84 years

Happy 84th Birthday Oma!

keepin' cool

Nothing speaks to summer like some cool shades...

... and a new froggy pool!

Thank you Papi for the fab shades

pushing 100...

... degrees that is. The high today was 99! and phew, it's been hot, hot, HOT these past few days. Inevitably, the theme has definitely been water this week... or anyway to cool off!

But, first Alyssa went to her first all day summer camp. She was sooooo excited. She got herself dressed up pretty with lots of pink and I am not kidding how much pink... pink hat, pink sunglasses, pink shirt, pink shorts, pink water bottle and pink lunchbox... she was thrilled. And as for Jaiden... he got Mommy all to himself so he chose to...

... play tag at the park, run through sprinkles, play the game TROUBLE (where he slaughters me... and sadly, there is no cheating involved on either sides), bicycle to his favorite restaurant for lunch and eat popsicles on the front porch. Who would have thought that was his ideal day with me?

Then today, as the temps began rising again, I spontaneously took them to get new shoes, meet Daddy for lunch and go for some more splashing fun...

It was crowded so you will have to appreciate my efforts in trying to capture just them in the photos but some how I managed to get a few! It was fun trying.

Tomorrow, the kids get fans installed into their bedrooms!

water logged...

Another hot day but today I was prepared and scooted all of us out of the house shortly after lunchtime for our first summer visit to the outdoor pools! 

the water was heavenly, the kids were thrilled...

... and I actually got to relax by the side of the pool and try to take photos. I am on Dennis' laptop at the moment so these are SOOC (straight out of the camera) and hopefully they look good. I have switched completely to manual mode and love it. It is getting easier and the colors and crispness are just amazing me!

But back to the kids, they swam and swam ... we were there for nearly 3 1/2 hours! I felt quite water logged but I think these two could have been shriveled raisins before decided they were done!

today...

Today was one of those days when the afternoon is hot, stagnant and that lazy sort of feeling. Jaiden came to tell me he was "bored" (just when do they learn about that?) but honestly, I was a little bored too so we ventured to the kitchen table to make crafts... because all boredom should lead to creating something fun.

Well, as I helped color his ant face (top left), I wondered "Will the kids remember these afternoons? Will they remember the spontaneous craftyness of boredom?" And I smiled when I looked over and saw his caterpillar he created (bottom right), and Alyssa's pillow and blanket next to the table because she was tired but wanted to be with us... and then the giggles from the porch swing invited a photo of enjoying their popsicles while pushing the swing sideways in their make shift rocket ship... and I thought "I want to remember these lazy, stagnant, hot summer afternoons where we manage to find something fun to do and to create."

happy Father's day!

Happy Father's Day!

Hope everyone had a great day! Ours was fairly relaxing and fun. Somehow Jaiden convinced Daddy that we needed to drive to this special mall about an hour south of us so we could go to the Lego store!

I am not sure who had more fun. There was a special television/computer where if you held up a box to the screen...

... it became a 3-dimensional lego toy that moved around the screen... in this particular photo, you can see it moving down Dennis' arm!

We also went for a little glow in the dark golf too although it was very difficult to photograph!

They were glowing!

wizards, ants, and teeth

I sat down to relax after putting the kids to bed tonight, thinking how nice it was to not be doing this...

... and was reminded that wizards were traveling too quickly throughout the house today and it reminded me I hadn't posted in awhile...

So to catch you up, we have been ...

... graduating from kindergarten (very proud and exited to be a 1st grader!

... planting our sweet 1 millions (but this time only 1 plant!)

... practicing golf.

... blowing bubbles.

... going to birthday parties as a saber tooth tiger (which by the way the dentist noticed this saber tooth might be loosing a tooth soon!)

... and making friends. This is Alyssa's newest friend, Anntie. She's super tiny and gets lost often but luckily she is easy to find... for Alyssa that is!

So it's been busy around here... in fact, we have done a lot more than this. The first two weeks of summer have been heavenly, and now that the bulk of my work is done, I plan to be posting more frequently our whereabouts.

Oh and did I mention, we now eat corn with our feet?