Summer!

Past summers have flown by and maybe we do 3 "summer things" before its over.  This year, I didn't want that to happen.  It was time to make the most of summer and it was time to have more fun than ever.  I came across a  blog that I absolutely love (www.katherinemaries.com if you're wondering) where she made a Summer Bucket List.  A list of things they were going to do that summer and every single one sounded like incredible fun.  I followed her lead and sat down with the kids to ask them what they wanted to do this summer.  I put a few of my own in there too.

Hopefully you can read that.  We didn't get everything in but we DID get most of it. I will admit by week 4 of summer I was totally exhausted and had to slow down with the fun but I can honestly say this summer didn't pass us by.  We fit in everything we possibly could and it was a nice long summer!

Here are a bunch of pics from all the fun.

We started off early in the year with a camping trip in May

Swimming lessons started in June

 

Make Banana Splits

(their first ever)

Read Bedtime Books Outside

Play with Shaving Cream

(a big favorite)

Take a Bath Outside

Play in the Pool...ALOT!

(both in our backyard and going to a real one)

Make Root Beer Floats

(another first)

Ride the Train at Idlewild

(this was Aaron's and he loved it)

Go to the Lake..A lot

Go to the Movies

Climb a Tree

Water Balloon Batting Practice

(my Dad asked specifically to be involved in this one

and we were lucky enough to have my Uncle

Jess join in the fun too)

Eat Dinner (have a picnic) at the Park

Go to the Drive-In Movies

(a first for the kids-they saw Despicable Me 2)

Go to the Zoo

(the only picture I had of them at the zoo was

this one from the playground that's there

*grin*)

Go to the Train Museum

(another must for Aaron-he was in heaven)

Go to Wild Waters

(proclaimed to be the best day EVER by the kids)

Go on a Fairy Walk

See a Waterfall

(this was a poor excuse for a waterfall and not 

what I had in mind but hey, the kids loved it)

We also made a fort outside,

played with water balloons,

went out for ice-cream,

and went out for breakfast

PHEW!

There were a couple things that came up last 

minute that were a lot of fun too

Bowers Mansion Pool is open again and they

had a fun night where they kept the pool open late 

and then showed the movie Yogi Bear in their park.

The kids had so much fun and honestly, Yogi Bear wasn't THAT bad

*grin*

One very cloudy and stormy day,

the kids and I decided to lay on the hammock

and watch the storm.  That led to taking some fun pictures together!

It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. 

There are still about 6 things on our Bucket List that we didn't get to and I hope to get a couple more done soon but all in all,  I'm VERY happy with the fantastic summer we had and I think the kids are too.

The biggest thing that we did this summer was move!  That's right!  We finally got approved on the house we made an offer on back in March.  The process was ridiculous as we got approved back in June but when it went to the second, they found that an incorrect amount had been submitted to the first and so we had to go through it all again.  We were approved on a Wednesday and we moved just 3 days later.  I hadn't packed a thing as there was no guarantee we were going to get approved and since our lease was up in 2 weeks and the rental would need to be cleaned and the kids were starting school we decided it was best to cram it in ASAP.  We never could've done it without our parents help and Matt and Rebecca too!  It was, honestly, an awfully hard move and the two weeks that followed were the most stressful of my life while not having just given birth! 

My little helper...cleaning tile grout at the rental

Bye House!!!

We LOVE our new house!!!

 As I mentioned before, Riley and Emily started school!  Riley started Kindergarten-a big deal for both of us, and he goes everyday afternoons only.  He absolutely loves it.  The schedule is really hard for me to do with the other two napping while he's in school and there are often tears from 2 littles that don't want to be woken up from their nap to go pick Riley up from school but all in all it is going really well.  

 Emily is off to school as well!  Dave and I have talked about how she should probably start going to preschool a couple days a week but she REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to take a dance class.  We took a trial class over the summer and loved it so she started preschool once a week  morning only and then takes dance once a week also.

Her first day of preschool

To say she LOVES dance would be an understatement.  She is in heaven.  Her teacher is wonderful and every week they rotate between 4 different dance types so she is getting exposed to some great stuff.  Her favorite is ballet of course and tap.

Dave and I ended the summer with an evening on the beach 

at Lake Tahoe watching Shakespeare Festival perform 

A Midsummer Nights Dream

One of our clients gave us tickets and it was a very interesting take on the play 

I almost forgot 4th of July!  That could be an entire post in itself-we had so much fun!  My sister in law came to town with her family and the kids had a blast together.  

They started off by playing with water all afternoon

Eating Dinner

And fireworks of course! 

This was the first year they all stayed up and watched them

Now we are busy-me unpacking the house and Dave work work working.  Someone asked him how he liked his new house the other day and he said, "I don't know, you'll have to ask my wife and kids!" It's true, he's hardly ever home.  I always forget how busy September is at work.  This too shall pass.  Riley and Emily's birthdays are coming next week and Emily wants a ballet birthday of course. Riley wants a Transformers Rescue Bots party-also no surprise.  Have you ever seen Rescue Bots?  Best. Cartoon. Ever.    This was a really long post and I rambled... a lot.  Oh well, it's been awhile.  

*grin*