Summer Fun
We had a fun and busy summer! The highlights were our trip to Hawaii for Alli's wedding and the Wainright reunion, both of which need their own posts! But there was a lot more fun to share =) First, some excerpts from their journals:
Maia in summer
Look Mama! I'm a MerMaia!!!!
Maia had a great summer! She is getting so big and so she’s having a lot of fun playing with her big brother and big sister. They all play really well together at times. Once, I was listening to them running around and giggling, and I was thinking how happy I am that they are friends. And then I heard Maia’s sweet voice pipe up “And now, for our EVIL PLAN.” And they all ran off laughing. Maniacally I suppose. Lol. They adore taking all the cushions off the couch, and either jumping on the couch or building a fortress masterpiece, as Maia calls it. It sounds more like “Forcha masterpiece.” Too cute.
Maia still loves elbows. If she’s feeling snuggly or in need of comfort, she will play with your elbow. If Eric ends up sleeping with her on nights she’s having trouble sleeping, if she sick or just restless, she will rub his elbow all night long. =) Sweet and funny.
Donovan in summer
Donovan is my pokemon buddy. While we were in Cali over the summer, I gave in and finally created my own Pokemon Go account, and now I’m addicted. They’ve added raiding to the game, and it’s really fun to get to battle special pokemon as a group and get a chance to catch them. Since there are some pokemon you need bigger groups for, I gave in and let the kids make their own accounts even though they don’t have phones yet. Donovan is especially into the game and loves to go walking with me at La Fortune park or Turkey Mountain hunting for the pokemon we need. It’s fun to have a chance to share this with him and talk about things as we walk. He’s such a sweet guy. =)
Donovan is very helpful around the house. He will see me working on stuff and pitch in, like when I’m putting away dishes. He decided he wanted emptying the recycling bin to be his job, and he just does it when he notices it is full. So nice! I didn’t realize until weeks after he started doing this, but he can’t actually reach the recycling bin. So he climbs the fence to open the lid every time! He gets the job done!
We visited the zoo to see the new Hidden Kingdom exhibit. It is amazing! We could stay there all day, especially considering it has Tigers, DZ’s favorite, and Snow Leopards, Serenity’s favorite. Maia loves the big cats too. It’s really beautiful! And it has nice buildings for when it gets hot so we can still enjoy the animals. Eric’s work had a special family event at the zoo to see it, so we got to have a nice dinner there, and we FED the GIRAFFES!! I had wanted to do this forever but normally it costs 20 dollars apiece. It was amazing though, we really need to do it again. Maia talks about it all the time.
Zoo day! We rode the train and the carousel, and saw the Wild Kingdom!!!
Serenity with Snowy the Snow Leopard
DZ loves tigers!
Maia kissed this one =)
DZ lost his first tooth over the summer! While we were in Cali! The tooth fairy left the money but forgot to take the tooth! Whoops! But it disappeared later without comment from Donovan so I guess she found it eventually… He was so cute. He was excited to have a California tooth fairy, and he danced around the house crowing that he was going to brush all his teeth EXCEPT ONE! Lol =)
DZ also asked me if we could read Harry Potter this summer. 😍 of course the answer is always YES!!!!!! We were three chapters in and his comment was "uncle Vermin is really mean!" 😂🤣💕💖
It’s so interesting how different parts of Harry Potter stress my kids out. Serenity was always really worried about the dangerous parts, when Voldemort was around. Or when embarrassing things happen. Donovan hates it when anyone is mean, I mean he really HATES the Dursley’s. He just doesn’t understand why anyone would be so mean to Harry!! He’s got such a sweet heart.
Serenity in summer
In the summer, Serenity had her first sleep away camp! She was so excited! It was a horse camp, so she got to ride the horses! So much fun! I thought I was fine with the whole sleep away camp thing, until I woke myself up at 5:30 one night she was gone with a dream that she got kicked out of camp and I had to come get her. =) So silly. She did great, and definitely wants to go back. Of course, one of the first things she told me was that her horse Salt bolted with her a little bit. =) Evidently he was a bit skittish. But she was fine with it. They taught them to get their own tack, and brush the horses, and the beginnings of riding. Thought I was doing just fine with the whole sleep away camp until I woke myself up at 4:30 with a dream that Serenity got kicked out of camp. 😳😂😂
On her actual birthday, Serenity She went by Plant Girl and rocked the green cape and leafy glasses at lunch at Pei Wei and to Cherry Berry. We also went to the pool and two Pokémon gym raids! She is so much fun!!!
So, Serenity had a friend over, and we were talking about music. Hamilton is her friends' favorite music, and she told us she knows all the words in the songs, even the F word. So of course, Serenity immediately asks what that is. I tell her, don't pester your friend about it, we can talk about it later tonight. A couple minutes later, Serenity says, "C'mon, we know how it starts, we can look it up in the dictionary!!!" 🙄😂
Learning croquet with FarFar. We love our Cali visits!!!!
Board games are DZ's favorite =)
We had a brief obsession with the beanie boos that McDonald's put in their Happy Meals for awhile... we ate a lot of McD's pancakes this summer!
We spent a LOT of time in the pool this summer. When the pool opened, Maia couldn't swim at all. By the end of the summer, she was definitely swimming! She could get from the ladder out to the middle of the pool, and it looked more like swimming than drowning. DZ and Serenity quickly regained a lot of the ability they'd learned during swim lessons. It was wonderful fun!
We went to several USchool camps this summer. DZ loved his All About Japan class. He enjoyed soba noodles so much he asked for them at home. And having Hatcher there made it perfectly awesome. =)
Kitty love with Vanaema
Father's Day Epic Duels
Vasona park, throwing rocks in the lake is one of our favorite traditions =)
They love hanging out =)
Maia and Evie =)
Dress up fun fills the lazy summer days =)
Sno cone walks and our neighborhood playground =)
Twilight and Spike =)
For my birthday, Serenity and I took a new picture by the tree she gave me last year. And she gave me pokecoins and took me on a Pokewalk! Such a fun time with my girl! We had so much fun talking together and exploring Philbrook museum... and catching pokemon!
