Summer is always a period of transition, especially after the craziness of the final month of school. I have to say, though, it makes for a nice change. At the beginning of summer, it's always nice to take it easy for a bit, before activities, vacation, and (eventually) boredom/arguing set in. ;) Here's a peek at what we've been up to.
Library Lego Fun. :) Earlier this week, the temperatures soared to over 100 degrees. We've had a fairly mild spring, so even though we knew the hotter weather was coming, it was pretty hard to adjust. Especially in our house with its poor little swamp cooler that can only do so much in extreme temperatures. We had to run to the library anyway. Imagine our delight to find a Lego activity center in a nice, cool, air-conditioned building. ;) We spent a good hour and a half there while the girls played.
One of Middle Gal's My Mini MixieQ's joined in on the fun. ;)
Creating away.
Middle Gal's elaborate two-story house.
Complete with backyard. ;)
Little Gal's one-story house, complete with patio and pizza. ;)
She decided to make her online name out of Legos, too. ;)
I even got in on the action. It was kind of relaxing to just sit there and build with Legos with the girls. ;)
You'll notice my careful placement of Legos so that they are always overlapping. My dad taught me that years ago. ;)
Oldest Gal was too busy checking out the books to play, but she was having a great time, too. :) She read over 9,000 pages in books aside from assigned textbooks this past year at school, so reading is definitely her thing. :)
The girls also wanted to stop and get a picture with this fun bench donated to our library, featuring sculptures of Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, and Becky. :)
We were super excited to find the fourth book in "The Doll People" series (one of our favorite "dolls coming to life" book series EVER). Middle Gal was a little disappointed with the change in illustrations and a couple of continuity errors in the plot, but other than that seemed to enjoy it. Now Little Gal is reading it.
While at the library, we signed up for their summer reading program. I wanted to make sure we got plenty of reading in this summer, and this is a great way to encourage it. The girls get a prize for every reading log they complete (each section has five twenty-minute segments), and if they complete all four logs, they get a free book, plus their names will be entered in a drawing for a free bike.
Even adults can get in on the fun! For every complete book I read, I can enter into drawings for prizes. The grand prize is a $100 gift card to Amazon.com. I could definitely use that. ;)
I love that our libraries encourage summer reading. It's a fun way to keep our family reading together, with the possibility of some fun treats, too. :)
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Netflix or Movies. We try not to overdo on this sort of thing, but the girls do get to pick one movie a day.
The same night we went to the library, we headed over to my parents for dinner and a "Zootopia" movie night. Hubby and I hit a pretty tight financial crunch this month, so unfortunately, we'll have to wait to add Zootopia to our movie collection for a while. It was so much fun to spend some time with my parents and get to watch the film together, though. :)
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Camp. On Thursday, my mom and I took Oldest Gal up to camp to help her aunt, who is the camp cook, with Oldest Gal's little cousins. We got there a little early, so we enjoyed taking a walk around the camp. Everything is still so green and beautiful because of the mild weather we experienced this year. It was so much fun seeing everything.
Mom and I got a kick out of Little Gal's "princess pose" here. ;) She knew her picture was being taken.
Little Gal and Oldest Gal with my mom.
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Dolly Fun. The girls' dolls have had several adventures this summer too. From snowy expeditions...
...to rollerblading and more. Middle Gal is currently working on a photo story that we'll hopefully be able to share on the blog soon. ;)
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Zelfy Fun. ;) Last night, after I finished mowing the lawn, I couldn't help snapping a few pics of Petal in the beautiful, partially overcast light of our backyard. :)
I was behind on mowing, so it was a big job. I'm so thankful I chose the time of day to mow that I did, though. The weather cooled to a nice 88 degrees with a refreshing breeze blowing. A welcome and unexpected treat in June. ;)
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I hope you enjoyed this little peek into summer life at the Never Grow Up house. We're just taking one day at a time, enjoying making memories together. :)
I always enjoy these posts! We've had a "cool" front role in this week so temps have been in the high 50s-60s and quite windy. It's supposed to be back up in the 70s and 80s next week which I'm really looking forward to. I can't believe how tall Oldest Gal looks! She looks so grown up in that photo of her in the library!
ReplyDeleteMy oldest just turned 7 so the reading is just in the early stages for her. I can't wait until she has the ability to discover chapter books and novels on her own. I can remember just devouring books when I was younger (and had all the free time in the world!)
Looks like you all have been having a nice time over there in your neck of the woods. Have a great week! We still have a week and a half left of school, but I am really looking forward to the more relaxed scheduled soon. :)
I'm so glad you enjoy them, Farrah Lily. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, 50s and 60s with wind sounds absolutely lovely to me. ;) I have a hard time dealing with the extremely hot temperatures we get here, though.
Lol, my husband had the same reaction when he saw that picture of Oldest Gal. She's definitely getting to that age where she's starting to look more like a young woman and less like a little girl. Sigh. So it begins. ;)
We've always done what we could to encourage reading with our daughters. Oldest Gal and Middle Gal are both pretty serious readers. Little Gal isn't quite as into it, but she's got the most incredible, expressive voice when she reads out loud. Sometimes she almost puts me to sleep when she does her reading homework. ;)
It will be so fun when your oldest can read chapter books. There's nothing like sharing a favorite book with your kids. :)
Hope you have a wonderful week, too, and that you'll have time for lots of summer adventures once school gets out. :)
Oh what fun! :D I can definitely relate to Oldest Gal's love for reading, and I will need to check out the Doll People! It sounds like a fun book series! I can't wait to see Middle Gal's photo story, too. :)
ReplyDeleteA lot of libraries seem to have those LEGO activities/clubs these days. A couple of our local ones do too. I can remember always enjoying playing with LEGOs during recess in elementary school, and they're also one of those toys that have equal appeal to both boys and girls (at least the "generic" kits that don't have a specific theme like Friends or Ninjago). I still mess around with my LEGO and Erector sets at home every now and then, but I just don't have the enthusiasm for it that I had as a child anymore. And it's good to hear that your father taught you the value of the strength that overlapping brick placement provides in the structural integrity of LEGO models!
ReplyDeleteOur libraries do the summer reading programs/clubs for kids/adults too, in a manner very similar to what you described. My siblings and I participated as children, but I don't as an adult, as I have trouble enough keeping up with the piles of books that I'm always purchasing from thrift stores without checking out even more of them from the library (on the rare occasions when I do borrow a book, it's usually an inter-library loan, from somewhere else in the state, for something that's impossible to find locally), but I agree that a $100 gift card from Amazon would be a pretty sweet prize (for the adults, our library has drawings for gifts/perks from local businesses instead, like free dinners at restaurants, and the kids get stuff like stickers, books, and pizza or ice cream vouchers).
Hi Doll Dimensions! I'm a big reader myself, so it's so much fun that my girls are into reading, too. :D
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a chance to try The Doll People. We really enjoy the books! :)
Hi Mark! I hadn't realized our library had Legos available until this week, but we'll definitely take advantage of the fun, cool playtime again this summer. :)
I love the fact that Legos appeal to boys and girls alike. They're a great thinking toy, too. :)
Lol, I think my dad would be proud of my structurally sound Lego house. ;) He always was big on important details like that. ;)
One nice thing about our library's reading program is that you don't have to read library books to participate. Like you, I have several thrift store/used books store books lying around that I've been wanting to read for a long time. I figure the reading program gives me an extra nudge to get it done. ;)
Yesterday, I started reading "The Help," and it was so good, I kept reading and finished it before bed! :D On to the next book! ;)
Hope you have a nice weekend!