Biking, Flying, Sprinkling, Playing and Reading - Summer is finally here!

 I realized I would have way too many posts to divide them in a typical fashion, so this post is going to be long and span a few months time!  There are some totally random shots and some that are a bit of a series.  Enjoy!

M woke up so early the day of the Zoo trip.  He was almost as excited about that as he was about Christmas morning. He ended up having a wonderful day at the Zoo.  What a blessing to get to visit a special place with his classmates!

M: My Zoo day finally arrived!  It was the best day of the year!!!

T: We love snuggling and reading books while M is at school.  

Love these three!!!

Just a typical day in our backyard.

We live two blocks from a neighborhood park.  Apparently the journey was just too long.  

T: Sometimes we all just need to have a little rest!

T: I am all rested up and ready to go!  M and L:  Yeah, but we are still tired. 

T, M, L: Now we all feel refreshed. 

After our Dora sprinkler quit sprinkling and became more of a hose we decided to get a new sprinkler.  I found some great sales and Aldi and ended up scoring two sprinklers for a great price.  T LOVES adventure and risk in almost every part of her life.  She does not like water in her eyes, AT ALL!  Sprinklers are really hard for her.

T: WAY TOO MUCH WATER!!!!!  

M: I needed to line up all the nozzles.

M: Almost done.

M: Wow, this thing is cool!

T: This is the perfect speed for me. 

T: This is a great car wash for my bike!

One day early in the summer Brandon took the kids to a park on the Lake.  The kids both wanted to bike.  We were not sure that T would make it, so Brandon brought the Burley cart just in case.  

T: Biking is easy when wearing my heavy backpack of random stuff and winter boots!

M: We stopped for a protein snack!

Both kids biked all the way to the park.  They had a great time at the park and both learned how to do the monkey bars on a low bar set.  Before heading home Brandon attached T's bike to the cart and she rode home.  She might have been able to make it on her own, but they needed to get back and she goes a bit slower than the guys.

A perfect fit!

The day before the start of VBS all the benches in the sanctuary are moved back to prepare for all the kids!  This was the perfect time for M to fly his helicopter.  He has learned so much about flying and did a great job. 

M: It was my first time flying in there. 

M: The helicopter could go REALLY high!

M: I could even touch it while the blades were spinning. 

We had our monthly "Friday Night Group" in late June.  We had a great group of families.  The kids were up super late.  Saturday morning was ROUGH... and then suddenly it was magical.  Something happened in the kids brains and they decided to play together happily.  This is not the norm.  They even created a clubhouse in a closet and posted a sign on the door.  "No parints aloud"  We were happy to comply!!!!!  They played so well together that I went on my walk with a smile on my face that wouldn't come off.  Shortly after I left they decided to move their clubhouse to M's room.  They hauled various things in and played there for a while.  Brandon eventually joined them and they all enjoyed special time together.  I am so thankful for the treasured memories of that morning.

You didn't have to tell us twice!

They have come a LONG WAY in the last year!

What precious faces!

This post will end the same way it started, with lots of lovely totally disjointed photos!

M: I wanted a big black sock just like Daddy!

T: Do you like my wild hair? 

While the kids and I were in MN Brandon worked hard on creating a DVD for T of our trip to China to bring her home.  It was so special for her to be able to see video of our time in China.

T: I was so cute when I was a baby.

Our wonderful neighbors got a new jungle gym.  The kids were very eager to test it out.

T: This isn't scary for me. 

T: Mommy and I were having a tea party.

This isn't a great photo at all, but I am still including it.  T found this book in the office and asked me to read it.  We only read a few pages.  The book is clean Christian romance type of book.  Brandon's mom reads them from time to time and passes them along to me.  I have not read any for several years, but kept a few of my favorites.  They are Hallmark movies in the book form.  Anyway, while Brandon's Grandma was alive she would read some of the books too.  She marked the books that she read, and this book had a mark.  It was so special to me to be reading this book to T that her mom, Grandma, and Great Grandma had already read... and then five minutes later she was done... but it was sentimental for me so I wanted to include it.

T: Can I be the pretty ones? 

After wiggling his loose tooth for FOUR months it finally came out!  He was in the bathroom testing it to see how loose it was and it just popped right out!  Yahoo!

M: I love my new smile!