Life During Summer Break (Random Stuff)

Summer is a great time of year for our family.  Yes, Eric and I don't get paid for 2 months a year, but we get summer break off with our kids.  It is nice that life feels like 6 Saturdays and a Sunday for a number of weeks.

Here is some of what goes on.  Well, there's quite a lot of normal life stuff, like household chores and reading books, but that isn't so exciting to share.

One evening we went to a family event at our church that included a BBQ and games to play.  The kids had a blast.

This coming year Carter will be learning how to print and Ashlynn will learn to write cursive, so we're getting a jump start on those skills with some practice books.  At the start of summer, Ashlynn read Muggie Maggie, so that increased her interest, and if Ashlynn is doing something, Carter is usually happy to also do it.  However, they aren't forced to work on the books (encouraged at the most), so we'll see how much practice they actually get. 

 Crafts are a popular activity in our house.  This was one we picked up at Target.  Sometimes they just use computer paper and crayons or empty boxes and markers.

My friend, Katie, and I have organized a summer book club for our girls and a few friends.  The first meeting was at our house and focused on the book Muggie Maggie and the second meeting was at Katie's and focused on Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.  For each meeting we start with a discussion of the book (I create discussion questions and lead the talk because I don't expect 7 and 8 year olds to discuss it on its own) and there is a snack and a craft/ activity to go along with the book.

For this book, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle liked having tea with the children who visited her house, so the girls had a tea party.

This time, after drawing pictures of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's upside-down house, the girls planted radish seeds because in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, one of the cures for a girl who didn't like to take baths was that they planted radish seeds on her dirty skin and let the radishes grow.  Ashlynn was surprised to see how fast radishes grow; her seedlings are nearly an inch tall, just 5 days after being planted.

Ashlynn is a curious kid who asks a million questions.  A recent set of questions was about bees, yellow jackets, wasps, and hornets.  I made a chart and had her research what they look like, what their homes are like, what their purpose is, and what their stinging threat/ aggressiveness is.  Isn't she lucky that her mom is a teacher?  Ha!

Both kids are going to play AYSO soccer this fall, so we're trying to get them ready, since playing soccer is something we don't often do and the basic skills aren't already there.  Ashlynn has been more receptive to the practice, which is good because she will be playing with girls who have played AYSO for 3 years.

Last summer we did a food from different countries thing where Ashlynn  learned about a country (and filled out a paper about it ... let's be honest, Carter was barely 4, so not as much with him) and then we ate food from that country, sometimes made at home and sometimes at a restaurant.  We're keeping it simple this summer and just eating the food (learning about the country/region will hopefully happen too, just not formally).

The other night we ate at Mediterranean Garden Grill.  The kids had tried hummus before, but most of the rest was new (okay, not the french fries), like falafel.

 

During summer I especially enjoy summer fruit.  The other night I made a super yummy peach crisp with a maple cream sauce. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

 

 

Last night we joined the Dale family for the first concert in the park at Library Park.  It was a "Top 40s" band, which was fun but also made us aware of the content of many songs, including ones we fondly remember from when we were younger.  Anyway, we had fun.

We started with a KFC picnic in the park.

Look at cute Joshua

 The kids played on the play equipment before and during the concert.

 Carter and Ashlynn did some dancing.  They crack me up.

 Ashlynn struck some pretty amusing poses during the evening.  Here's one:

 Who is that crazy photographer perched on the top of the play equipment? 

 Oh, it's my daughter.

 Here's one of the photos she took (with the zoom):

 More dancing, especially when they ended the hour-and-a-half show (with no stopping!) with "Party Rock Anthem", which I pretty much only know because I teach 9-10 year olds.

 That's the kind of stuff we've been up to.  Hope your summer is good too!