Summer: In Review

Summer is over and it's time to report. Every year we make a "bucket list" of all the things we want to do over the summer. It is quite extensive. We nearly completed the list. Our summer was also filled with swim teams, scout camps, and t-ball. This was supposed to be a scaled-down summer; however, time flew by. Here are some of our highlights:

Webelos Camp

Cheerleading Camp

My garden!!!

Singing around a campfire

Evan took 2 weeks of guitar lessons and is now good enough to jam with Dad.

S'mores

Lunch Entertainment in the park

Emma loves to boogie!

This year my parents flew the boys out for a long weekend. While the boys were gone, the girls got to play. We went to a cute, little zoo.

made cupcakes with Emma's cupcake maker,

painted our toenails

AND our fingernails--even Mom!

Made a pinwheel art project,

Went on a date with Dad--our for Chinese (1st time)

Swimming

buried in the sand and made into a princess...or tinkerbell...or a mermaid...or a butterfly...or a...

running through sprinklers ...with dolls

Then the boys came back. We missed them terribly.


We needed them to go miniature golfing.

Emma got to attend an Irish Dance camp. Here she's showing off her skip.

Carter's Birthday was August 13th. I can't believe he's 9 years old!

His request for the day was bowling.

Red velvet cake balls are too yummy to shove candles in, so we stuck them in the ice cream instead. :) Yummy!

Cantigny Museum with Aunt Mandi, Uncle Ryan, Chris, and Max

Climbing on the tanks was the highlight for the kids.

Coolin' off at the pool, "Centennial Beach"

Dad showing off his diving board skills

and enjoying the attention from his beautiful girls

Darling Max showed off his cute button.

Chris loved being Batman

Mandi and Ryan helped the kids build an awesome castle--complete with a moat!

The summer wouldn't be complete without visits to the Museum of Science and Industry.

Emma's favorite exhibit is the laughing garden.

Carter lost to Evan in the mind-relaxation game.They had a phenomenal storm exhibit with an electricity demonstration.

We also got to take care of a friend's dog, Catie, while her family was on vacation.

Catie provided lots and lots of entertainment for a little over 2 weeks. The children were very sad to see her go.

Paddle boats were a blast!

The boys kept chasing down the ducks and scaring them off.

We girls got our own boat. I will switch it up next year since my legs were the only ones long enough to reach the pedals. Wow! That was quite the work-out!

One more trip bowling...this time with Dad.

Braxton got a strike!


The day before school, we decided to redeem 4 of the kids' coupons they'd earned through the library's reading program. We took Dad out for a surprise lunch. That week he was not only going to be traveling out of town, but he was also starting to teach seminary. Translation: "See ya later, Dad."

What a great summer!