July, Where Did You Go?

Seriously where did July go?
We have been trying to keep ourselves busy this summer and I guess we are too busy even to blog about it. Here are some of the things we have been doing.

Candyland

This has been the kids' favorite game of the summer. We play this at least 4 times a day. I knew the kids would like it but not this much. Jensen has even made it his own game by playing with little Cars instead of the normal game pieces. Even as I type this Jensen is asking who wants to play a game. He is really lucky at the game too. He definitely holds the record for most wins in the house.

 Swimming

We had to go try out the new Hollywood Aquatic center that was just completed. It was an adventure for sure with the crowds and the rule that all your children have to be within arms distance of an adult. Not too fun when they both have their own different agenda and only one adult. After this outing we decided to swim at our community pool more. Can't beat free and pool to yourselves even if it doesn't have a large bucket of popcorn that dumps water when you're not expecting it.

St. George Day Trip

This was a fun day for me in St. George with my parents. We got to do a little shopping and have a peaceful lunch without kids before attending my cousin's sealing. It was a perfect day. The kids had fun in Logandale with Quincy and the cousins. They went to the reservoir and went swimming. Of course no pictures of Jensen jumping off big rocks into the water. Maybe next time.

Harry Potter Magic Show

Our local library had a magician come for a story time. He was hilarious and even impressed all the adults in the room with his magic. The kids loved that he turned a bird into a rabbit.

Splash Pads

Splash pads is a given of course in this town. We were so kindly invited by my former teaching friends to attend play dates with them. It is always fun to see them and their kids.

Rain

We have been blessed with multiple rain storms this summer. When the rain comes down we have to go play in it. This is the kids riding their bikes in the rain. Lucy is staring to pedal her pink bike while Jensen is still stubborn and likes to pedal Flintstone style.

Krispy Kreme Tour

We tagged along on another play date and had a good time at Krispy Kremes. I have to say this is my first time actually in the store (drive-thru many times) so I don't know if all the stores do this, but they have a window where you can watch them make donuts. So the only true benefit of actually being on a tour was the free donuts and milk for the kids. Lucy ate hers with no problem (takes after her mom for sure). I had to convince Jensen that he should eat his. He licked it instead. Twenty minutes later he was still licking it. Was a fun inside outing for sure.

More Splash Pads

We have found the best splash pads in the city this summer. Jensen and Lucy love this little river that they have there. They keep running through it over and over again. The playground is a little unique but the kids seem to enjoy it. Lucy climbed the rock wall with ease even though I was afraid of her climbing. We will be hitting this park a couple of more times before summer is up.

We have less than a month of summer left. Yipee! Hopefully the excessive heat will be gone by then too!

Play Date Mondays: Bowling

To end our summer play dates we went bowling at Sam's Town last Monday.

We had fun even though it took FOREVER to bowl with eight kiddos. They only had one lane for us but, luckily it was on the end so the kids could run around when it wasn't their turn.

Picking up a spare!

Jensen with Lucy's help came in third. Not bad!

The Kiddos

(Seriously, one of my kids always has to be crying in group photos.)

After bowling we walked around the casino a little bit. They have a place where they have pretend but real looking animals. It is kind of cheesy but the kids enjoyed looking at them.

That's a beaver.

This was Lucy's reaction to the bear.

She was scared just a bit.

I'm sad to think our normal play dates are ending for the summer.

We might just have to move them to Fridays in the fall.

Play Date Mondays: Library, Pool and Paseo Vista Park

I'm a little behind on our play date Mondays. So here is a couple of weeks worth.

We all headed to the library for story time, but we all got a surprise with a special summer story time. (This was actually on a Friday but it was still a play date with everyone.) It was Hawaiian themed complete with leis, books and songs about Hawaii, hula dancing and even Hawaiian crafts.

Can you see Lucy?

A sweet mom took pity on Lucy and said she would take it of all of us if I wanted to hold Lucy up.

That's the only time I get in pictures.

When we were heading out the door the nice library lady asked if they wanted a tattoo.

This was their first tat.

The next play date was at one of the mom's in our playgroup, mom's swimming pool. I am embarrassed to admit this but this is the first time my kids have been in a pool all summer. Yeah, I know I live in Vegas. Yes, I know there is a community pool at the end of our street. Yup, I regret not taking them more after this. I was just worried that taking two kids by myself wouldn't be a good experience, but it wasn't bad at all. Jensen just ended up floating around thanks to his padded suit and arm floaties. That left me to take care of Lucy. I mostly hold her.

Check out those thighs!

Today we went to one of my favorite Splash Pads in Henderson at Paseo Vista. I like this park because it has lots of shade. Especially over the playground so the kids can actually go down them without getting their bottoms burned. It also has two playgrounds, one for younger and one for older kids.

Jensen of course was in heaven and Lucy wasn't too afraid to get wet today either. It was hot!

He is actually drinking the water after his mother told him not to.

Our picnic today consisted of Pirates Booty and Propel. I was running late and they didn't seem to mind.

We left a little bit early since no friends came today (very late notice on my part). So we went to see Quincy at his new office. He moved offices a month ago and we haven't visited him yet.

Jensen picked up the phone and said "Hello" just like his daddy does.

I can't believe summer is officially over in a couple of weeks. Jensen will be back in school four days a week. We better have a big play date to celebrate!

Just kidding.

I love having this boy around.

Play Date Mondays: Anderson Dairy

We took a break from the splash pads this week to have a tour of Anderson Dairy here in town. Marian was so kind to arrange it for everyone and then she ended up not going due to a sick child. Thanks for making it happen.

This was the closest thing to a real cow that we saw at the dairy. It is more the type of dairy where they make all their yummy products like ice cream.

Filling the milk jugs was the only thing they were actually doing while we were there. The kids liked seeing the empty jugs go over their heads. We did see where they store all the ice cream. Talk about someones dream freezer.

They had a talking cow puppet that told us all about the Dairy. I couldn't tell if Jensen was scared of him or not.

At the end of the tour they gave us ice cream to try out.

Lucy ate the most of it out of the three of us. Not sure where it goes on her little body.

Jensen didn't want to get too close to the cow for a picture. I guess he was scared of it after all.