Quick, make up a rhyme for that!

Summer vacation has started here and, of course, things did not slow down. Silly me for expecting that. They will next week though, I’m sure! (actually this is a down week now, between two busy weeks)

Lex had soccer camp last week. Every day from 9am-10:30am he played soccer while Eve and I entertained ourselves on the playground. It wasn’t quite enough time to leave and go anywhere (life in the country) and Lex didn’t want us to leave him anyway. I had the foresight to call a few off her pre-k friends though, so she had friends to play with every day. That was a huge help for me!

Lex goes in for the ball!

Drink break! (I don’t even know that other boy, but they seem to be friendly.)

Eve and her friends ended most mornings in the sandbox on the playground.

Walking back to the car, Lex takes the challenging path.

The weather was hot and sunny every day, except Tuesday when it rained on us. Wednesday was sunny and beautiful, but not too hot, so we decided to go strawberry picking in the afternoon. We went to Wellwood Orchard, our usual apple picking place. This is this first year I found out they had PYO strawberries. The picking was great! We had a really nice afternoon together.

Just getting started. The picking was so easy!

Eve

Lex. I love when he wears his hat. :)

Look at this one, mom!

The rows were wide enough that we could put the big box down (they each had small boxes as well) and wide enough so they kids could sit. That made a big difference in their enjoyment!

This was the nicest PYO strawberries place I’ve found in this area. We will definitely be going back next year!

I had a hard time stopping when they were done. The strawberries were just calling to be picked! The kids had a small snack while I picked a bunch more real quick. :)

The fields were at the top of a big hill and this huge rock provided for an amazing view!

We can’t visit Wellwood without stopping by the petting zoo. These goats are so well trained, they know exactly what comes out of that machine!

Lex managed to get some in his hands before the goats gobbled the food right up.

Eve made fast friends with an albino rabbit. She sat in the shade for quite awhile, petting the bunny.

There were a bunch of these little white kids (goat babies) running around. We found out they were just three days old!! Lex and Eve kept trying to feed them, but they showed no interest. I’m guessing at three days old they are still on a milk diet. They were super cute though.

On Thursday we went to the lake after camp. I packed a lunch, we brought one of Eve’s friends, and we all had a great time! This is the lake that was closed last year due to Hurricane Irene and I’m sooo glad it’s open again this summer. It is just the right size for us. Big enough that there is plenty of room and plenty to do and generally other kids around, but small enough so that I can see my kids and don’t worry about losing them. We usually see people there we know and we always have fun.

First things first – lunch!

They turned to enjoy the view while finishing their lunch.

They were super excited to get out the snorkels again! They spent most of their time in the water checking out the fish with the snorkels. Those things were money well spent. :)

Three fishes in the water, looking for fishes.

The water was very chilly and Eve’s preferred way to warm up is to roll around in the sand, a trick she discovered at a beach on the Atlantic last summer.

We half buried Eve and turned her into a sand mermaid. Next time we’ll bring the spray bottles of water/glue mixture and do it up right like the professionals. :)

It was a team effort to get her buried. Even she had to work hard at not wiggling her toes!

We got home, showered, and settled in for ice cream sundaes! Or, as my literal children called them, frozen yogurt thursdays. :)

And now… to make up for lost time… here are a few other miscellaneous photos from my camera. (btw, I spelled miscellaneous correctly on the first try. go me!)

Doing jumping jacks (or whatever that is Lex is doing!) in the parking lot after consuming massive quantities of food at a Father’s Day brunch. Lex discovered that eating a huge muffin and a huge bagel made him feel very sleepy.

This is a pretty awesome train set the kids built earlier in the week. They added their own islands and boats (cardboard boxes) and a train cafe and much more. This photo was taken about half way. I didn’t get a shot of the completed setup. It kept them entertained for days.

Summer science! We broke out the science kit I got Eve for her birthday. It was fun to do, but the results were a bit disappointing. A good lesson in experiments and all.

