gibbons

I often joke about our kids being little monkeys.  Watching the gibbons at the zoo only confirms this feeling.

Now at any time, in the car, at the store, hiking or where ever, the kids start calling to each other in true gibbon fashion.  Our three year old can't pass a fence without stopping to climb it and holler like a gibbon for all to come and join him.

Monkeys are fun.

 And spunky.

 And have minds of their own!

And fearless!  CJ did pass her deep water test last weekend and it was impressive to see her swim in the lap lane.

Summer time fun

I got behind in loading pictures from the camera onto the computer, editing, and therefore posting.  So let me catch up with some summer visitors we had.  We were actually quite busy and didn't get as many pictures as I thought we had.

 The girls had swim lessons while Hannah and Grandma were here so we stayed for open swim a couple of days. Swimming is always fun and a must in the heat of summer!

 We froze yummy strawberries and even had Cousin Hannah help!  I know they had fun "sneaking" strawberries too.

 When it is too hot to be outside, inside goop time seemed like a great idea.  Except, it turns out Hannah doesn't know how to get messy and have fun. Finally she played with a small ball that was overly dry.

 Clearly our kids have no trouble digging right in and getting messy. Sometimes I wouldn't mind if they had a touch of hesitation.

 A trip to the zoo included watching a tiger demonstration.

Grandma with the girls.

The kids had fun sleeping all together on the floor, sharing secrets and playing.  Can I brag for a moment?  Hannah at the end of her week with us, proclaimed, "BEST WEEK EVER!" We cannot wait for return visits!

Let's fly a kite! Happy Father's day!

There are some activities that are just more fun with Daddy.  Fishing, since I don't have my license, for example is one of them. Kite flying is another!

 Waiting for Daddy's help.

 The kites are up!

 He did GREAT all on his own!

 Everyone helped each other to get kites back in the air.

 The weather was so perfect, we could sit and chat and enjoy the kite flying all at the same time!

Happy Father's Day!

Summer Fun

Summer is here and in full force!  Triple digits nearly every day, record breaking temps!  We have been on summer break for about ten days and they have been filled to the brim!

 First, we had to say good bye to our WONDERFUL first grade teacher!  We'll miss you!

 Then we celebrated with ice cream treats for a excellent year and lots of hard work! I even let them choose their treat this time.

And then we had some silliness, which is required when eating ice cream!

And of course some mess!

We found the coolest day we could to make a trip to the zoo.

 Our monkeys

 The zebras were having a nice game of chase, and this ostrich did NOT like them running around and would take after them each time they came by her.  It reminded me of life, about the time a couple of people (kids) are having fun, someone else has to ruin it!

 What has him so intrigued?
These "little" guys.

So on one of our record breaking temperature days, we did something inside, BOWLING!

 Three games of bowling was not enough for this little guy!  CJ got competitive as she watched each frame tally up everyone's score.

A trip to the base pool was a great way to spend one afternoon.

The only reason we get to have these fun adventures is because we have also stayed home and had really great days doing our Mommy imposed summer homework, chores, and getting along!

 I put CJ in charge of freezing the berries.

 "Be gone! I'm the Master of this kitchen."  And we've done a bit of baking too.

Rockin' out her summer fashion! 
As wiped out as she was, she still took care of all of her babies thru the night.

Whew! Between the heat and all this, it's been a whirl wind!  We only get 7 weeks of summer break. This year we are not traveling during the summer. Tomorrow Swim lessons begin for two weeks.  Grandma Linda, and a surprise, are coming on Wednesday.  The other night, as I tucked CJ into bed, she told me, "this is the best summer ever! Thank you mommy!"  I am so happy that these normal summer things can bring them so much joy!