Summer's Here!

Our typical July weather came in with a bang this last week, a few weeks early. 110 degrees+! We have season passes to the water parks and even with applying the sunscreen to the kids every two hours, they all came home with red cheeks and sunburned eyes this week. The sun is SO hot. The pool water already feels like bath water when you get in ( which is more typical to find towards the middle of July). It is supposed to be 105 by 10am this morning. We are just grateful our A/C works!

I think Andrew realizes it is better to be IN the water than OUT now. The past month when we have been at the pool he prefers to stand on the stairs filling and emptying buckets of water. The last two days he has glued himself to a little ring and has been jumping off the sides, kicking out in the deep end with the rest of us, and really enjoying swimming.

Happy Fathers Day

We woke up to ants in the kitchen and ended the day with a clogged kitchen sink- Happy Father's Day Brian! (He was a good sport throughout the day, and even grilled the flank steak)

Colorado Trip

We spent a long weekend in Denver with our friends the MacDougalls. Saturday we drove down to Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods is an area in the foothills of Pikes Peak with towering red sandstone rock formations. We found a short hike to take the kids on and enjoyed lunch on the rocks. The views of Pikes Peak and the surrounding foothills were magnificent. We soaked up the cooler weather and enjoyed being outdoors for longer than the quick run from the car to our various errand stops.

The kids enjoyed playing with Isabelle and Grady- they kept themselves happily occupied for four days. Tom's tubs of Legos made the boys eyes widden like saucers. Isabelle coundn't understand how and why the boys could wake up and start playing with Lego's first thing in the morning.

We spent one day at the Denver Children's Museum- much to our suprise we spent most of the day there. Brandon's favorite area was the "Home Depot"/Inventor area. Tubs with peices of wood, various sized lids, plastic bottles, pipe cleaners and other building materials were available to the kids to build with. Each work area came equipped with a saw, screwdriver, pliers, etc... and the kids could use their imagination to build. Matthew and Andrew really enjoyed the grocery store/restaurant. Miniature shopping carts, rows of canned goods and plastic produce complete with a check out register kept them happily occupied.

The rain was drizzling when we got in the car, by the time we were home it was coming down strong. They wanted to go play in the rain- so we said sure- it's not often my kids get to enjoy playing in the rain. Andrew loved standing in the gutter and having the water hit up to his knees. They were happily soaked and wanted hot chocolate to warm up when they came inside. I loved seeing their excited faces as they played. It was one of those priceless childhood moments- there were no cares in the world and they were truely having fun.

Camping Trip

We headed to the mountains the afternoon of Brandon's last day of school. It is so nice to breathe fresh cool air. Our friends went up the weekend before and staked a tent out in a wonderful open area surrounded by hundreds of tall pines, so we had a great place to spend a few days. The boys were a great help loading and unloading the car and helping to set up camp. They are really learning to pick the slack when asked, knowing I can't help with much now. Brandon has been especially sensitive to help when asked.

The kids enjoyed running, running, running, finding huge sticks, pine cones etc... They were so content to be outside without dripping from sweat, or feeling like they had heat exhaustion! Roasting marshmallows has become a huge hit of Andrew's- he gets them nice and warm and then eats them right off the stick. I don't even want to know how many he had in his stomach when he went to bed, but they were all over his clothes, face, hands etc... but he was in a state of pure bliss. And Matthew loved to get his on fire!

We upgraded the boys sleeping bags- so when we woke up to temps in the 30's- everyone was toasty warm. Especially me in my mummy bag- me, belly and Andrew. Andrew couldn't stay warm, so around 5am needed to snuggle. I kept telling myself at least it wasn't midnight when it happened! The kids had fun shooting BB guns and arrows in the morning. I love watching Andrew put his face down to line up his shots- he basically lays his head down on the barrel of the gun. We got home Saturday evening to a handful of calls on the answering machine from various Primary Teachers saying they wouldn't be there on Sunday and they didn't have a sub.... we should have stayed camping!

Preschool Program

Matthew's preschool class gave the parents a fun program on the last day of school. His teacher, Miss Angie, got the class 2/3 of the way through the year after his first teacher got a full time teaching position. She has done wonders with the kids in three months. The kids gave us a run down of their typical day- all in rhyming prose, sang a few songs and then were delighted when it was time to have refreshments! Apparently the children were supposed to wear their nicest outfit ( I didn't realize this) and was wondering why Matthew was dressed from head to toe in camo, including the flip flops! I really don't care what they wear, except it needs to be clean and I don't have to dress them. I asked him about his clothing later- and he replied that he thought that by matching his shirt and shorts exactly- that would be his best outfit. Matthew is excited and ready for kindergarten- the summer can not go by fast enough for him. The rest of us are fine to let it go by leisurely.