While getting excited about the coming school year, we've been soaking up our last couple weeks of summer. The local library had a comedian/magician come in so we met Hunter and Hannah there. All the kids (and adults!) got a good laugh out of the show. Hannah's face turned red she was laughing so hard!! We were all stunned when Hunter decided to get up and walk up to the guy to peek in his "magic hat." It was just as funny when the guy responded, "It's ok...it's just a stage you're going through." The magician also kept getting bigger and bigger magic wands to make a trick work, but he'd walk over and bop Willow on the head with it every time. She smiled despite being completely embarrassed inside!
"Mommy Time" is a fun indoor playground at a local mall. We've enjoyed going there a few times this summer as a good indoor option to escape the heat!
There's a girl down the street that we played with a couple times last summer that we ran into again, then enjoyed spending most of the day playing with her at the house. The kids did great playing board games, making cookies, coloring, and playing on the trampoline with her (in the rain!!)!
They got so wet in the rain that they were trying to fill the bucket with water from their clothes and hair (haha!!):
And Willow did this!!!! We'd been playing around with it in PA and Gramps and Gramma sent it home with us. The most we could ever get were "quite a few" on one side. Willow came down with it from her room one morning and acted like it was no big deal that she'd solved it!! I wish I could've been a fly on the wall to see how she did it!
We are part of a Life Group through our church and enjoyed a picnic, time playing in the stream, and a short hike with them last weekend. It's near a place where we've camped but never knew about this fun stream and picnic area! We'll be back!!
What a great view!!
We enjoyed the pool and playground with Hannah and Hunter. No photos but just a couple videos of their new bravery and skills in the water!
The kids really enjoy this climbing area/playground too! Owen did a lot more on his own this time!
Both kids are trying soccer for the first time this year. Owen is on a 8U team and Willow is jumping to 10U (some kids have already played 4 years!!). Unfortunately for them, neither of their parents ever played soccer to be able to help them much at home but we're all already learning a lot! The schedule sure keeps us busy with 3 practices a week for both of them and games starting August 25th.
We've already had 2 rainy practices too! It's not like softball where they cancel practice either! Rain or shine in soccer I guess!
A few videos from their first practice:
We met Hunter and Hannah at a local park to play then enjoyed the fountains. The kids really enjoyed it!
Hunter's about to get pelted in the face with water and his big sis is just standing by waiting for it to happen!!
Sidewalk chalk never gets old (even for adults!!)!
They added a fun glow-in-the-dark room at the Children's Museum!
Owen did great at this coding activity at the Children's Museum!
Little Man has graduated to a booster seat! We kept him in his high-back booster this summer for possible naps on long road trips (which didn't happen). Their seat looks so different now with Willow not even having a car seat any more! They're sure growing up!! Owen is getting better at strapping himself in...it'll be so weird for all of us to get in the car without needing to help anyone!!
Adding to/fixing what the rain tried to wash away:
Summer is never complete without decorating a big box!!! This one was turned into a restaurant with an order window and drive-thru.
Alli investigates the supplies:
We went to see the Christopher Robin movie (seemingly intended for adults!!) with Willow's friend Elena then had her over to the house for a while. They enjoyed "Just Dance" on the Wii and making cards using washi tape.
We haven't been to our local minor league team's game for 2 years!! We went on Star Wars Night thinking that'd help Owen be interested at least. It was also Bark in the Park Night so they enjoyed seeing dogs at the stadium too. The kids did great watching for 2 hours (food and ice cream help!!) and Willow said she learned a lot! We made it to the 7th inning stretch =)
There was a chance for rain but it blew past us! We were only with the sun on our backs for about 30 minutes then it was a pleasant 75 degrees!!
Free pics from a local bank!
Cheers to a great summer!!
