End of Summer Adventure Pt. 1

The kids and I are home again from our end of summer adventure! It was a wonderful trip in which we somehow did a lot but not all at the same time. Is that weird to say? I feel like it is. We did something every day and had a lot of fun, but there was still quite a bit of downtime and relaxing. So that was great.

On this trip, M was my roommate. And that was interesting. Every night I'd come in and she'd have made herself comfortable in the weirdest ways.

The first night I went in and found her with her legs sticking off the end of the bed. Because why not?

On Friday we went to two parks and a little library. Do you have a lot of little free libraries by you? We have a few, but my parents have a TON. Which is good because going to them is one of my mom's hobbies

The first park was my old elementary school playground. And wow is it ever completely different. I mean, that's good, but also weird. This climbing dome is awesome. I've been wanting to get one for our yard and this just confirmed that want. 

The second park was really two separate areas. They have a traditional play area, that M is standing on. But then they have a "natural playground" which is basically cleared out woods with sticks, rocks, logs, and downed trees to really explore. 

C could have spent ALL day there. He loved it. He kept referring to it as playing "like the early humans." Which cracks me up. I wish we had something like this in our area. I hope the next time we go to visit that we can go back and let him spend a long time there. We were shocked there wasn't anyone at either park. (My mom was shocked at how much stuff was left at the parks. I was less surprised by that.) 

Saturday was fairly low key but lots of fun. M made cookies with my dad. She loves to cook! 

We went to get a bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes (so tasty) and next door was this giant blow-up panda. M loves Pandas. They are her favorite and she was delighted to take a picture with it!

We also went to the book store. C's favorite place and he got to pick out two books. M picked out one as well. 

So see, nothing was too busy but we still did stuff every day. Lots of fun! I'll tell you more tomorrow!

Membership Fun

So last Monday we went to one museum we have a membership at. Then last Tuesday we went to the botanical center we have a membership at. Wednesday was our 9th anniversary and Husband took the day off of work. The weather was AMAZING so we decided to go to the zoo. (Because we have a membership and the zoo is included but we hadn't actually been yet.)

Then because we were feeling a little bit plucky we decided to hit the last museum in the bundle so we could use all of our membership benefits in one week. (Really three days but in my head, I was saying a week.)

We didn't stay there too long, there were a lot of summer program field trips and we were tired but we played everyone's favorite things for about an hour and went home. Because it's free so who cares if we don't spend all afternoon? 

More Summer

I am sorry it's been so quiet here over the last week. The kids and I are on an adventure trip for this last little bit of summer. Sure, I have now committed to my school mornings wake up time. (Because let's be honest for a minute, my kids have never once done anything resembling "sleeping in" and they rarely stay up late.)

But we are going to just cruise through this week, enjoying every second. We've got some fun stuff planned. We've got some nothing planned. Life is good.

See you soon!

Fun!

Yesterday afternoon we went to the museum to play. It was rainy and so pretty crowded but I had told the kids we could go there days ago so we were going. I was shocked, truly, at how naughty some of the kids were being and how their parents did not care!

I am all for experiencing life and trying things, truly. But some of the things the kids were doing was causing damage to the equipment. Like the egg conveyor belt. You move the eggs from the chicken coop into the grocery store. 

But someone had shoved a chick stuffed animal, a wooden cupcake and wooden slice of cake in there and so the eggs couldn't go in. Luckily C and I were able to un-wedge them to get it working again. There's a similar activity with the fake corn going into the processing area. And there was a family that got some of the cans from the store jammed up there and the mom was just sitting there watching. 

Again, I am all for experimental play but sometimes you actually have to parent. I for sure told a little girl she couldn't put a potato down the egg belt a few minutes after we got it un-stuck. I said, "Oh, you don't want to do that, it will get stuck." And she said "Okay!" and went to get eggs. No harm or trauma. 

We also went into the maker space and the kids made these: 

So that was kind of fun too! Today M and I took a friend of hers to the botanical center for one of their preschool classes. They learned about dirt. 

We colored! 

Read a story about dirt. 

We went outside to collect dirt. 

That we turned into paint, which was very messy but a surprising amount of fun. 

Then we got cleaned up and made dirt cups. There was even "mud." (Chocolate milk to go with it.) 

Of course, when class was over we had to feed the fish because that is the best part of a visit if you're my kids.

And we took pictures by the pink and purple flowers for my girl who loves pink and purple.

And today is National Left Hander's day so C and I will do something fun to celebrate that this afternoon. It's a special day after all!

So that's the fun we've been up to this week so far. 

Hello Monday!

We just got home from M's "home visit." It's a requirement of 4-year-old preschool here but we do ours at the school. Since this is my second go-around with this teacher it was easy peasy and I am just looking forward to school starting. I mean, four days a week is a lot more days. And I don't really know how I will feel about it in the thick of it, but for now, my gal is excited so I am going to be excited right along with her.

Did any of you celebrate National Smores Day? We had a sticky good time!

We just made them over our gas stove. We have discovered that M likes her marshmallows the way I do. Super gooey but little to no color. C and Husband are firmly in the extra toasty marshmallow camp. Do you remember when you first discovered marshmallow was spelled the way it is? I feel like most kids want to spell it "marshmellow" I remember feeling so smart when I could start spelling it correctly. 

August Is Here

Is it just me or does August go super quickly?! I can't believe we're a week in already. Some of the local school districts have started. (The ones across the river in Illinois.) Iowa has a state law about when schools are allowed to start so luckily we aren't there yet.

Sunday is school registration day and while I am excited about that on some level I am also not quite ready. School supplies are done. Today I found the holy grail of uniform shorts (adjustable waist with a hook and bar closure) so that is a relief! Why are those so hard to find?! 

Tomorrow is the last day of swim lessons. I am super proud of these two! I honestly don't know what's going to happen and whether or not C will pass tomorrow. (I think it's pretty borderline.) BUT he has worked so hard and made so much progress and that's all I can really ask of him! 

August is speeding by but there's still so much fun to come!! 

Summer Sweets

Sometimes, in summer, you just have to have ice cream for lunch! 

M takes her strawberry sundaes very seriously as you can see. C really enjoyed the Blizzard of the month which is Sour Patch Kids. I tried a little bite and it didn't work for me, but he and Husband LOVED it. Later we went to the store and they saw Sour Patch Kid Cereal and GoGurts. Ice cream I kinda get but cereal and yogurt are definitely crossing the line. We did not purchase such things.

But we DID stock up on all the stuff needed for smores! Because Saturday, August 10 is National Smores Day and we needed to be prepared! Since it's only Monday this should give you plenty of time to gather your supplies as well!

Oh sweet summer, I love you so much! Yay for August!