Ode to Summer 2011

Now that school is in, the weather is turning pleasant (as opposed to crazy hot), I’ve been able to look back over the last 3 months of summer and have decided it was the best summer I’ve ever had. I miss it already. From the beginning, I took the advice of a friend and created a simple schedule for us. I need structure, and in order to make sure I spent time with my kids (and not all on work) we scheduled in an activity everyday from 12-3pm. Mon- cleaning & errands, Tues- adventure day, Wed- water day, Thurs- library day, Friday- Friend day. Plus, I tried to do an activity (art, games, whatever) with just my older 2 during the baby’s morning nap. It was wonderful!! I LOVED  spending set apart, qualified time with my kids. Definitely going to do this again next summer.

So, here’s a recap of some of those adventures, plus all of our family craziness!!

June– involved putting grass & flower beds in the backyard. Hooray!! We’ve been waiting and working for this for 2.5 years. Followed closely by a backyard pizza BBQ! Blowing bubbles, rainy Father’s Day, crawling baby – finally on her hands & knees, swimming, mud, & backyard play!

July – 4th of July BBQ & parade at G&G’s, fireworks, BIG camping trip by Tibble Fork Reservoir with grandparents, cousins, and Aunt Barbie & Uncle Josh in from Chicago! Sam’s 100 miles of nowhere, My first 50 mile ride, Hogle Zoo trip, watercolors, and more playing in the new backyard.

August – walking baby!!! 15 months old, getting into everything, cutest thing EVER. A couple of trips to Jungle Jim’s, more playing in the backyard, and Andrew turned 4 years old! He knew EXACTLY what he was getting since that’s all he’s talked about for MONTHS ,(Imaginext air craft carrier) so we wrapped up a small box with a treasure map and made him go hunt for it. It was awesome.  And I admit that making my kids’ birthday cakes is one of my favorite things to do. I go all out. 🙂 P.S. I’m pretty sure we’ve played MouseTrap almost every day. It’s now trumped SORRY! as the kids’ favorite game.

And how did I forget?!! Ahhhh!! I did my first 100 mile bike ride. WAHOOOOOO!!! There were a few of us from Sam’s office – the unofficial Kynetx team – but mostly I rode with my honey. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but SO happy I did it!