Summer Shenanigans...

Once again, I find myself sitting down to blog stunned that another whole month has passed.  Really...where does the time go?  We have 10 days left of summer vacation.  boo-hoo.  And in that ten days we have company coming and I have a trip to Las Vegas so it'll be jam-packed once again.  I thought I had better get my buns in gear and post some pictures of a few things we found ourselves doing over the past few weeks.  Before I get too far behind and it's time for back to school pictures.  

Do you remember 'CliffsNotes' from your school days?  The quick-read and must know facts of a piece of literature you were supposed to read and 'forgot' until the last minute?  That's how this will be...the Howard 'CliffsNotes' of the past month.

Here it goes:

The Olympics this year robbed us of two weeks of free time.  Every chance we had, we were glued to the television!  I think this year more than ever.  Everyone at home was in to the Olympics this year.  I let the kids stay up much too late watching Michael Phelps, Bolt and the Fab 5 win gold medals, just to name a few.  It was a great year for the USA.  Olivia in particular LOVED the gymnastics.  She sat in awe of those ladies.  Isn't she adorable? 

We made some NEW friends here!  They invited us to come and play at a new park and splash pad.  I got talked in to doing a news interview for the local news about the park and safety of the splash pad.  I didn't get a chance to watch it on the news, but I'm sure I sounded scatter-brained because that's how I felt with each new question the guy asked me!  We are glad to slowly be making some new friends. The kids have really missed their Colorado friends this summer.  Once school starts, they'll have plenty of new friends!

One day the kids wanted to do some face painting.  It was actually pretty fun and a little scary all rolled in to one.  Jack painted his and quickly wanted it washed off before we were able to take a picture of all of us.  Any time any sort of art is involved, my kids are happy.  

Last week there was the Perseids meteor shower!  If you know anything about KJ, you would know that this is right up his alley.  My future astronaut.  He had his trusty telescope (from Grandma and Grandpa Howard) out and was so interested in watching the night sky put on a show!  Unfortunately, we are having some wildfires here and the sky wasn't as clear as we would have liked.  We did see a few 'shooting stars' and we made a fun 2 nights out of it.  We had originally added camping to our summer bucket list and just never had the chance to go this summer so we decided to make the best of it and pitch the tent in the backyard during the 2 night meteor shower.  The kids liked this almost as much as 'real' camping.  I liked that we could run inside when it was time to brush teeth or go potty.  Pretty convenient.  We left the cover off the top of the tent so we could see the stars as we fell asleep.  It was a memorable time!  

And what's camping without smores?  We have a microwave smores kit that makes pretty darn good smores.  We also added some oreo's to the smores (kids idea) and it was pretty tasty.

The most consistent and regular summer activity we did was walk to this splash park a couple of blocks away.  Almost every night after dinner we walk down there and let the kids splash around and get some energy out before bedtime.  

K, mom's, here's a tip for you:  If your kids are anything like mine, you will find them spending more time in front of a TV screen than you'd like.  Go to a bike shop and ask them for their extra bike frame boxes.  Let your kids go wild decorating their own 'houses'.  My kids spent a whole day doing this.  They were pretty creative adding chimneys and sky lights and mail boxes.  This was a fun and free activity.  

ROARING SPRINGS!!!!  This was all three kids #1 bucket list item for the summer.  We went yesterday and they had a BLAST!!!  We were there til the park closed.  They didn't want to leave one minute earlier.  

Jack comes up with the wackiest outfits almost every day.  I think he'll either be a really really poor dresser or some famous fashion designer someday.  Hey, if he can someday buy me a ranch like Ralph Lauren's, I'll be as happy as a clam.  Until school starts, I'll let him be as creative as he wants.  :)  Who doesn't love skinny legs with short shorts and cowboy boots?

One day we met some of our old friends from Colorado Springs who recently just moved here too!  We were so excited to see them again!  We spent the day at the river!  We met up with some friends and left with a new friend.  Meet Bubba, KJ's temporary pet.  He even made it a boat to play on.  Ha!  

He's no longer a pet, we let him go free!  I no longer have an ugly crawdad in my bath tub.  Eww. 

I have a new cousin!!  Troy and Katie had their baby!  Dax....he's adorable!

Next week we can add two more cousins...Tawni is having her twin girls Thursday! 

KJ was able to go mountain biking with my dad and was so proud to finish two whole 'junkyard' laps!  Pretty tough little guy.  My dad said he was bright red by the end.  KJ said his legs were wobbly and he could hardly stand up.  Either way, I'm glad he was able to have some 'boy time' and get some exercise while he was at it!  

I think I hit most of the highlights, or at least the ones I took pictures of!  

Here's to the last ten days of freedom....