Summer Fun

Yes, it's October, but we're still having summer weather down here, so I guess that these pics aren't too far behind... ha! Here is a throwback to our actual summer days and some miscellaneous activities for our family.

Swimming Lessons

Jaden and Cody did a week of private lessons with the wonderful Mrs. McQuary again this summer. The boys are pretty independent in the water now, but they don't have very good swimming form. Learning good form for the various strokes was exactly the goal that Mrs. McQuary had for our boys and their friend Ella.

The kids worked especially on the freestyle and the breaststroke but did a bit of the backstroke as well.

These three are all fairly competitive, so they pushed each other well. They always watched each other and wanted to make everything a race! We felt that our boys made some decent strides in their 3 days of lessons. Here are a few swimming videos, showing their progress.

Wild Week

Our whole family got plugged into our church's Vacation Bible school in early June. Jason led the Bible teaching station for the older kids, and I was one of the Missions leaders for K-5. Adley hung out in the childcare room each day and actually did fairly well (unless she was going on a walk and happened to see Mommy teaching in a different room!). Cody and Jaden were in a group filled almost entirely with school friends, so they had a blast! Here are the boys on the various dress up days-- crazy sock day, crazy hair day, crazy shades day, and crazy hat day. What a fun week!

Water Fun

Summer in Texas is MUCH more manageable when you can spend time in the water. We pulled out our slip n slide and water balloons quite a few times this summer.

Adley didn't quite understand the concept of "sliding" down the slip n slide, but she at least enjoyed getting wet.

The boys designed their own game of water balloon baseball with the slip n slide carrying them into home.

Flag Pic

We were out of town for the actual July 4th holiday, but I still had the kiddos pose for a belated picture in front of our latchhook flag. It's tradition! Here is this year's pic compared with Adley's first flag photo-- what a difference!

Summer Library Events

Our public library usually has a large list of free activities throughout the summer to entice kids to visit. We attended two interesting events-- an entertaining juggler (which I forgot to take pictures of) and this Reptiles and Amphibians talk. A local park ranger brought a variety of frogs, snakes, and other creatures to show the small group of kids. Jaden and Cody loved telling Daddy all about the snakes they saw (guess who's not a fan of snakes AT ALL!).

Little Beakers

On a morning when Adley was hanging out with my parents, I took Jaden and Cody to this hands-on science lab for kids. It was our 2nd time visiting this unique place, so the boys knew a bit more what to expect. They were especially interested in making slime, so we made three different varieties!

Another highlight was making and watching these Fizzing Rockets. What a great place!

Mommy and Daddy's Birthdays

Unlike many years, our entire family was actually in town and together for both of our birthdays this July! We took advantage of this and did some special activities together. For my birthday, we spent the morning at the bowling alley.

Then, my three favorite guys spoiled me by making a yummy melted ice cream cake for dessert. Jason grilled salmon for me too-- a definite favorite!

We didn't capture very many photos of Daddy's birthday, unfortunately, but we did have a fun day together. It was a Sunday, so we spent the morning at church and then played some family tennis in the afternoon. Jason requested his beloved scotcheroos for dessert.

Summer Movies

Some of our nearby theaters offer dollar matinee movies in the summer, so it's a great opportunity to visit the theater. Adley still doesn't sit well during an entire movie (especially when you add on all the loooong previews!), so cheapie movies are just perfect for our family! We actually intended on going to How to Train Your Dragon this summer, but the schedule got changed on us, and Kung Fu Panda was playing instead. We had already seen this one several times, but our kiddos were still excited about it and enjoyed their theater experience immensely. In the theater lobby, we noticed this fun/scary-looking advertisement for a upcoming new movie. Naturally, the kids all wanted to pose with the shark.... :)

Family Bingo Night

Our church sponsored two Bingo events during the summer. We attended the second one-- a Christmas in July themed Bingo night. Our family even brought out our Christmas sweaters and hats for the occasion. Good thing the community center was well air-conditioned! Our family was not at all lucky for this Bingo night, unfortunately, but Cody and Jaden became experts and learning how to mark a Bingo card. Jaden even attempted watching two cards at once! And we still left the night with a few treats to fill our pantry. :)

Summer Organ Playing

Somewhat reluctantly, I agreed to play organ twice at our church this summer. I still feel like it's hard to fit in practice time during the week and not easy to take our kids to church a full hour early at this stage in our lives, hence my reluctance to play. Nevertheless, I was happy that I was able to help our worship department and use my gifts in this way, even just for these couple times. And this organ sure is a powerful, amazing instrument to play!

Summer Playdates

When August rolled around, a few of my teacher friends needed some help with their kiddos while they were at back-to-school meetings. We agreed to hang out with these two lovely girls (both Jaden and Cody's age) for a day. The girls were full of ideas, and we hopped around from one activity to the next all day long! They sure had a blast together... and knew just how to wear this momma out, too! ;)

Oh, we love our summer days!!