More summer fun! (Days 6-14)

Day 6-- June 8th:  Frisbee Fun

The reason I need to keep up with this 87 days of Summer thing more regularly than I have been is that the days all blur together and I forget what happens on the individual days.  On day 6, for example, I'm sure we did something besides play frisbee, but since I didn't take pictures, I no longer remember.  That's kind of sad.

But, I did take pictures of these two playing an impromptu game of frisbee while Chris and I got dinner going.  I'm constantly nagging Tom and Gordon to play together, work it out, include your brother, etc, so the fact that they decided to go outside and actually play together without parental prodding makes these pictures all the more priceless.  Plus, they look adorable.

Day 7-- June 9th:  Swimming

We had several stormy days during the first couple weeks in June, and this was one of them.  Luckily, we had buy-1-get-1-free tickets to the indoor Aquatic Center left over from Gordon's birthday party, so I took these boys swimming.  My kids are part fish and all three of them loved jumping around in the water.  I had quite the workout trying to hold onto little Neil-- he doesn't understand the concept of not being able to breathe while under water and tried to swim away from me every chance he could.  Little booger.  We were right to go swimming inside, though-- it hailed on us on our way home!

Day 8-- June 10th:  Backyard Yoga

I watched my sister Ann-Michelle's four children for three days during this week, and on Friday, it was finally warm enough to break out the pool.  The kids played outside for hours, ate lunch and had popsicles, then played some more.  I took a bunch of pictures, but this one is my favorite-- Tom leading his cousins in some yoga.  Namaste.


Day 9-- June 11th:  The Scottish Festival and Trilobites (pictures coming!)

We went to Utah to visit Grammuh and Grampuh, but like a moron, I forgot my camera.  Luckily, Gramm is a fabulous photographer and got all sorts of good ones from our day at Thanksgiving Point.  Some things I want to remember about our wonderful day:  Gordon falling in love with the bagpipe bands at the Scottish Festival (he informed us that he wants to play both the drums and the bagpipe when he grows up), tasty shortbread at one of the booths, the boys loving making trilobite molds just like a real paleontologist at the Museum of Ancient Life, and the huge and delicious sundaes at the little ice cream shop at Thanksgiving Point.  What a great day!

Day 10-- June 12th

Gordon got his face painted at the Scottish Festival and was so excited about it that he asked if he could paint his own face with watercolors after church on Sunday.  He's our own little Braveheart.

Day 11-- June 13th

The boys were invited to a friend's birthday party at a cool outdoor family fun park, and I took a picture of Tom climbing the rock wall with my phone.  It was cold and rainy (you can see how cloudy it is in the background), so we didn't get too spend too much time outside, but the boys still had a blast.  The Idaho Falls YMCA runs a rock climbing gym that I'm hoping to take the boys to sometime soon.  It seems like something we'd all enjoy.

Day 12-- June 14th

Another day where I'm not sure what we did.  All of my pictures are for digital scrapbooking stuff except this one of cute little Gordon.  Man, those eyelashes!  And sigh, that underbite...

Day 13-- June 15th:  Tee Ball

Gord is playing tee ball this summer with a fun group of boys in our area.  Most of them live within a few blocks or so, so every Monday and Wednesday, the boys have kind of a play date while the moms sit on the bleachers and visit.  It's really fun.  Go Yankees!

Day 14-- June 16th:  Sand Art

We watched my friend's son while she and her husband spent a weekend in New York (lucky ducks!!) and since it was another kind of gloomy day weather-wise, we decided to do some crafts.  After a fun filled lunch at the indoor playground at Arctic Circle (I had no idea they give you a free kid's cone when you stay for lunch-- sweet!), I took the boys to Wal-Mart and let them choose $10 worth of crafts.  After much deliberation (and me saying, "okay, it's time to choose" about twenty times), they finally decided on a sand art kit.  It was a little bit messy, but pretty fun, and the boys ended up with some cool art and father's day gifts.  Just what every dad wants!

Coming soon:  Fathers & Sons, more Tee Ball, the Backyard Science Fair, and more!  Summer is so fun!!

87 Days of Summer Vacation-- Days 1-5

We're big fans of Phineas and Ferb around here.  The boys discovered it on Netflix and they're not the only ones who love it-- Chris and I get a huge kick out of this clever kids show, too.  The first line of the title sequence goes, "There's one-hundred-and-four days of summer vacation..." and the boys and I are feeling a little gypped that we've only got 87.  That 87 includes the last day of school (the first official day of summer, starting at 2:21 pm) and weekends. 

Since we're trying to jam all the fun we can into those 87 days, my goal is to take at least one picture each day and make a summer scrapbook.  If you are into scrapping or photography, you've probably heard of Project 365, where you take a photo a day for a year.  I'm not quite at that point myself, but I think Project 87 is a good start, don't you?  And there's nothing like a scrapbook to remind you how much fun you had!  :)

Day 1-- June 3rd:  The last day of school/ First day of summer.  I picked the kids up from school and we went to Baskin Robbins where we enjoyed tasty kid's cones while we looked at the end-of-year reports.  I'm happy to say that both boys really improved from the beginning of the year to the end, and that they are both well above average.  Of course, I don't need a school report to tell me that! 

