The Days Are Just Packed

When I think of summer days - especially summer days spent with three adorable little children - I always think of that Calvin & Hobbes quote: "The days are just packed." They really are PACKED full of fun, in the best possible way.

Here are some lovely memories from last June:

June summer days are for music gardens and creek explorations and library rocket ships. June summer nights are for falling asleep in Mom's arms before you even make it to bed.

One last picture - the day before Abby's birthday - of the kids in their "odd years". A five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old.

The next morning:  a six-year-old.

Her birthday was spent jumping at an inflatables center and then eating out at Burger King. I guess I was having too much fun to take many pictures.

And the next day we capped it off with a mermaid birthday party with friends. There was sidewalk paint, there was a slip 'n slide, there were water cannons, there were seashell crowns, there were sun catchers to paint, there was a scavenger hunt to a secret hidden treasure chest, there was mermaid ice cream (easiest recipe ever, find it here if you ever want to try it), and there was a ridiculous mermaid cake that I stayed up way too late making. You should have heard the squeals of delight when I brought it out.

And then there were more days of playing and exploring outside, and more days of playing in the library rocket ship.

And then we were off to Orrville!

The best hikes end in ice cream

Lydia's famous "I don't know" gesture

Enchanted by the fire

During Orrville we celebrated my parents's fiftieth wedding anniversary. It was quite the event. I vote that next year we celebrate their fifty-first wedding anniversary so we can have this party again.

I already loved my sixteen-year-old nephew, but if I needed any more proof that he is awesome, it would be him partnering with Abby for this dance. What a trooper.

Orrville is always capped by Granny's Famous Last Night Glow Stick Parade, which is always followed by a very sad morning of goodbyes.

We endured the pain by finding this amazing playground in Harrisonburg on the way home.

And we saw a rainbow! (It's faint, but it's there!)

And that was the end of June.

May [the Force be with you]

Looking back on these pictures - from last May - I am reminded of what a wonderful month it was. Ah, May. How I love thee. How I especially love thee in the beginning of January when my freezing fingers have to type on a freezing keyboard.

The best way to start the month of May is with a Star Wars party at the library, complete with BB-8 robots, wookie cookies (!), Death Star pinatas, and homemade light sabers.

Another important thing to do in May: bake tiny rainbow cookies.

We visited the Heritage Farm Museum in Sterling, which I found as impressive this time as I did two years before when we last visited.

We also visited a real working farm, which I was hoping would be educational but, alas, the kids were more interested in playing on the giant jumping pillows.

Also: trying on sunglasses while waiting in line at the pharmacy. Exploring the pond. Quiet days at the library. Lydia being adorable.

Abby attended school one day at a real, preserved one-room schoolhouse from the 1860's. She was given a character to play for the day (Lucy, a real six-year-old farm girl who attended the school), packed her lunch in a satchel, wore a bonnet, wrote on a slate, and sat on a hard bench for four hours. It was an excellent outing.

And she has started scaling the walls at every spare moment.

We went strawberry picking!

And we ended May with a trip to our beloved Dutch Wonderland, camping accommodations included.

I am sitting with Abigail and Thomas on the closest gondola facing the camera. You may be able to tell how closely I am squeezing them to me. Give me a roller coaster any day, but this slow-moving, gentle sky ride with NO SEATBELTS was terrifying. I spent the entire ride yelling, "Stop leaning forward!!!!! No, I will NOT LET GO OF YOU!!!!" The rest of the park was lovely, this was not. 

Gah!!! Come back soon, May! I love you!