Summer Fun

Greetings! It's been awhile since I last posted. That's because it's summer, and things are in full swing around here. We've been busy going to the library every week. The girls are enrolled in the Summer Reading Program. They have to read or be read to at least 20 minutes a day for 5 days each week. If they do they get a prize each week. This has been no problem for P&E as they stay up late every night reading in the semi-dark. Abby, too, thoroughly enjoys the library. She dashes into the children's section and immediately heads for the table of blocks. She also tries her hand at the children's puzzles. She's in the reading program as well, and she LOVES getting to go "fishing" each week. (The kids use a pole with a magnet on the end, and they try to "catch" paper fish with paper clips on them. The person who gets the most pounds worth of fish gets a prize at the end of the program.) She tries to fish while other patrons are taking their turn. Cute but kind of naughty. ☺

The girls have also been enjoying playing with their friends: neighborhood pals and family friends. P&E attended VBS a couple of weeks ago, and they said it was "amazing". ☺ They even invited their neighborhood friends to come with them (which they did).

But mostly they've been asking DAILY to go swimming. I have to say that it's wearing on me. It always seems like such a hassle to gather all the towels, and sunblock, and drinks, and snack, and beach toys, etc. In truth it's not as big of a deal as it seems to be in my head, and they enjoy it so much. But they literally ask me to go every day.

One day we biked to an outdoor wading pool:

It has sprinklers and a slide. The water is no more than 2' deep. Abby was afraid of the water, and had to hold her blanket most of the time. Of course then it got wet. (I took a picture of Paige, too, but it was super bright when I tried to take pictures so I didn't notice until I looked at the photos that evening that it didn't turn out right.)

I have also taken the girls to our state park's swimming pit/pool. It has a sand beach so the kids can make castles complete with moats in addition to swimming. I usually don't take pictures, but I took this one:

Emma and Abby usually play in the sand whereas Paige is in the water the entire time. She makes friends easily with the other swimmers. Here you can see P in the background making a home for a toad she and the boy found; Emma is laying out her towel, and of course Abby is running towards me. Abby did have to be in the thick of their toad-house making.

Since the girls ask me to swim every day (ESPECIALLY PAIGE) we decided to buy them a better swimming pool. We had one of those pathetic plastic ones--glorified dog dishes--and the girls have used it a lot. But on Saturday we purchased a bigger blowup style for them. Dave really wants a 3'+ deep pool so we adults can use it as well, and we will look into buying one of those at the end of July when they go on clearance. But for now this one has worked splendidly. Sunday P&E swam all afternoon, and they are quit tan.

As for myself I have been trying to read more often. I purchased Sherlock Holmes for my nook, and I REALLY like the stories. I highly recommend reading them.

This coming Thursday P&E, my mom, and I are going to visit our state's amusement park: Valleyfair. Dave is there today with my brother and nephew. It should be loads of fun, especially for the girls, but my mom and I get motion sickness so we're hoping that we both do okay overall. The park has a water park inside so we're for sure going to hit that area. Pictures to follow later.

I hope you're all enjoying your summer!