Summer Days

Here are a few pics from a variety of miscellaneous events during our summer:

Anniversary Festivities

On our anniversary in June, Jason and I planned a couple special family activities. First, we went to one of our area's free summer movies. Love these! This one was a showing of Minions. Jaden and Cody seemed to enjoy it well enough. Unlike last summer, we could actually sit through the entire movie! I love that the boys are unwilling to take their eyes off the movie screen for even a few seconds for a picture.

Later that afternoon, we visited an ice cream soda shoppe that boasts homemade ice cream. It was a little pricey, so we won't return often, but the treat was quite tasty!

Jason and I did get a bit of couple time as well, although it wasn't on our actual anniversary. Matt and Kim babysat for us so that we could go out for dinner and go bowling. What a treat! We returned the favor for them on a different evening-- a nice benefit of sharing an anniversary is that we'll always remember one another's special day! :) 

Activity Obsession #1

Jaden and Cody definitely went through "activity obsession phases" this summer. They would both get hooked on one certain activity for several weeks at a time. The chosen activity would be the first thing they'd ask to do after waking up, after lunch, after naptime-- multiple times a day! Their first activity obsession of the summer was coloring. Often, Cody and Jaden would sit at the table and each color 8 to 10 pictures in one sitting!

Our Little Gardeners

We were SO excited to see our sunflowers (the ones we first planted at the Texas Rodeo in October) grow into tall, beautiful flowers over the summer. It was most enjoyable when the flowers actually opened up and we could watch them follow the sun throughout the day.

Splash Pads

We spent quite a LOT of our summer in the water, visiting various pools and splash pads around town. Many times, we met friends or family members at these water sites. On this particular outing, we met up with a group of teacher friends from school. Jaden and Cody always loved their time in the water! Jaden's excitement is practically overflowing in picture #2. :)

Family Time

Although we weren't able to have extended family dinners weekly like we did last summer, we did schedule family dinners as often as we could. How fun to add Mom and Dad to our regular family dinner guest list now! We just LOVE having them live down the road. One of Cody and Jaden's favorite activities to do at Grammy and Papa's house is to read books with them. These are books that I enjoyed from my childhood, so it's a fun trip down memory lane for me to hear these books too!

Wedding Dances

We attended a total of 3 weddings over the summer but only enjoyed reception dancing at this one. (Our first wedding was the one that had bowling instead of dancing and the second one was when Cody got sick before the dancing even started!) This particular wedding was for a young couple at our church. Cody and Jaden jumped right into most of the reception dances, especially since a lot of their little Sunday School friends were out on the dance floor too!

Activity Obsession #2

Cody and Jaden's next activity obsession over the summer was building Legos. They'd often build an entire set and then immediately ask to take it apart and rebuild it. Mommy and Daddy's fingernails were constantly broken from all of our Lego dismantling during this stage!

Free Summer Bowling

Our local bowling alley offered free summer bowling coupons for kids during their non-peak hours. Of course, we took advantage of this opportunity! The cost for shoes was a bit spendy, but it was great to have the actual bowling cost covered. Jaden and Cody were only interested in playing 1 of their 2 free games but seemed to have fun.

Special Outings

These pics from my phone didn't come out very clearly, but they capture some fun memories. At the end of the summer, Mom and Dad gave Jason and me free tickets to an Astros game. It was my first time visiting the ballpark. The Astros just barely eked out a win with a walk-off homer, so it was a very exciting game! Jason and I loved the date night too. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for these tickets!

That same weekend, Kim and I bought tickets to a Sound of Music sing-a-long at an outdoor theater. We're both HUGE fans of this musical, so it was a glorious time. :)

Wonderwild

I heard at the end of the summer that this kids' play place was going out of business. We hadn't yet had a chance to try it out, so this was our last opportunity. The boys raced excitedly from the slides to the big pillow to the climbing gym. Such a fun place to play! Mommy enjoyed the cool indoor temperatures too!

Children's Museum

One Friday while Mommy was busy, Daddy took Jaden and Cody to the Children's Museum. We didn't realize it ahead of time, but that day was a special end-of-summer bash full of special activities like magic shows and face painting. Jason said that the museum was very busy! Jaden and Cody were thrilled to get their faces painted that morning. I was impressed with how intricate the designs were!