Livin' the summer life

So, I've covered the big vacation, the birthday and baptism, the camping, but what about the rest of summer? Well, here it is. All the little fun things we did on a daily basis.


We danced in the rain,

because the weather was actually kind of miserable this summer.

But we have to make the most of it, right?



We climbed trees.

 The kids had never done this before,

 and so they were a little hesitant at first.

 They ended up loving it, though!

We rode bikes.

 We keep trying to convince Caleb to peddle. I'm sure he'll get there someday...

 Craig and Calista, though, are ready to take on the world.

We even took Calista out on a "real" bike ride a couple of times.



We took swim lessons.

 

Calista and Caleb both passed their respective levels and get to move on to the next one.

Craig...

doesn't like to put his head (ears) in the water, which makes the rest of the criteria difficult. They all had a ton of fun, though!



We went to the zoo.

 We got to see a couple of animals out for a walk,

 like the elephant and the caribou.

Climb up all the things.

 Take a little look around

 See lots of fun animals

And even touch a couple!

Yay, zoo!



We went to the K-Days Parade.

 It was pouring down rain as we got on the train to go downtown, and I thought to myself, "Oh no, what have I done? This is the worst idea ever!"

 But it cleared up before the parade actually began

 and the kiddos had a blast.

They're favorite part might still have been riding the train, though. Haha.



We watched hawks from our backyard.

There was a family of Swainson's hawks in our neighbor's tree, and it was cool to watch them fly

and the babies get bigger and learn to fly themselves!

 I'm hoping they come back to the same spot next year, too!



We hung our with family.

 My kids always love when Grandpa,

 Aunt Loradona,

 And Grammie come to visit.

They have so much fun!



We got Slurpees.

Always fun to drink cold sugar water!



We went to the Royal Alberta Museum.

 There were Vikings, which was pretty cool.

 I even came home with one!

The kid's area was a lot of fun,

As was the bugs. Creepy, crawly fun.

 And, of course, the natural history,

 full of rocks and bones,

 Was a big hit.

 Even if some of us got tired.

 But not tired of the horse ride.

 They could've done this all day!

We played around the house,

Especially on days it was raining.

 There were forts,

 And costumes.

Video games, 

And books.

 And, of course,

Cuteness and silliness.



We blew bubbles and played with sidewalk chalk.

 Craig (and Caleb) liked making rockets and volcanoes.

 Calista made an ocean scene.

 And everyone ran around,

 popping bubbles.

Gotta get them all!



We planted a garden.

 Including sunflowers, at Calista's request.

I planted too many, but they sure are pretty!



We played outside.

Because doing silly things with your siblings is what summer is all about.



And we went to parks.

Lots and lots of parks.

Seriously. So many parks!

I may be all park-ed out.

 I don't think these guys were, though!

 Whew! Looking back, it was fun and busy and now I'm exhausted.

Yup, sounds about right. Gotta love summer break.