It’s the first day of summer and a heat wave is upon us! The temps reached the high 90s, that I saw, and we returned to a popular pool that we haven’t been to in years! The kids had a blast, I met old friends and new, and we were all exhausted in the end. Tomorrow is supposed to be another hot one, but we have non-pool related plans. I’m sure we’ll be back there again soon though. It’s a great pool!
We had a lovely day today. A very nice start to the summer, as Lex and I were discussing. Since Friday was the last day of school, Saturday and Sunday aren’t technically school days anyway, today was really the first day of summer vacation.
We did have to get out the door in the morning, but our departure time was 9:15am instead of the usual 7:50am. Our morning started at dance camp. Our first attempt at the summer camp scene. Eve and her friend from preschool signed up together. Eve put on her favorite dancing dress and we put bows in her hair and away we went. She was a bit nervous in the beginning, but I think she had fun.
Bows and mini buns, a perfect hairdo for dance camp. (a little lopsided, but she said it was perfect anyway!)
Lex and I hung around for about 10 minutes, but the campers were just sitting on the floor singing songs. Lex wanted to see some dancing! :) On Friday they will put on a short performance, so I promised him we would at least seem some dancing then. When we left Eve’s friend had sat down next to her and both girls were happily singing a good morning song with the teacher.
While Eve was at camp, Lex and I went grocery shopping. It was different. Usually we drop him off in the morning and Eve and I run errands, but this morning we dropped her off and Lex and I ran errands. Grocery shopping with him is easy peasy though, because he brings a book and sits in the cart. We were in and out in no time! We even had enough time to pick up our CSA share AND go home and put the groceries away before we had to pick up Eve again. I was psyched!
When we picked up Eve she was TIRED and hungry. We made it home, had lunch and stories, said farewell to my parents, and then crashed for the rest of the day. Lex zoned out into his Mindstorm set, Eve laid on her bed listening to an audiobook, and I got lost in the computer for awhile. Eventually Eve came downstairs for snack and we all migrated into the dining room, still listening to the audiobook. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen prepping the fruits and veggies from our morning outing, Eve sat at the table and colored while listening to the audio book (“A Wrinkle in Time” and she really got into it this time around!) and Lex was in and out showing off his Mindstorm creations.
Raspberry fingers! Classic. She munched on raspberries and strawberries all afternoon. :)
Here is Lex’s Mindstorm robot. If it detects an object within 40cm it fires little wooden balls at the object. You can hear it saying “object” when it detects something and “alarm” if it determines that something to be within 40cm. Lex did all of the programing on his own. At one point he said, “I could turn the sounds off and use it to guard my room!” That cracked me up! I can imagine myself walking in to his room one day and having a Mindstorm robot suddenly start shooting little balls at me. Ha!
After healthy dinners all around we finished the evening with little frozen yogurt (from the CSA pickup) sundaes. Ahh… summer vacation!
There are only three little dishes because poor Alan was not home to join us for this yummy dessert. :(
We’ve had a busy Father’s Day weekend around here! It’s not even over yet, but Alan and Grandpa Tom happily took the kids to the balloon festival this afternoon so I am home in a quiet house (except for all my chattering at my mom!) with nothing to do but update the blog (assuming I turn a blind eye to the laundry and housework that needs attention!)
Yesterday we hit the roller skating rink again. Well, the kids hit it a few times, but my dad and I managed to stay on our feet. :) Lex loves skating and he’s getting pretty good at it. Eve likes it, as much as she likes any other group activity, but she’s pretty slow and it definitely wears her out!
Is this how we use the roller skates?
Silly girl. She’s dressed for skating!
He’s getting so balanced.
All done. Just half hour of skating and they’re done! I say “just” and Eve says, “We get to skate for a whole half hour?!” That’s good cup-half-full mentality! :)
After skating we went to the playground for awhile before dinner at the lake.
Lex can make it all the way across these monkey bars. Better than I can!
