Summer Fun-Week 3

Oh boy! This week was busy and fun, fun fun! Jillian attended Camp Invention each day, for the entire day. This camp is heralded by many as a must-do (once your kids finish kindergarten), and I have to say that I agree. It's perfect for creative, curious kids. Jillian loved it.

Tuesday at camp was wacky sock day. So, she raided Matt's socks and decided that his Royals socks would fit the bill. 

On Friday at camp, the kids host an inventor's showcase. This is where they walk you around to all the rooms and show you all the inventions they made. It was absolute chaos, but very fun to see her so proud and excited to show off her creations.

This is her "creature". Yes, when she connects the wiring, it actually walks! Super cool!

Will and Jillian did this camp together so that was an added bonus.....

When the show was over we loaded up to go, and Jillian declared that she forgot her poster inside. I decided to let her go in alone and get it. When she came out, I kept thinking how grown up she's getting...and how little she looks  next to this big, huge middle school. This happens to be the middle school she's slated to attend someday, so I'm sure it'll be no time at all until I see my 6th grader walking out of this building. Oy.

Also this week.....I decided my front pots look better than ever. This is my favorite pot I've mixed, I think.

Playing dog is the new game. You can guess who always "gets" to be the dog. I probably have had to remind the dog owner no less than 10 times that the dog leashes in this house get worn around the waist...not the neck!

Jillian was excited to help me make jam on Saturday. We made just a little bit of strawberry with the berries I had left from the Farmer's Market, and then a whole bunch of rhubarb.

Saturday night was big fun. The Tauntons invited us to join them at the Country Club for dinner and then the fireworks show. The weather was true perfection, and the scene almost idyllic. We had an awesome evening enjoying time together.

Adrienne was hilarious when the waiter brought the dessert tray around to show us the desserts. She nearly jumped out of her chair trying to take the sample of this chocolate souffle cake. She didn't quite understand that it was the menu.  Lucky for her, she ended up getting her own piece of this cake...and she literally licked the bowl clean.

After dinner, we headed down the hill so the kids could enjoy the festivities...bounce houses, slides, obstacle courses, face painting....kid heaven

Adrienne and Rachel spent a lot of time running and rolling down the hills

 

Just a couple of Rad Dads...and one perfectly well behaved sleeping baby

Oh look! The moms were there, too!

These kitties devoured some popcorn as we waited and waited and waited for it to get dark

They passed out glow sticks for the kids, and they had these fun glow balls for them to toss around.

Finally it was time! Adrienne preferred to watch the works from her dad's lap, instead of on the blanket with the other kids. Love how you can see the fireworks next to the moon.

Will, Jillian, and Rachel enjoying the show

The fireworks were amazing. Great show.

Yesterday, after Jillian slept in until 10 (fireworks hangover) and a huge burger lunch at Newt's, we went to our first family movie. Matt's taken the girls a few times, but I haven't been to the movies since I was pregnant with Adrienne! We were all excited to see Inside Out. Great movie with lots of great messages. The bonus is that our movie theater has new leather reclining seats! And we watched it in 3D, which the kids loved and the adults suffered headaches for. Taking one for the team.

Father's Day

We had fun celebrating Matt on Father's Day, and as expected, the girls had very specific ideas about what we needed to do. Matt got up early to go mountain biking and then he came home to a special drumming concert from the girls. Jillian very carefully mapped out the rhythm of the piece.

The performance. Each girl had a metal can that functioned as the cymbal. Notice they each have 1 red and 1 blue stick

Then it was time to present dearest Daddy with some handmade cards. I had the girls fill in books with pictures, answering questions about Matt..."My dad is really good at...", "My dad loves to eat...", "My favorite thing to do with my dad is...", "When my dad works, he...". You get the idea.

After the mushy stuff, they had to give him a silly monkey card to lighten things up

Then it was time for the grand finale. The candy bar card. Thank you, Pinterest, for this idea. It was the perfect thing to give him because they have their special "Casey's candy bar ritual". He is the true candy enabler and they all love the candy bar adventures.

Matt made a very manly lunch choice of Buffalo Wild Wings, and then we hit the park for a bit. I think he felt obligated to take them to the park after both girls wrote in the father's day book that their favorite thing to do with him is go to the park.

Since the day was nice and hot (over 80! Yeehaw!!), we went to Toys R Us to look around, and to get a slip n slide for the girls to enjoy that afternoon.

But we had to stop at Flapdoodles on the way home first....the girls decided they wanted to order sundaes.

And then the afternoon of fun began. Slip n slidin' away.

Daddy was really smart with the slip n slide idea. This meant he (we) got to spend the afternoon lounging in chairs watching them, reading, chatting, enjoying the sunshine...and a gin and tonic.

Happy Father's Day to my baby daddy. I often say that Matt is the perfect girl dad. It's difficult to explain that, but he just is. He adores the girls, they adore him, and he has a special and different relationship with each one. Someday they are going to grow up and look for a man to marry who will be a great dad for their future children. They will be blessed to be able hold their dad in their minds as the gold standard....just like I did.

Camp Howe

Friday night was our big backyard camping adventure...with an outdoor movie. I guess this might be considered "glamping"? At any rate, I only obliged because I had the option of going inside to the bathroom. The girls could hardly stand the wait for the evening to begin. They were quite "helpful" to Matt as he tried to select just the right spot for the screen and tent.

After we ate dinner (grilled out on the deck), they started a fire near the "cornfield". Thanks to my dad supplying us with some Iowa sweet corn seed we have a little mini field of corn that the deer are doing their best to demolish.

Our luxury accommodations for the night--why, yes, there are air mattresses under those sleeping bags...and it wasn't even my idea!

Soon it was time to relax in our new comfy lawn chairs and sip a cold one while we waited for the sun to go down far enough to allow a good view of the movie.

It's really hard to be patient...

Finally, it was time....but as you can see, Jillian knew this was NOT the right movie. We were set up to watch "How To Train Your Dragon" (by Dreamworks), and this shot of Cinderella's castle gave away the Disney movie he accidentally started.

Early in the movie, relaxing at "camp". I'm so glad we kept that old dining table of ours (the first furniture purchase we ever made together. For $150. Chairs included. At K-Mart. In 2001. Times have changed...)

Jillian declared when it was time for intermission, which was really code for "S'mores time". We tried out this contraption I bought last year and never used...worked pretty great.

The movie didn't end until 11 p.m. (not winning parents of the year over here), and then it was time to "snuggle in for the night". As you can see by this picture, the kids were pretty keyed up.

There was a loud, cat-fight scuffle between our offspring about 11:30 relating to wiggling on the mattress that almost ended the whole experience, but we recovered and everyone slept well until about 5:30 (except for me--I walked to the house at about 2:30 to use the facilities, and paused outside to marvel at the stars and all gobs of lightning bugs that were still out putting on a show). At 5:30 I heard thunder, so I checked the radar on my phone and saw we were in a big thunderstorm warning with "cloud to ground lightning" and "30 mph winds". I did not think it was wise to stay outdoors, so I woke everyone and shuffled them into the house and into their beds. As is often the case here in MN, the storm action ended up being unimpressive to us Missourians. Matt, J, and I slept until about 8 and then at 10 a.m. I went upstairs to see if Adrienne was still breathing. Camping is hard work!