Busy Summer

With PC gone, I was worried about staying on a schedule and being busy enough to not sit around and miss him the whole month.  The kids did a great job with their summer must-do list.  I will definitely be keeping that around for next summer and a modified version during school.  The older two had swim lessons the last two weeks of July.  They learned a lot and had a good time. 

We dog sat for a friend one week. That kept the kids busy. They had to take care of her because they were the ones getting paid. Minnie kept that little dog the busiest!  It was a pug dog and her name is Lola.  They even now pretend that one of them is Lola and the rest have to take care of her and play with her.  Goofy was terrified of her at first, but started to come around.  A couple days into it, though, he was able to go get tested for allergies.  Found out he is allergic to dogs (and mold) so after that, he would run from Lola and yell, "I'm allergic! I'm allergic!"  I kept trying to explain to him that he could still be around Lola, but I think he liked the excuse.  Funny kid.

I love Baby Girl's expression in this one! Cracks me up!  It's like she's saying, "Yeah, glad that's not me."  Goofy did great for the back pricks, but for the ones in the arms, he had a much harder time.  As soon as he saw the needles, he said, "No, no. What are you doing?"  But he made it through, and now we know.

That day was especially busy.  As soon as we got home, we packed some sandwiches and drove over to the America the Beautiful park downtown to meet some friends. They have this huge artsy circle thing that "rains" and there is a splash pad thing all around it.  It was packed with kids, but they seemed to have a good time.  It was scorching hot that day though. 

That evening, we went with some friends to the free outdoor movie at a local shopping plaza.  They were showing the Disney movie Brave.  It is just in the parking lot, so we brought camp chairs.  They project the movie onto this huge inflatable screen.  Our friends brought some awesome homemade cinnamon bun popcorn.  They gave out samples of Happy Valley foods, so the kids snacked on those as well.  It was fun, but late by the time we arrived home. 

Another day, we went with some friends to do the tour of Patsy's Candies.  We ended up with 30 of us!  It was fun, but a little crazy.  The kids didn't want to wear the hair nets, but they all looked so cute!

 

One way to stay busy and help each other, is to hang out with friends in the same situation. We had friends over for dinner one Saturday whose dad/husband has been gone for much longer than ours.  They returned the favor, and we went over to their house on Monday for dinner and FHE. We played Cranium Family Fun and did Just Dance on the Wii.  Good times.  Then last Sunday, we had another good family, who also happens to be close neighbors, over for dinner as well.  The kids loved playing together, and I love talking with my friends!  Weekends are always the hardest when dads are gone, so it's nice to share it with others who understand.  We all have fun together as well! 

We have had friends come with us to the pool as well.  It always is more fun with friends along!