Swinging!
Sillies on the slide. They turned this into a Pez candy dispenser and they were the candies. I had to “click” out each candy and then a kid would slide down.
After they were fully exhausted I took them out to dinner. There’s good parenting! We had a tasty dinner and ice cream and good times.
Ice cream. I didn’t get a good family shot here, but this was Grandma’s first trip out of rehab in awhile. We had a great dinner at the lake to end a beautiful day.
Enjoying ice cream with a view.
This morning Alan woke up and decided he wanted to run in a Father’s Day 4miler they hold here every year. Eve was eager to run in the 1 mile fun run! We were out bright and early and had a great time. Alan and Eve did the fun run, then Alan did the full 4-miler while I hung out with the kids.
Eve in a tree.
Lex said “I’m going to hang like a sloth in a tree.”
Eve and Alan crossing the finish line! She rocked it!
12 minutes! They are so speedy!
Three in a tree! The guy in the green in one of Lex’s classmates.
Watching daddy start his long run.
Eve, relaxing in a tree. These trees were easy to climb and super popular!
We found face painting and Eve immediately wanted a butterfly. (I don’t think these were really face paints though. Her face has been scrubbed clean twice now and it’s still pinkish!)
All good things must come to an end, and when they involve lots of activity and excitement the end is often not pretty. Eve pouted for awhile because I couldn’t magically conjure up just the right kind of food she wanted, but don’t worry, I had her giggling quickly enough. We went home and she had a story with Mema and bagels from Grandpa Tom and all was right in the world again. :)
The family is back from the balloon festival now. Everyone survived and had a good time. Kids are exhausted but, luckily for me, had a great bedtime.
Happy Father’s Day!
Now this is what smart phones are best for! We went roller skating this afternoon and now we’re killing time at the playground before dinner on the lake! Rough life. Welcome to summer vacation!
One reason I love my blog is because I love reading about this time last year. Whatever time it is this year it’s always fun to read about last year, and the year before. Anyway.
Today was the last day of school. I now officially have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener! Both kids passed their grades (surprise!) and are considered “more than ready” for the next grade.
A proud second grader and an excited kindergartener! (This is a pretty awful photo setup! I was trying to be quick and just super excited that they both had agreed to stop and smile for me!)
After a busy morning spent playing with a new friend, Eve spent most of her last day of school outside (I think the para was inside cleaning the classroom!) We brought our treat bags and another child (mother) brought fancy cookies. Eve came home all wound up!
Lex’s class did Step-Up day first, then had a goodbye assembly for the 5th graders. Then lunch outside, lots of popsicles, and games for the rest of the day. He brought Sorry and was happy that his classmates all took game sheets from his folder. He got the teacher I wanted and can’t remember any of the kids in his new class. I got a lot of “maybe he was in my class” or “maybe he was in the other class” but no certainty. But that’s ok. I asked him, “When you looked around the classroom, did you feel happy with the group of kids around you or did you feel nervous or uncertain?” He said he felt happy and comfortable. That’s good enough for me.
After school we went to the science museum to play with some friends we haven’t seen this year. That was fun, and my parents surprised us there too!
Look at all the paperwork that comes home at the end of the year! (Don’t look at the crazy naked girl in the background)
Lex brought home this paper hat that says “A hat for Eve” She put it on and agreed to let me take a picture of it…
… if I also agreed to take this picture! She was seriously over tired tonight.
Happy afternoon. Happy day. Happy Summer Vacation!!!
See You Later Alligator!
We made treats for the last day of school tomorrow. Along the same lines as our Dr. Seuss treats, I came across this adorable end-of-year treat idea on Pinterest. Her candy color scheme is better than ours, but we had lots of fun making them and the kids are super excited to deliver them tomorrow.
