Mix Of Summer Fun

It has been difficult for me to find the right balance this summer. I like to go full force and have busy and fun plans for every day of the week. We have a lot coming up in August, so I have had to try to work hard at giving myself some time to get some extra things done instead of getting to every fun event, which has been a challenge for me. I'm just telling myself its only one summer and its good for the kids to see the balance anyway. Hoping next summer all my "to dos" are done (am I dreaming?) and I can just have nothing but fun.

It has been quite the mix of events over the last few weeks...

I am so thankful for our library's summer program. We did miss a few activities this year since that seemed an easy thing to cut from the schedule, but we have loved the ones we attended.

One of the library activities was a visit from the Omaha Children's Museum, which has a dinosaur section. They saw fossils and replicas of different dinosaur claws and teeth. Then there was a dinosaur that looked real (a costume on a person) that came out and did a few activities to help them learn more about dinosaurs as well. The girl in the picture with Makin is a friend from church whose dad is at work during the day. We just wanted her to get to enjoy it too! Lorelei did not want to be in the picture.

The theme this year was heros. Can't get better than a visit from policemen and firemen! The kids sat at the square and listened to both a policeman and fireman speak on a variety of topics, then they walked across the street and got to look into a police car, fire truck and ambulance. We are friends with the firefighter, so the kids even got invited into the firehouse for a popsicle treat afterwards. We knew the newscaster taping the event too, but both kids declined being interviewed to be on T.V.! It was a fun morning.

If we don't get to the library for an activity, we sometimes head there at an off time to get a few books or play legos. Drue especially loves going, so if its ever a gloomy weather day, she is very excited if we can go. This visit they really got into the legos and loved their giant ship creation.

Lorelei has really been into jump roping lately.

Our July dates: Father/Daughter - Aquatic center. These two love swim time!

Mother/Son - Wii date - tennis and bowling are our favs, Makin also played baseball and I watched. We don't usually get much wii time, if any, so this was a nice treat for him and he chose it out of 4 choices I offered. :)

Backyard picnics fit well into a busy schedule on a gorgeous weather day! (And a bit chilly in the shade!)
















We are so thankful for the park down the block! This visit Makin was enjoying shooting a toy airplane very high. (Hard to see, but its just about past the tree tops in the view of the playground.) Lorelei has been enjoying the monkey bars although still gets nervous too high up. :)

The kids can't get enough mom time, especially after a Bible study morning. These are my kitchen counter helpers eating grapes and reading books while we cooked lunch.

One day the kids requested going to the coffee shop. Makin really loved our dates there, and Lorelei had never been, so we decided we should all go one morning. They played checkers, tic tac toe, drew pictures and took turns reading readers to me.

Train track creation fun.

We had a great time going to Elijah's pirate party. The kids loved going on a treasure hunt and hitting the pinata.

They loved helping make home-made chocolate pudding pops! :) Sooo yummy!

We finally broke out the slip n slide from last summer. It is duct taped and barely squirting water but it works and they had fun. Our little pool has become seemingly impossible to keep clean, so we decided to end our backyard pool fun. Will be finding water fun other ways the rest of the summer!

Summer needs to slow down!