Today is officially the first day of summer. And as we celebrate the beginning of this new season and prepare to leave on vacation tomorrow, it seems like a good time to reflect on the first few weeks of summer break that we've enjoyed.
We've spent lots of time just playing at home with each other, friends, and neighbors.
I don't know if it's the fact that we've had lots of rain and cooler days or just that my kids have so much fun playing at home, but our home days have outnumbered our head-out-for-an-activity days thus far.
We did find time to meet some friends at a local park for some play time and picnicking.
And we replicated park time and picnic time in Springfield with a friend and her kids from the St. Louis area.
All 3 kids completed a week of swimming lessons with Ms. Lisa at her pool. The girls did private lessons so as not to interfere with their Stage Kids and tumbling classes. They both learned SO much!! Next summer Staley will be in the most advanced class. And Adelie can now swim and breath at the same time as well as roll onto her back and swim on her back across the pool. So much progress in one short week.
This was Briggs's first time doing swimming lessons. He was initially hesitant to even go under the water and there were some tears the first few days, but by the end of the week he was all smiles as he was jumping off the side by himself and willingly going underwater to get toys off the bottom of the pool.
Staley got to celebrate Lila's birthday with a pool party, dinner, and a trip to Elevate. She had so much fun! I love how their cousins remain some of my kids' closest friends.
We celebrated Uma's birthday with a girl's night out including a yummy dinner at a restaurant and a trip to the movies to see 'Aladdin.' While we did that, Zach took Briggs to the Emergency Expo where they got to see and sit in a variety of emergency vehicles. It was a fun night for everyone!
Zach and I enjoyed a fun and relaxing week-end trip to Chicago to see 'Hamilton' while the kids got to enjoy fun sleepovers with grandparents. While with Uma and Papa the kids got to enjoy a birthday dinner out for Lila's birthday, and while with Grammie and Grandpa they got to celebrate with cousins at Caroline's birthday party.
When they aren't getting rained out, we've also been sprinkling in some of Staley's baseball games a few evenings a week.
So far our summer has been relaxing and fun and full of lots of play time. Finishing off this great month of fun with a week of vacation will be the icing on the cake.
