It's Summer!

Summer is here!  I love summer because it gives us the opportunity to be outdoors, enjoy our beautiful Earth that God has created for us, spend time together as a family, try new things and go on adventures. 

The girls' last day of school, a few weeks back, were filled with mixed emotions.  I love their school, the staff, and the way they teach to the entire child.  However, come mid-May, I'm ready, as much as the girls are, for a break.  Thank goodness for summer!  We always make a list of activities and/or adventures that we'd like to try to accomplish over the summer.  We don't always get everything crossed off the list, but we have fun trying. 

Last day of Second Grade

Last day of Kindergarten

We recently took in our first game of the season.  The girls love attending and getting into the spirit of it, dressing in the team's colors, wearing their team's gear, and cheering/screaming loud when the stadium goes crazy.

All three girls have been taking swimming lessons daily too.  Both Katelyn and Vanessa already know how to swim, but it is not always pretty, so I was looking for them to get some stroke refinement and breathing techniques.  Paige thinks she can swim, but her brain hasn't told her body that she isn't water safe yet.  But at the rate that she is learning the skills, she'll be swimming on her on within the next year.

We visited some sea life at the Academy during our visit with Uncle Barry and Hannah.  I hear so often from others that Paige is no longer considered a baby or a toddler given that she is now (as of just a few weeks back) three years old (so why is she using a sippy, having toddler snacks, so very curious about the world...the likes of comments I am told!!).  However, look at her cute fingers and how can you not call those the fingers of a toddler?   

Check off of our Summer To-Do List...Visit the beach...

She's as happy as a clam living in the waters behind her!

She REALLY wanted to go run, roll, and play in the sand, but I made her stop and pose for this picture.  That must have been the longest 2 1/2 seconds of her life!  Just look at all of those grains of sand and gallons of water calling her name to come play with.

Ever wonder what they're thinking?

First they were just running away from the waves....

Then it became fun to stand in the deeper part of the wave without actually getting taken down by the wave.  No, we didn't go home dry. 

Summer is a time when many of our friends are in camps week and week.  Camps are a wonderful way to keep your kids busy, as well as to expose them to new things.  However, historically, we may do one or two camps, but then take the rest of the summer as unstructured and unplanned time.  It allows the girls time to just be kids.  We may stay home, hang out at The Lake, and go on picnics or on other fun day adventures.  I have never forced them to take a camp.  We talk about it, but ultimately it is up to them. I don't want to burn them out at such a young age in something that they really don't have any interest in.  This year, both girls participated in Vacation Bible Camp (at our Church) right after school was dismissed, but I don't have any really good photos during that time.  It's a lot of fun, like one big play-date every day, and the girls enjoy it tremendously.  

Last week, Katelyn participated in a soccer camp and Vanessa in a dance camp.  Katelyn had a wonderful time and made some good connections with her coaches.  She said she learned some new skills and refined some she already knew.  She made a strong bond with one of her coaches, which made attending every day fun and exciting for her. 

While Katelyn was on the soccer field, Vanessa was in the dance studio learning all kinds of crazy dance moves.  This was at a new studio for us and, so far, we are really impressed with it - the staff/instructors, the dances that they can teach the kids in just a few days, and the excitement for dance that they recognized within Vanessa and gave her an opportunity to express it.  I loved watching her passion develop over the week...this is a kid who sings, dances and does gymnastic moves from the moment she wakes up until five minutes after she is in bed for the night!

All the dancers in this dance, Kids, had some kind of kid-related prop, hence Vanessa's attached teddy bear.

And it's only June...we have so many wonderful adventures awaiting us in the coming summer days!