Chris and I thought it would be a fun tradition to have a backyard campout on the last day of school, but when we were talking about it, we must have forgotten that we live in Idaho, where it regularly snows in June.  Last year the boys ended up camping in my parents' shop, and this year, we set up the tent in the basement.  Instead of falling asleep watching the stars, the boys had Toy Story 3 and the dimmer switch on the lamp.  The backyard campout may have to wait for better weather, but I think the fun sleeping arrangement tradition is here to stay!

Day 2-- June 4:  I have big plans for running this summer.  No more 13-milers, though, you can be sure about that!  Still, I plan to run a couple of 5Ks, a 5-mile leg in a relay, and hopefully a 10K at the end of the summer.  I'm also taking a running class at the gym, so I'm hoping my times and endurance will get better as the summer progresses.

My first official run of the summer was the Melaleuca 5K on Saturday.  I ran with my mom and some of our great friends from our ward and neighborhood, which was so fun.  Running with people really makes a difference.

In mid-May, our church group had a 5K fun run and my time was not great, so I was very happy that I came in at 5 minutes faster than that previous time.  Not a personal best, but still, I am pleased with how it turned out.  My one goal was to run (jog) the entire time, and I did.  Hooray!  My friend won an iPod, too, which is pretty darn awesome-- maybe some of that luck will rub off on me for our next race!

Day 3-- June 5:  I decided to just to un-do all of that good calorie burning by making a delicious, completely un-nutritious dessert on Sunday.  I think we're calling it "Strawberries and Cream Pie" and the recipe was given to me by my friend Jeanette.  It's light, summery, and decadent-- perfect for a Sunday afternoon!  I'll post the recipe on Culinary Collie Sue in the next day or so.  In the meantime, you can drool over this picture...

Day 4-- June 6:  I've been watching my sister's four kids three days this week, so we've had kind of a crazy week.  Gordon had his first tee ball game (Go Yankees!-- they're ADORABLE) but I didn't feel like I could take my eyes off of the other six kids for too long and decided to leave the camera at home.  Luckily, we have several more games and I'll have fewer little bodies in my responsibility next week.  Gord played pretty well and afterward commented, "Now I remember this game!" and played even better on Wednesday. 

Late Monday night, Thomas came downstairs with a little problem-- he'd been chewing on this little scarf that belongs in a magic kit and got it stuck on his braces.  It was easy enough to pull off, but I thought it made a pretty funny picture.  Apparently in addition to taffy and chewy caramels, he should also avoid chewing on magic scarves.

Day 5-- June 7:  In typical Idaho fashion, Tuesday was cold and rainy, so we had to stay inside for most of the day.  Luckily, I had a backup plan:  Spore Creatures.

We have this funny computer game called Spore that the kids just love-- you create your own weird monster thing and make it dance and move.  I thought it would be fun to make our own 3-D Spore Creatures with play-doh and the boys agreed.  They invited some friends and we got to work.
 

Next time, I think I'll go right for the modeling clay.  Play-doh doesn't stick as well and we had to use wooden skewers to help the limbs stay stiff.  As the creatures have dried, some of their extremities have fallen off.  Oh well, live and learn.  The boys LOVED this rainy-day project, so I am sure we'll try it again.

Tom's Creature:  

And Gord's (love the title):

 

Most of Neil's ended up in little bits on the floor, then into the garbage when I swept.  He still had fun and I am pretty sure he didn't eat any.

That's it for the first five days-- I have more pictures to share, and I'll post a link to my scrap pages when I'm done in case you want to see how our summer scrapbook is coming along.  Good times!

Come on, Summer!

It's June!  Tomorrow is the last day of school!  My sweet little tree in the backyard really looks like popcorn popping!  My garden is planted!  So come on, SUMMER, what are you waiting for?!

When my grandparents were here, we discussed the fact that no matter where you live, you pay a price in some regard or another.  Here in lovely, low-cost-of-living, great family community Idaho, the price we pay is in the weather.  Or rather, the wind.  And the cold.  I feel like winter has lasted about four months too long, and I am ready, ready, ready for summer.

Yesterday I expressed my happiness at the first of June (for reasons of impending summertime) and Chris replied with, "Yeah, only three months until football season!"  Sheesh.

Anyway, it's windy here, but at least we have a kite, a huge field outside our back gate, and little boys who can stay entertained for hours.

 

We're all getting very excited for summertime, and I'm going to do my best to make sure that this summer is one of our best ever.  On the docket for summer activities:  camping, hiking, swimming lessons, tee ball, bike riding, and family visits.  We can't wait! 

P.S.  I updated my book list!