Too much fun to post it all

The last two weeks have been delightful. Vacations in Utah and Idaho. Lots of time with family. I got to see several dear friends. It was truly delightful. Here's a few pictures of the fun, but it's honestly too much to put in one blog post. Suffice it to say we love being near enough to family to be able to easily do a trip like this and expect to see friends and family a lot more in the future.

This week we've been doing swim lessons and the beach yesterday and we had a work party and celebrated Bill's birthday over the weekend. Truly, this month has been just delightful.

Prepping, birthdays, camp

It's vacation time! Reunions, catching up with friends, it's that time of year and I'm so excited. This last week was really fun too. Did Cub Scout Day Camp with Spencer and it was so fun. I traded back and forth my other kids with a friend and volunteered two days of the camp. It was so well organized and we had a ball.

 Aaron turned five this week! We had a fabulous time celebrating with him at home and then again with friends at the lake on Saturday.

 

Chloe was all ready for the beach in a free bag and blanket and pillow set that came with a pair of shoes I ordered. 

 And finally, we got to spend a couple hours with my cousins and their kids! It was awesome!

It's been a great week and I'm looking forward to lots of good things the next two or three weeks too.

Lots of good things

I bought this bargain firepit. It's...bargain. Lol. So tiny. That's a normal-sized stuffed animal next to it. And the plegs are so thin. Bill aptly described them as five sheets of tinfoil thick. We did thoroughly enjoy our first round of s'mores using this for a fire, but beware, a $30 fire pit is too good to be true. It will not last. But we'll enjoy it until it dies!

 This picnic table makes all my dreams of outdoor meals come true. We had our cousins over yesterday and all 12 of us fit at the table no problem.

 Finished painting this. It's in my closet now with black bins for my kids' shoes. I love the black/turquoise combo.

 And this is the mystery tree in my yard. It has this fruit on it that I've never seen before. A couple figure out what this plant is apps haven't succeeded. Anyone have a clue what kind of tree this might be?

 Gave Spencer a buzz cut. I'm pretty sure I cut off two inches of hair. It was so long. And he looks so cute with the buzz.

 Now both boys are short-haired again. I love it both ways.

Day Camp and other fun things

My kids went to a vacation bible school last week at a local church. It was fantastic. The kids loved it. Chloe wasn't old enough to go, but the older three did and it was so fun. I had a great week too with just her at home in the mornings. We went running and rode bikes and it was delightful. I can't wait for more times like that in the fall.

Today was the first real day of summer vacation for us. I made a chart of things the kids can do during the day and we ended up spending the whole afternoon swimming with friends.  That's a good first day to me! I left my phone in my bag and didn't get a single photo but no worries. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

 Last week we also took a trip down to the Museum of Flight. That was also fun.

 Chloe loves raw, unpeeled carrots. She must be related to her Grandpa Doug.

 She also thinks she can fit in those small buckets. Silly girl.

 I built a picnic table on Saturday. I'm so excited about it. It turned out awesome. I'm painting it turqouise. It has the first coat done now but I need to buy more paint to do the second coat. It's going to go on our side patio where we have an umbrella. I plan to eat there all summer.