Summer Fun

Lego Camp
Makin was perfectly happy to have another at-home Lego camp with Charlie again this summer. His best buddy and a new Lego set...happy boy!

They decided to decorate a bit this year.
The one on the right is a treasure box with the pieces of treasure falling out of it.

Big sisters had to bake some cookies while the boys built with Legos.

Lake Trip
We don't fit in as many as we should of these in the summer, but love it when we do. :)

(They don't usually hold hands when running in, but I hadn't gotten a good pic so they ran in together so I could get a picture. :) )

Bike Riding
So, when you do not set aside time to ride bikes more than a few times a year...it makes it difficult to teach your kids to ride without training wheels. I finally decided we needed to go a few mornings in a row this summer. While this has been a challenge with L's temper, she had been making progress and was close when we went months ago...so the second morning she got the hang of it and has been loving riding now! This picture was actually while the boys were out and she and I decided to try out a new trail we can walk to from our neighborhood. This resulted in a sore mom the days following because I jogged a bit too much trying to keep up! :) So glad she can finally join the ranks of bike riders and we can have moments like this!

Golf
How amazing is it to have a seven-year-old love golf as much as his dad?! These two would golf every day if they could. I'll try not to post it all year round but I'm just so happy they both love it! This month they made a golf trip their date, and drove to a par three course, which is ideal for Makin because his shots can get closer to the green even though he is still little. :)
(Lorelei and I got pedicures for our date because we have been slacking with dates this year, so we went all out! No pic though!)

Hubert's Lemonade
At some point a year ago or more ago we realized the lemonade we were using had dye in it...so we were on a quest to find some real lemonade, and as long as we were on that quest, why not try and find one that tastes like our beloved Wendy's strawberry lemonade? Hubert's was the winner! We even turned it into a frozen treat and yes, that is delicious too!

Pool Time
We loved meeting Robyn and Reece at their local pool. They tried out the slides, water playground, pool and lazy river.

Their favorite was the lazy river.

Books
On our bucket list was a trip to Half Price Books again this summer. Each kiddo got a $15 gift card to spend. This is such a treat for them and they really love choosing some new books. Just after this I discovered that HPB does a summer reading challenge in June and July and they can earn Bookwork Bucks...so this will be our new plan for upcoming summers! (And July!)

I love to encourage reading whenever possible, so when I noticed that many of Lorelei's classmates didn't have her passion for reading, I thought a summer book club could be fun, and encourage them to love reading as well! One other mom had done a reading club with her older boys, so she volunteered to lead the discussion...and wow she was amazing! Our girls learned so much about analyzing their books and I am sooo thankful she was willing to help out and make it that much more educational! After their discussion, we made kindness rocks and enjoyed Otis' Pickles (book character) followed by a bit of play time.

We chose Because Of Winn Dixie for June.
The girls all enjoyed it quite a bit and I love the many layers of the book.
L picked the movie version for family movie night on Sunday and Brad and Makin really liked it.

Anniversary Week - Year 13

We celebrated 13 years this June. We enjoyed a special date night on our anniversary (because Nana was here to babysit!) at The Melting Pot.

The first course, cheese fondue, main course was vegetable broth fondue that you dipped meats into to cook them.

Then came dessert! Our waiter even gave us a special anniversary message with it!

The rest of "anniversary week" was while Mom had the kiddos at her place. We didn't fit in as many fun things as we could have, but we really enjoyed what time we did have, even if it just meant being bums eating pizza and watching T.V as soon as Brad got done working for the day! :) The little things. :)

I hosted an at-home moms-night-out one night and Brad salted the margarita glasses for us.
(I did have nicer glasses but had to use a few colorful plastic glasses...apparently I didn't take a pic till the end.)

Even though I don't play golf, I absolutely love being out on the course. Brad and I went out together occasionally like this pre-kids (me driving the cart and him playing) so we decided this was how we should spend our Saturday morning.

Summer Nana Visit

Game Time!

We always enjoy a visit from Nana when she has off from school for the summer. This year, she came to our house for a few days and then took the kids to her house for a few more. This was the first year both kids were up for the idea of a few nights away without Brad and I, and though it was hard for this control freak, we did enjoy our kid-free time.

Mom and I try to fit in a mostly kid-free shopping/lunch day each summer. We seem to have a good rhythm to make sure and plan her visit spanning a Saturday so that Brad is free to be on Dad-duty all day. They played endless games of Monopoly and loved their time together.

We enjoyed a restaurant in a community called Adriatica for our anniversary last year and thought Mom would enjoy it, so we headed out for Sunday brunch after church.

Pool Time

We spent most of one day at Arbor Hills. Nana had never been and it was one of her requests for her visit. We always love getting some stream wading in during the summer.

A.J. stopped by on his way to Corpus Christi and we enjoyed a swim, 

supper and morning visit with him.

Then Mom and the kiddos headed to her place, armed with some Magic Tree House audio CDs to keep them entertained for the long drive. :) During their visit they walked around the lake, went to the zoo and swam at the city pool. They also enjoyed the moments around the house on the swings and helping with some farm chores like feeding bucket calves and driving the combine. When we met half-way to pick them up they told us next summer it needed to be longer and all of them seemed to have had a great visit. Thanks again Mom!

Swinging Into Summer

I love summer. I love all the activities we get to do, and not keeping up with the school routine. We hit the ground running into summer after getting back from our trip.

Park Time

We fit in a park trip early one morning. After we got back I helped wrap up the school yearbook a couple of days. We fit a park trip in before they played at home (Brad working at home of course) while I headed to school for yearbook. It was a strange couple of days but they did really well.

Poolside

The kids were counting the days until the pool opened. Most mornings we have it entirely to ourselves so that is pretty amazing. My current summer plan is to go at least M-F from 8-10 AM. This gets their swim time in with plenty of time left in the day for more summer fun.

Reading Challenge

The kids decided they would read all 600 minutes over the weekend, and they actually fit them in within a 24 hour time period, starting Friday evening and finishing up Saturday. We headed in Sunday afternoon to collect the coupon packet and they were excited to be the first ones to finish.

We have been trying to get this guy into a new series he is excited about.
A-Z Mysteries for the win. :) 

Hughes Crew

We met up with the Hughes Crew in Waco and had a great time. Because the forecast had temps in the 100s, we decided we would head to a nearby museum right after our usual cupcake stop at The Silos. The museum was a huge hit and the kids loved spending hours there.

Humpback Whale Skull

Lorelei really enjoyed building a cityscape with light and shadows.

The Bubble Room was definitely a favorite.

Art Camp and Hula Camp

The same affordable program that Lorelei takes hula through also offers some summer camps. We were delighted to find them in budget (camps can get pretty crazy around here) and loved that they were back-to-back times. They were Tues/Wed/Thurs afternoons. She loved going with Jaedynn and Savannah.