Summer Fun

Well the summer is definitely not over, but it seems like we have done so much in the past month or so, and I have been horrible about reporting it!  So here's a little "catch-up" blog post about some of the things we have done to keep busy since the end of the school year.

We kicked off the summer with Chase's Kindergarten graduation (sorry for the horrible photo):

Shortly after that we celebrated my birthday!  Seeing as it's my mom's birthday, too, we did a little birthday party via Skype:

Instead of a big cake on my birthday, I always get cupcakes from my favorite place, Cookie Addiction.  This year I got to enjoy my cupcake and ice cream on the new dishes the kids made me.  Precious!

The first official day of summer break I took the kids to the splash pad:

Some other fun things we did this summer were...

Carpet picnics:

Painting a birdhouse for their dad for Father's Day:

Playing at the park, where the kids loved to play Hide and Seek (can you find Chloe?):

I took some shots of them in the trees and this one is so cute except for one thing:

(I had to teach her how to be a lady!):

We have also been getting ready to move down to the Austin area!  The day they put this sign up in my yard I about threw a party:

We spent a few days exploring our soon-to-be new neighborhood, checking things out and finding fun things to do there.  We found a splash pad nearby, which the kids obviously enjoyed:

The kids also decided they found their new favorite pizza place (we have already eaten there twice):

Conveniently, there's a Baskin Robbins next door (no complaints here!):

We also had to go furniture shopping, which the kids helped me with.  We had different ideas of what would work well in our new house:

They have done quite a bit of shopping with me, actually.  It isn't usually a fun thing for me to do with them, but they have been troopers:

I also got a new iPad for school, which was taken over right away:

(Though we have had fun with other games this summer, too):

The last couple weeks we have had swim lessons.  Both kids loved their lessons this year.  They both did so well.  Chase is finally swimming on his own:

Here's a photo of Chloe floating on her back with her teacher, who she loved:

And here she is again, coming to get a kiss from me:

(How can you resist that face?  I don't even try....)

Well, I think that about covers it!  We are gearing up to move!  Every day while Chloe naps, Chase helps with with house projects and packing.  We are all so excited!  Stay tuned for more updates!

4th of July

I had the BEST 4th of July with my kids this year. We drove down to the Pflugerville Pfireworks Pfestival. We were literally on the first shuttle over, and the last shuttle back.

We hung out at the lake for hours.  I was so worried it was going to be a long, painful afternoon/evening.  I mean, what could keep 2 squirrely kids busy on the beach for 5 hours?  It was no problem at all.  They had so much fun playing in the sand (I'm so glad I bought sand toys!)...

...chillin' in their new beach chairs (glad I bought those, too!)...

...buring Mom in the sand...

...then joining me in the sand:

Well, Chase joined me in the sand.  Chloe wouldn't move from the towel and did not... under any circumstances... want to get sand on her feet.  *sigh*  She is so my daughter.  She got much braver toward the end of the day, but the start of the day yielded tears every time she had to walk in it, even with her shoes on.  It was more humorous than anything.

They weren't a big fan of the lake, and I don't blame them.  I don't do well wading in muck, when I can't see my feet.  This is about as close as they got to playing in the water:

When we needed to take breaks there were other things for us to do.  They had live music, which Chloe loved to dance around to on our many trips to and from the port-a-potties (potty training fun, let me tell you)!  They also had bouncy houses...

...and ICE CREAM!!

They managed to stay entertained until the sun went down:

And then it was time for fireworks!

We had to get kettle corn for the show, and while we were in line some people were shooting off fireworks from their home nearby and the kids were going nuts!  I got a very tiny video snippet of it, but it's enough to get a feel for their energy and excitement (and I love how Chloe's still finding a way to dance to the music in the midst of it all).  Click the thumbnail to view it:

It was recommended to me to just chill on the beach for awhile after the fireworks, because the lines for the shuttles would be long.  So that's what we did.  As we looked around at the beach we noticed it was completely trashed.  I was appalled at the mess people left behind.  Chase asked me what would happen if the trash went into the water and I said it would hurt the fish and the other animals that had fun in the water.  His eyes got really wide and he went on a self-initiated mission to pick up trash on the beach.  I had to empty all the gallon-sized baggies of sunblock and diapers from my beach bag so he could use them to pick up trash.  He threw away 4 bags of trash and then walked around collecting water bottles for the recycling bin.  Chloe "helped" (mostly by running around yelling dramatically, "Oh no!  We don't want the fish to die!)."  I was so proud of Chase for having such integrity and just doing the right thing.  In the process he found an iPhone in the sand, so I answered it when it rang and we ended up meeting the owners back where the shuttle dropped us off to return it.  I know the owner was grateful Chase was picking up trash on the beach!

I could not believe how amazing my kids were.  We were there from 4-11:30 without any major meltdowns, tantrums, whining or complaining.  They crashed when we got back to the car (I hadn't even pulled out of the parking space before Chase was out)!  On the drive home I just kept reliving the day and thinking, "How did I get so lucky?"

I love my life.



P.S.  There are more adorable photos in our Photo Album if you're interested!