Summer Part III

Night Games . . . We have a young neighborhood for the most part and so this summer it has been our undertaking to teach the kids on our street how to play night games.  They're actually "evening games" that go into the later night.  It's taken a little bit more work to teach them all the rules and goings on, but they really seem to be liking it regardless.

The Aquarium . . . Drew could have spent 45 minutes standing in front of each fish tank window yelling "fishy" and screaming with joy periodically.  He could have spent an extra 45 minutes in front of the "Nemo tank."  I'll have to consider this activity after the girls are gone to school and it's just me and him.  I could bring a book and he could look at the fish all morning long.

Olivia finally got brave enough to stick her arm in the water to touch the sting rays and we all came home with fish water smelling arms . . . yum. But it was fun.

Backyard Camp Out . . . Never mind that Ansen and I started a very rigorous work out program that week and neither one of us could walk let alone crawl in a tent, get situated on air mattresses and then withstand the demands of all the kids, but we'd planned it with the kids and there was no backing out.  This year we watched Night at the Museum 2, no popcorn OR drink spills and Drew got to stay up.  It was perfect, perfect weather though. 

Swimming Lessons Round 2 . . . This time Drew had a towel boy friend  and a partner in ant patrol from our neighborhood   This time the early lessons were a bit harder (ahhh, school mornings again will be terrible) and this time they did it together in the morning.

Popsicles . . . we made our own Popsicles . . . thank you Pinterest and thank you Thrive.  It's the little things that make them so happy isn't it?  Making your own Popsicle, freezing it and then getting to eat it . . . we are crrraaaazzzzzy, right?

Night Games and dinner at Discover Park . . . So we tried neighborhood night games at Discovery Park.  There were so many cool places to hide and play . . .which turned out to be the problem with night games.  They were too distracted with all the fun stuff that some of them only lasted a few rounds of Sardines.  Oh, well . . . they all had fun. 

Bowling . . . What's not to love about FREE bowling, right?  I only learned about this "FREE" information at the end of the summer.  I think we'll have "league day" next year if the deal continues. 

Lunch with Ansen . . . he LOVES it when I pull the camera out and just can't start smiling soon enough . . . I caught him mid sentence here and he was a good sport.  We've been wanting meet Dad for lunch ALL summer, but only finally made it happen 4 days before summer break was over. 

Balloon Jump . . . We filled a million (or close to) water balloons, put them on the tramp and let them have at it.  They had to keep jumping until they got them all popped. 

When you're filling up the balloons you're really wondering how much fun you'll actually get out of all the work . . . I was satisfied that it was worth it. They loved it and it lasted longer than I ever would have anticipated.



But my favorite part was probably at the end when we tried to line them up for a picture.  The girls quickly got posed and waited . . . we never got the boys figured out, but the girls held on, in posed position.  They got a little lax and we just waited to see how long they would keep standing there . . . (it's making me laugh again looking at the pictures)