Beginning of Summer

We kicked off our summer right away with a few fun things.

Our first order of business was to celebrate Father's Day with our amazing dad. What a guy he is, really. He even wore a Lion King tie to church in honor of his kids. Mitchell and Chloe thought it was awesome. He makes our kids so happy and tries every day to do something fun or special for them or with them, if he can.

The next day the big kids started swimming lessons, 4 times a week for 2 weeks. They were in heaven! We took lessons in Fife this year, a nearby town. We usually go to the Auburn pool, which I LOVE, but it is closed this summer for major renovations. I was really bummed because Auburn pool is close, a good price, 5 times a week (compared to 4), fantastic instructors, and they offer lessons super early which allows my early risers to be the only kids in their class which gives us private lessons at the rate of group lessons!

Mitch had no hesitation getting right in the pool.

He loved all of his lessons and all the games they played. He loves doing his own thing, though and was constantly doing bobs and going under the water (safely) when he was waiting for his turn. Doing his own thing, though, led to some small problems. I over heard his teacher tell him a few times that he needed to listen and told him once to "please stop drinking the pool water. It will make you sick!" That's our Mitch!

Chloe is my great swimmer and learns fast. She loves the water.

Thankfully, the only thing I heard her teacher tell her to do was find a hair band and pull her hair back.

These two little rugrats and I hung out on the bleachers each day. Lots of snacks helped keep them entertained for 30 minutes a day. Leah did take a nasty spill off the top bleacher all the way to the bottom one day which resulted in a few big scratches on her face and hand.

We coordinated lesson times with a good family friend, the Volmer's. We love them and had a great time hanging out with them every day. They have a little girl Mitchell's age, and a boy the twin's age. He is quite the ladies man and has a hard time choosing between Leah and Lexi.

All the kids after swimming lessons (minus the Volmer baby).

There is a great park right outside the swimming pool doors that we played on one day, still in swimming suits.

The twins were sweet to help each other on and off different toys.

On Friday June 24th, the first Friday after school got out, I took the kids to the annual Auburn Kids Day with my good friend Kelly and her family. This is the second year going with her and we have such a great time together. We decided this is our new yearly tradition.

We always asked my mom growing up that why there wasn't a kid's day, like there is a Mother's Day and Father's Day. My mom always told us "Every day is kids day." I didn't agree with that until I had kids of my own. Kelly and I were explaining this to our kids last year at Kids Day and Kelly's then 4 year old daughter made up a song called "Every Day is Kids Day." We sang that song again on Auburn Kids Day this year.

Rapunzel was at Kid's Day this year and my kids are recently in a "Tangled" obsession, so we had to get our picture with her. Don't mind Mitchell- he had just received a free dinosaur face mask and insisted on wearing it in the picture. Awesome.

This mask also did not help his obsession with growling and making tiger/dinosaur noises on a frequent basis.

A fun little live band made up of male school teachers plays every year. Kelly's daughter and Mitch ventured out to listen to the band and dance.

We also saw this artist who was sketching the Mona Lisa on the sidewalk only using sidewalk chalk. Amazing!! She was fascinating to watch. She took a quick break to get a picture with us.

Our second week of summer consisted of yard work! We spent over 8 hours one Saturday weeding our back yard (it was horrific). We then had some bark delivered and spent an evening spreading it on the back yard. Chloe was so excited to help!

Mitch didn't want to be left out either.

Lexi just wanted to play in it.

Dad to the rescue!

And Ben thought I looked exceptionally sexy in my irrigation boots. 4 years ago (the last time we laid bark), Ben and I both made the dumb move of wearing crocs to lay the bark. BIG mistake- we had bark slivers for weeks. Ben wore his work boots this time and I only have these boots which worked amazingly well. I looked like a goon, but oh well- the back yard looks great, so that's all that matters.