Good Week

Cutest girls ever, who love camp! All tie-dyed up. They're in the blue patrol. They really are good friends.

Meanwhile this week we pool partied it up, this time had bbq lunch with lots of friends:

I kidnapped boys only for swimming while Audrey was at camp:

These guys made an awesome fort. Then watched Pirates of the Caribbean. Then ran out back dressed up like pirates and played and played. We've also been watching lots of Shark Week!

And even dogs like forts:

Hit the library to load up on books and audio books for a road trip to Grandma and Grandpa Tait's. Car wash to get all the beach sand out.

Cool treat during 100 degree heat!

Camp Kid #1

Dropped this girl at camp today. She was soooo excited for her second summer at Girl Scout camp with Presley, Kallie, and Ava. I love it because it feels so "old school" (whatever that means), but the girls are outside at this pretty park and campground, playing games, crafts, tie-dying, singing songs, friendship bracelets and necklaces, hiking, making snacks, and more. Hope she has a great day.

Beach!

Rey went to day care for the first time today (she did great!) and we headed to Zuma. Might be one of my favorite things - spending the day on the beach with my whole family. Big waves, lots of playing and sunshine, super tired when we got home - always justifies take out or pizza, and movie night.

Tyler was attempting to photobomb:

I get in serious trouble if I don't bring watermelon to the beach.

Love, love this boy and these kiddos being home with me this summer.

Great beach day with these four. There was also this moment when Adam took all three kids to the restroom and I was alone on the beach for like four minutes - it was heaven! Maybe next time we'll find a dog beach and bring Rey.

The Week

It was my last Monday at Ladybug Music - off for about three weeks! Audrey and Adam went to Mountasia with the Girl Scouts to celebrate Father's Day. They did it all: mini-golf, video games, laser tag, rock wall, go-carts, bumper boats, and ice-cream afterwards.

We lazed around the house in pjs and cuddled puppy:

Played at the park and pool with best friends:

Audrey loves Activity Days, and Tyler was the only cub scout at the fire station field trip! He didn't seem to mind.

Tried to snack healthier while enduring the crazy high temps. Still love my Diet Coke, but one bonus of summer is I'm drinking a ton more water, especially when it's 120! Also learning if I buy loads of fresh fruit and vegetables the kids and I will gobble it up. Just cut it up, set it out, and they'll eat it.

Fun thing this week was Tyler went to GATE Camp. GATE kids in our school district were chosen by lottery to attend a three day camp, and it was so neat. They did minecraft 3-D printing, worked with a green screen, animation, and all sorts of science projects (with music, connectors and lights). The work he came home with was really cool. A few friends were there, and his class was taught by two popular teachers from our school. He had a good time, and I hope they do it again!

With Tyler gone a few days, I had plenty of time with these two! There were some tough moments, but overall it was fun to see them play. They made a Cars World under our kitchen table that kept them busy for a couple mornings. Then today we cleaned out our water table for playing and car wash. Whenever I ask them if we should get rid of it they say "No!!!"

Went to Finding Dory and it was super cute. Thanks to Cole being addicted to Quaker granola bars I got enough coupons to get $20 off tickets! Sweet!

This girl had soccer evaluations. She moves up to the competitive division this year. I felt bad we didn't have much time to prep for evaluations (kinda short notice), but had no need to worry - Audrey got right in there and did a great job. She really likes soccer, kept volunteering to play defense (her favorite position as of now.)

In the green warming up and doing drills.

Last swim lessons tonight! Poor Cole, he loved swim lessons until they actually started teaching him to swim, not just fun and games. The last few classes he was pretty sad. Adam and I will work with him in the pool, but he might need a few private lessons like Tyler and Audrey.

Audrey and Tyler did fantastic. Learned a bunch of strokes and pretty much swam laps each night. More swimming than they've ever done, and I was really proud of them.

Tonight was a treat - they got to go off the diving board:

I'm glad lessons are over - need a break from the pool every night at 6. But it's always a fun part of summer. Tomorrow we will swim and pizza party with the Bartys, then hoping for a beach day Saturday. Audrey has Girl Scout Camp next week, and she's excited. I'll get some time with my boys.

Father's Day

This has been the funniest weekend. Off our game a bit. Did we pick Saturday and Sunday for our summer crash and burn?! (Grownups included?) We shall shake it off, and move on to a new week. But first, Happy Father's Day to our wonderful dads: Adam, Grandpa Faust, Grandpa Tait, and my step-dad Vernon, also known as Pop Pop. We are the luckiest to be loved by these guys, and to know so many fantastic fathers. We celebrated with homemade gifts and cards for Adam, a delicious grilled pork tenderloin dinner, and yummy dessert. Our morning started rough (early wakeup by Rey and quite a bit of kid fighting), but Adam watched Dodgers and NBA finals, and got his nap. We sure are grateful for our #1 Dad.

Zoo!

I wasn't planning a zoo day, especially since Cole and I had gone recently, but the weather was so pleasant (and supposedly a heatwave is coming) that I wanted to spend a day outside with the kids. Zoo it was! Our morning went really smoothly (probably thanks to Adam leaving so early for work!) - kids packed their lunches, I took Rey on a walk. We were out the door, and there when it opened. They have an exhibit right now, Dinosaurs Unextinct, that we checked out first - it was pretty cool. There are about 15 or so dinosaurs that move and make noise. We actually learned a bunch about them we didn't know.

Not sure what was up with this one. Supposedly he smelled. One spit water at us, too, which was pretty funny.

Kids dug for fossils, and there are a couple dinosaurs they could move themselves

Afterward we hit the petting zoo, and the kids had so much fun exploring these little caves:

We saw a bunch of animals today: Elephants, zebra, gorillas, all sorts of snakes and lizards, komodo dragon, and more. Got to pet a python:

Kids loved this new rainforest part of the zoo. The coolest otter area, they were so playful and have an awesome habitat of natural pools and slides. 

Maybe my favorite picture of the day:

Spoiled since it's summer break, we rode the carousel!

At the zoo this mom stopped us to compliment the kids on how well-behaved they were!!! Man, you should've seen their faces they were so proud of themselves, I could tell. (And I made a point to tell them how proud I was that another parent noticed that, because believe me - not all days line up like that.) Made me think maybe we need to do this more often - if we notice kids acting awesome, polite, respectful, point it out! It actually became this really cool teaching moment for my kids, and hearing it from another parent really reinforced good behavior, so hurrah! Thank you zoo lady! (She probably didn't see us walking to the car, Cole crying a fit because I made him come with me to the girls bathroom instead of the boys. That's our big fight these days. Every. bathroom.)

We ended our day with swimming lessons. So nice by the pool, and hanging out with my friend Brittney, who I've probably hung out with more these past couple weeks than in quite some time. It's been fun catching up.