Eve and I had an in-depth discussion in the grocery store the other day about which candies would be best and how much we would need. I bought two very large bags of candy, but apparently that was nowhere near enough. We rummaged through the cabinets (a perfectionist would have returned to the store, but my “good enough” approach to life these days sent me to the snack cabinet instead!) and found a huge supply of Goldfish, Cheerios, and Kix. The kids thought Goldfish would be best, so Goldfish it was! I think that will be good to balance out the sugar hit these kids will get if they actually eat the whole bag at one time!
Doling out the candy! At the last minute Eve invited a friend from school over to help with the treat bags. She was more of a distraction than an actual help, but her mom helped and we all had a fun afternoon anyway.
Now comes the hard work! Writing To: and From: on 40 bags! Lex powered through his own pretty quickly and then helped Eve finish off hers as well. Lex was so sweet he even wrote “From: Lex & Eve” on all of the bags for his classmates.
Eve and her friend did a lot of giggling, but not a lot of writing. Once her friend left Eve and Lex worked together to finish up the bags for her class.
I like this kind of treat. They are fun.
They are so excited to hand them out tomorrow. They each gave a bag to each other as well. Sweet siblings (making sure they get their candy too!)
We are all excited for the last day of school tomorrow. Well, I am anyway and projecting on them. The kids haven’t expressed much interest either way. I think they will be most happy on Monday when we aren’t heading to school. :) Me too!
Lex’s class did an assignment where they had to make and write about an invention. Or, to be precise, a “contrapawackinvent.” I have NO IDEA what that means. He hasn’t told me anything about it except that he was pleased his teacher let him write straight through snack time. He apparently had a lot to say about his contrapawackinvent!
The long one in the middle is his.
A close up. Can you read it? You may have to click on the picture to zoom in a bit.
Tonight was the annual ice cream social at his school. Sort of a final farewell, hosted by the PTO. The kids had a great time, of course. Ice cream and playground after dinner, lots of friends, what more could you (as a child!) ask for. :)
Yum!
The excitement of the evening however came when Lex did a face-plant off the monkey bars! He stood up, spitting out wood chips and missing a tooth! Fortunately it was the one that was hanging on by a thread anyway! He was hoping to loose it this week, at school, so he could get a little treasure box from the school nurse. He lost it at school, but won’t be getting a treasure box. Oh well. Several people jumped in and tried to help him find the tooth, but he seemed relatively indifferent.
Looking for a tooth. I didn't get any pictures of the wood-chip filled face, too busy taking care of the boy to be taking pictures of him, but once I knew he was ok I whipped the camera back out!
Is this it? Nope, just a wood chip.
A face-plant didn't keep him down for long!
Oh yeah, we brought this smiley girl as well. :) She was smiley until she got her little toe caught in the slide. Then it turned to tears (two ice cream cones and half hour past bedtime may have also contributed to the tears!)
Sweet.
Eve brought home her green bean plant from pre-k yesterday. She was super eager to plant it.
She was even more eager to water it!
I have been a slacker this year and we have absolutely nothing planted in the raised bed garden this year. The kids have been using it as a digging site instead. Eve wanted to plant her green beans there though, so we marked off the actual plant (as opposed to all the weeds!) with a nice stone circle. I hope it grows well for her!
Lex has been in worksheet CREATION mode lately! He's just cranking them out. He makes them on the white board and on paper. He is starting to get fancy with flaps and other complicated parts. If he had his druthers Eve would spend her days doing worksheets that he created. She humors him sometimes, but she doesn't really share his passion for worksheets. :)
I bought these the other day because bedtime was, once again, making me crazy. The kids LOVE them. So far, after two nights, they are working well. I also taped up the weather forecast for a few days at a time so they can pick out clothes accordingly. :)
After a rocking family game of Sorry (Eve won!) and a wild silly round of tickle tag, Alan and Eve set off on a morning run. She made it a full mile, with only a short period of walking after she fell and scraped up her toe and knees. She came home tired and happy. Alan went out again for a longer run. :)