Summer Lovin'

In the past couple of years we mostly stuck around home during the summer because I was either pregnant and tired, or Anelise was still needing multiple naps each day.  This year I have vowed to do more fun stuff with the kids.  I really liked my sister Julie's idea (which she implemented last year) of having an "activity jar" - a jar filled with slips of paper, each one showing an activity that Eva (my niece) could pick each day.  The activities were things like "go to such and such park" or "bake cookies" or "go to the library."  And while the idea is creative and fun, I haven't done it, mostly because I don't want to HAVE to do what gets pulled out if I don't feel like it.  (When I asked Julie about how she handled that last year, her response was, "Eva can't read.")  But even without an activity jar, we've stayed very busy.  In just over one full week of summer vacation, we have gone to the library (twice), gone to a splash park, played in the sprinkler and kiddie pool, gone to the zoo, and gone bowling. 

Today, we took the boys to the hugely anticipated Lego store at the mall.  It's new to the area, and on the first Tuesday of each month they give out a small lego set.  This month's set was a graduate.  We got there right when they opened, and then learned that the giveaway was only 5-7 pm.  But it had been advertised incorrectly, so they still gave the kids their sets AND let them each make a minifigure for free!  The boys both had birthday money from their great-Grandparents that they had saved.  So they each bought a Starwars lego set, and Caleb also bought a Hero Factory guy.  (It's okay if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)  We then stopped at Bath and Body Works for more hand soap, took a short detour to the play area where Anelise slid down the slide about a dozen times, and then headed out.  Our next stop was the library, where the boys both got signed up for the reading program, earned points for some books we were returning, and promptly cashed in many of their points for "flash pops" (both boys) and a paperback copy of Charlotte's Web (Ethan).  After the library, we went to Reynolds.  Reynolds is a farm implement dealership.  They also sell weed-whackers.  Which is what Jonathan is getting for Father's Day.  12 days early.  And yes, he knows he's getting it.  It's really not so much a Father's Day gift as it is a needed item, plus Jonathan didn't want anything for Father's Day anyway.  But now if anyone asks, I can say he's getting a weed-whacker and avoid the guilt about not getting him anything. 

Now we're home for the day.  Anelise is napping, and the boys are putting together "Plo Koon's Jedi Starfighter."