Ok, that should tide hold you all for another nine days or so. :) I spent the past few days desperately trying to get a photo book done on Snapfish of our February vacation to Florida. They are kind of pricey and I had a 50% coupon code that expired at 11:59pm last night. I was eager to take advantage of it, so much of my free time the past few days went into that. It ended being 62 pages! I had Alan and Lex proof-read it for me last night. Laying in bed with Lex later I asked if he liked it and if he would read it again. “Oh yes,” was his answer to both. I asked if it was too long and he said, “Well, it was a very long vacation.” :) Good answer, little boy, good answer.

Tomorrow we have an exciting trip to the grocery store where Lex is eager to spend his allowance on some Hot Wheels cars. Thursday might be pool day if we aren’t hit with afternoon storms again.

Have I mentioned yet that I love summer vacation? :)

PS. Aarrgg! I just got an email from Snapfish, as I was typing that last sentence, saying they are extending the 50% off sale. Grrr… Deep breath.. Ahhh…

We went on a tree walk today, organized by the town’s Tree Society or something. I was surprised that the kids were interested. I think Alan sold them on the idea when I wasn’t around. I suggested they bring notebooks and write down interesting things they learn. They took me up on the idea and Lex took it quite seriously, drawing and detailing each tree we heard about.

His one complaint was that there wasn’t enough time for him to do his drawings and notes before the group moved on. He got frustrated by that.

After about an hour Lex decided he was done. We left the group and went back to a tree he was interested in and he finished his drawings.

Eve lasted a bit longer, but not much. I thought the walk would be through the woods along a trail or something, but it was actually just around their school. There are lots of trees and plenty of variety to discuss. It was a nice morning anyway, followed by lunch at Panera, a trip to the “train station” (model trains), and the grocery store.

This afternoon, after quiet time and family meeting, before the kids even got their allowance money put away, the jingle of the ice cream truck rang out. They grabbed their dollars and headed outside!

It’s interesting how children chose ice cream. Eve picked a Bugs Bunny popsicle with gumball eyes. What flavor is it? Who cares, it’s a cartoon bunny!! She didn’t even know it had gumball eyes until after she bought it.

They got all sticky with the ice cream then went to play in the dirt box in the back yard. Summertime fun! :)

The kids have turned into cavemen at the table lately. Laughing hysterically, jumping up and down, chewing with their mouths WIDE open, etc. I even found Eve on the table one day. Like that’s ok?! I’ve been threatening a manners crack-down for awhile, but of course threats serve no purpose so the other day I did some research (I ? the Internet!) and found a good manners game. Actually, I found several manners games that I merged into our own unique thing.

This evening we created a list of manners we could all agree on. Lex was done eating first so he agreed to be the scribe. We did some brainstorming, came up with ideas, merged, discussed, deleted, and finally settled on six key manners. I am not saying these are all the table manners that children need to know, but these will be the ones we start with.

The first draft of our manners list.

Once we had the list pared down to an easy six items that we all could agree on, Lex offered to re-write the list “because this one is kind of messy and hard to read.” He grabbed the markers and went to work.

The final draft, hanging on the wall in the dining room. I wanted to frame it, but Lex objected.

At this point you may be wondering why Lex is so eager to participate in this manners game. A game that will involve no reading at the table. *gasp* The reason for his eagerness, and Eve’s as well, is that the game involves M&Ms, of which we have 2.5lbs left over from Lex’s basketball cake!

Starting tomorrow each person at the table will get five M&Ms. “At every meal?” they asked. “Yes, at every meal,” I replied. “Even breakfast…?” they ask. “Yes, even breakfast.”  “Wooahh…” said two big eyed children. Each person starts with five pieces of candy and when they see another person (including a parent, a rule that thrills them!) using bad table manners they can take one of that person’s M&Ms. So if I see Eve not sitting in her chair I can take one of her candies, giving me six and her only four. At the end of the meal everyone eats the M&Ms at their place. So if you have a good meal, use good manners, and pay attention to what’s going on you could end up with a nice bit of candy for dessert. If you use bad manners and get silly or spaced out, you could end up with nothing. They are pretty excited about this!

Alan and I discussed the merits of candy at every meal. Other games I saw involved using marbles to earn desserts, but that only works at dinner time and requires me to have dessert available every night. This way everyone gets a little treat and we don’t have tons of dessert laying around. I reminded him that we also used candy for potty training. Maybe the strategic use of candy is just part of parenting. :)

Tomorrow morning, game on! Wish me luck!