Loving Summer

Before summer started I worried a lot that having all three kids home all day together would lead to a lot more stress than fun.  Luckily, I was wrong.  It's not been contention free, but it's been remarkably better than expected and a whole lot of fun.  I love having so much time to spend with my kids!  Just the time to spend playing and talking and bonding has made me so happy.  I love that I get to stay home with them all day.

Some things I've remembered to photograph along the way:

Splash park fun:

Belle Isle Nature Center:

Belle Isle Aquarium:

Belle Isle Beach:

Benjamin's baseball season.  He was the starting pitcher for the all-star game and they won!  YAY!  (Benjamin is farthest left in the back with the glasses.)  Wish I had a good picture of him pitching!

Awesome library programs.  This one is a puppet show put on entirely by one person.  She was awesome and did fun songs and voices.  The kids wanted to take a picture with her after.  We've also seen magicians, circus troops, bands, science demonstrations, and animal shows all for free at our library this summer.  We love the library!

Christian really was much happier than he looks here. :)

Kensington Park nature center.  Benjamin trapped the tiniest frog ever.  So cute.  (He let it go again right away.)

Heritage Park Nature Center.  We've been to a lot of nature centers! :)

 The zoo.  Their favorite part of the zoo was the animatronic dinosaurs.  Mine too, I have to admit.  They are always so amazing to see close up.

Pretend play in the back yard,  Here is our farmer on his tractor and the cowgirl with her horse:

Driving lessons.  I mentioned that my mom used to take me to a big parking lot after business hours and let me drive the car around.  My kids thought that was a great idea, so we went to the church and drove in the parking lot when no one was there.  Christian and Bella had to sit on my lap and I did the pedals while they steered.  Benjamin was big enough to do everything on his own.  They were giddy with excitement.  A little scary for me at first, but it got fun with time.  No picture of poor little neglected whats-her-name middle child, but believe that she was smiling too. :)

Hiking at Maybury Park.  We did a 3 mile hike together to get ready for a cub scout hike later in the week.  We practiced first aid and compass and map reading.  It was a great activity.

 

Wish I were better at remembering to take pictures and wish I took better pictures! :) Then there'd be more to show.  We have also been swimming every week.  Christian passed the swim test,so now he can swim in the pool without me and can finally go down the slides.  That's been so fun.  We have also gone bowling a few times, gone to museums around the area, gone to a different park each Friday with friends from church, and have seen a few movies in the theater.  Also, not sure if you noticed in the pictures, but the boys have been into dressing alike.  That's been cute to see how much fun they have being twins.

One funny story: we were all sitting around the table at dinner discussing what our ideal bedroom would be like.  Benjamin said his would have a huge screen with all sorts of video game systems and several lazy-boys.  When it was Christian's turn, he said, "Rather than lazy guys in my room, like Benjamin, I think I'd rather they be knights to defend my room."  At first I thought, "lazy guys?"  Then I remembered Benjamin's comment and couldn't help but laugh.  I can only imagine what Christian must have thought as he listened to Benjamin's description and thought he wanted a bunch of lazy boys hanging out in his room.  So cute.

Yay for Summer!  So glad I have several more weeks to go.