Squeezing in Some Summer Fun

The week before Labor Day (yes, almost two months ago...) we had NOTHING on the calendar. NOTHING. That hadn't happened for a long, long time. So, we decided to have some summer fun.

We started with the spray park and farm! We checked out the farm first, just the three of us and then met up with Miss Laura and AJ and friends at the spray park!




(It looks like a lot of standing around in towels, but the DID play in the water.)

Later in the week, we took a long, meandering walk through the park to pick some Queen Anne's Lace to dye and we ended up wading for a bit.









They kept wondering why they didn't see any fish! AND they did not enjoy finishing their walk with wet shoes and shorts. But overall it was a lovely walk.

And we came home and made this:




The Friday of Labor Day weekend, we decided to go to the local park for a free concert. We didn't really know who was playing and it didn't really matter. We packed a picnic, grabbed a blanket, and some glow bracelets and we were set. Very nice evening, indeed.









I think these were Angler Fish, maybe?




It was so nice to have at least one week to enjoy the lazy, hazy days of summer!

Moo and Splash!

Last Thursday Colin, Gillian, and I met my bookclub friend, Jenn, and her kiddos, Jack and Katie, at a local park. I had been wanting to check out this park all summer; they have a working exhibition farm and then a small spray park to play in. So, lots of fun for the morning.

First we checked out the barns and animals. Colin was so excited to see a barn full of hay. Huh. His great-grandpa could use his help with hay, I bet! We also saw some turkeys, rabbits, cows, goats, horses, pigs, and chickens!

Gobble. Gobble.


Babies!


The pigs were quite tired. And hot, I think.


I think the chickens were our favorites though. And that's saying somethings, since I'm not fond of birds in general! The farm had several different breeds, some with crazy feathers on their heads, some with feather feet, and all sorts of colors and patterns. And several very noisy roosters!

Colin just stood and laughed and laughed at them!

Colin and Gillian had fun talking with Jack and Katie. We don't spend much, or ummm, ANY time with bigger kids. And Jack and Katie were so sweet. Jack asked me what grade C&G were going into! By the end of the day, Jack was showing Colin how to twist the chains up on a swing and twirl. And Gillian told me she loved Katie and that Katie was her good friend. Ok then.


After we exhausted our farm tour, we made our way over to the splash park. It wasn't too busy at that point and it was getting very warm! Colin lit up like a Christmas tree and jumped right in!

(Some of these pictures are out of focus. I had the point and shoot camera with me and the sun was so bright, you couldn't see the screen on the back, so I had no idea what was in focus and what wasn't!)




Colin just loved, loved, loved this place. He splashed and ran and jumped and splashed some more. Happy, wet boy!

Gillian was less sure about this whole thing. Which is unusual for their typical personalities! She was just a bit nervous and wanted me to go in with her. I hadn't worn my suit, but I managed to help her walk through some of the sprinkles without getting soaked. She avoided a couple of the "stronger" sprinklers the entire day, but I think she ended up having some fun.




And some together time!


The spray park had a farm theme too, so a pig picture!


We had packed a picnic lunch, and I was surprised by how well C&G sat and ate. In fact Gillian ate more at the park than she did in the previous (and following) three days put together. Good to know. After lunch, a huge bus of daycare/camp kids pulled up, so we were happy to hit the road. It was a nice morning to play and talk with another mom! We definitely have this place on our list to visit again!

Going to the Country!

Phew, it's been a few weeks. I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but I just can't seem to get ahead these past few weeks. But, I am making myself sit down and take care of a few posts....

My brother, Steven, got married on August 15th. I was off of work the week before the wedding, and so was Grandma RoRo, so it was the perfect time for the babies and I to visit for a while. We sadly had to leave Daddy to work for a few days, but he did join us on Friday for the weekend.

So, while we were at Grandma RoRo's house we went for a walk to visit my Grandpa's cows and miniature donkey, and the horses that board with them. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the donkey to bray on command (imagine?). The horses did neigh and some cows mooed. C&G were unimpressed. Gillian seemed to dig the flower that was tickling her foot though.





C&G got to visit with a lot of extended family, including two sets of great-grandparents. We ate dinner with both sets of a Grandparents; as a side note, I got to eat A LOT of my favorite foods that week that Michael doesn't particularly care for, BONUS! I don't seem to have any pictures of dinner with my Grandparents Smith, but I do have these:

Gillian with my Grandpa Bish:


Playing with Dickiedoo at Grandma and Grandpa's house:


Gillian with Grandma:


Gillian also found the child-size rocking chair and tried it out...


Before we ate dinner at Grandma Bish's, we went to Dickiedoo's to go swimming in his BIG POOL! This was C&G's first time in a big pool, and it was a huge hit! They loved it; they laughed, and splashed, and had a great time. It was just my Dad and I though, so no pictures of all of the fun. I did get out of the pool to take one of Dickiedoo with Colin and Gillian. We were probably in the water for almost 40 minutes with them!


Along with all of this fun, Grandma RoRo, Dickiedoo, Steven, and Emily and her family did A TON OF WEDDING PREP WORK. Seriously, I think they worked themselves silly. You can see Colin and Gillian helping!

(OK, so Steven isn't working in this picture, but he did do a great deal of work!)


Gillian being a big help to Aunt Emily!


And here's the best picture! Daddy's HERE!


It was a very fun week, but tiring! We hope to get to repeat it next summer, with less work!