craft project she dreams up or a family hike or bike ride, she’s usually up for it.

She loves to write and illustrate her own books filled with funny stories and fantastical creatures. Like her sister, she absolutely loves books. She can tear through a good story on her own but still enjoys reading together, too. Riley is independent—she does her own hair, plans her outfits, makes her snacks, and even heads out for walks or bike rides on her own to observe the world.

She’s also become an athlete. Her hard work and bravery have served her well on the soccer field playing defense, taking up mountain biking, and improving in tennis. I love this girl so much.

To celebrate their birthday, we had a family brunch this past Sunday, and in the evening we hosted a party for their school friends at Wacky Tacky. They are lucky to have such wonderful friends with kind families, and we feel blessed to be part of this community. Our craft closet is now fully replenished with the amazing gifts the girls received—plus plenty of new Harry Potter Lego sets, too. Nobody will be bored at our house anytime soon!

We rode our bikes into old Folsom today — a mix of effort, complaining, and sunshine. First stop: the local bookstore, where we picked out some new books. Then we grabbed lunch, which definitely helped everyone’s mood. The pesto turkey burger bowl at Riley’s on Sutter is so satisfying.

Afterward, we rode along the bike trail. The weather was perfect, and there were many families out kayaking, paddleboarding, and just enjoying the day. It makes me feel so much joy to see people out enjoying nature and our community. If you watch the news, it feels like there is no joy left. But there is joy still! And we are lucky to have this beauty around us, plentiful food, safety, and epic weather for July. We saw a monarch butterfly, baby squirrels, swans, geese, and even a hawk on our ride.

There was still some grumbling (five minutes into riding again, of course), but I’m trying to let that roll off – and not stop me from seizing opportunities for moments like these with my kids. These moments aren’t always easy, but they matter. And with our trip to Yosemite around the corner, this kind of ride is good prep — for all of us.

The 4th of July was fun for the Lyon family! 🇺🇸

Happy 4th of July. It’s a really strange time in the USA. A lot of uncertainty and stress for many of us. But we will enjoy our traditions with our kids today. Hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, bike parades, and fireworks. It will be a good day.

We have had a nice summer so far. The lack of structure that school provides for the kids, plus two parents with busy jobs, equals a sort of weird and slow burning chaos in which the children are both bored and rushed around and the parents never truly have their cognitive functioning at full capacity. And the house. It’s always in a state of disarray. But other than that we’re fine. It’s all fine. Don’t even worry about my eye twitching.

So far this summer, the kids have tried a few different camps. By far, their favorite was tennis camp. I have been getting out to a few clinics to play, too!

Both girls have progressed really well with swim team, but only Claire actually enjoys it. But yesterday we did a little bit of mountain biking and Claire decisively hated it, while Riley was loving every second. They don’t have to like all the same things. But it would be easier for me if they did!

The other beautiful thing about the summer so far is that both girls have read so many books that we have totally lost count. They have become huge fans of the Magic Treehouse series, plus the Ivy and Bean series, as well as some Amelia Bedelia, and Romona books. Summer reading is the best!

The girls finished 1st grade this week and summer has now officially started!

The first weekend of the summer started out with a fun swim party for the girls and their classmates to celebrate the last day of school. We made it a Hawaii/Lilo and Stitch theme. It was really fun and made me feel so grateful that we were able to put in a pool a few years ago. Swim parties are fun! And I’m grateful that we live in a community with so many nice families who want to gather and celebrate. We were invited to a party later that day – so we had two pool parties in one day. So much fun for these kids (and it’s even fun for us grownups, too!)!

The next day, we rode bikes to the park, played in the pool, went to the library, and read books together. (Both girls have already finished a chapter book in one day, so I think we will need to go to the library again tomorrow!)

And today, we went to the waterski lake! The girls spent almost the entire time swimming and jumping in the water from the lily pad.

A pretty good start to summer!

This weekend wasn’t the best weather, but we enjoyed ourselves. We went to a Harry Potter festival on Saturday and the girls were able to invite their friend, which is so fun. On Sunday we stayed home and relaxed and cooked a huge feast!

I’m drinking my coffee before the rest of the family wakes up and reflecting on this past week off from work while the kids were on spring break. I loved having this relaxed time with them. We had fun. We read a lot of books. We swam in our pool. We waterskied. We roller skated. We had friends over. We did legos. We played Barbie’s. We had lunch out. We had dinner out. We saw family. We celebrated Easter. It was a great stay-cation.

We put the Barbie house outside so we could play Barbie’s and enjoy sunshine and fresh air.

And we even met the Easter Bunny!

Andy has the weekend off so we got to have the best day. Skiing and then relaxing at home with homemade burritos and movies. Even Mack got to enjoy his favorite activity – ball.

Yesterday my girls got to have their pals over to the ski lake to play. And I got to see my good friend and spend time sitting on the dock enjoying sunshine while we let our kids roam around the property. I also got to ski. It’s a good Northern California spring weekend when you get to snow ski on Saturday and then waterski on Sunday.