Cool, Calm and Collected

After two weekends of camping we were ready for a little down time around the homestead.  Cool weather, calm schedule/days equal a collected household around here.  

Day 25

Back to reality.  I honestly have no recollection of what we did this day.  I have this picture so I know they played outside for some part of the day.  I don't think we got around to sunscreen but I know they were fed at some point and that is all I can really say about this day:

Day 26

Isaac has been really into baseball this year.  My parents asked if they could come to a game and also do maybe a zoo trip with the kids.  Yes please.  So they came on a Tuesday afternoon.  Papa wasn't even out of the car and Isaac was throwing him a mitt to play catch with and so they did quite a bit of this:

While Nana and Andie had a little girl time:

A few years back my dad came and watched the boys for a morning.  It was in our first months here and we were sick constantly that winter (moving and Andie's first year in school) and I just needed to get out of the house but didn't know anyone yet.  Dad to the rescue!!  So he watched the boys and started calling the three of them "the Three dudes" that infamous morning.  Well, the name stuck.  So often when my dad is around they will do things as The Three Dudes.  This day it was drinking cold drinks.

So finally it was time for a little bball:

Isaac played first this night and got a few outs so he was pretty excited about that!

Day 27:

Our yearly zoo trip.  Day was cool and perfect for the zoo.  Animals were extremely active and we didn't quite get to everything because we spent so much time watching all the activity which was way better than watching sleeping animals.  Here are the prairie dogs (Caleb's favorite)

A cool log the kids can climb through and get a close up of a monkey.

Yeah! Butterfly garden is open!! Kids did a little study on different types of butterflies so Andie was running around saying "Mom there's the spicebush" and it was all cute how excited they were after studying them.  

Day 28:

Woke up with zero on the agenda so we met a few friends at a park.  I love spontaneous playdates.  My kids are at an age where the playground equipment does not interest them long any more.  So they took a bunch of stuff from nature and made "arrangements"

So this one is adorable:  Time just freeze a bit please:

Day 29:  Heading out tomorrow for our annual trip to Nebraska for the 4th meant a few errands to run and prizes for reading charts to get.  But as we left I saw the bucket list and it said "try a new park"  Since this is our 4th summer here (wow....can't believe that!)  that is getting a little trickier but I found this one on the map and we stopped for a bit between errands and it was a local gem.  My kids actually PLAYED on the PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT.

So summer is a third of the way through already.  I am already grateful for this documentation as I feel sometimes like "what did we do this week?"  It is fun to see the weekly highlights and also the ordinary day to day moments captured.  Craig mentioned to me I am now on phase 2 of summer.  Phase 1 is "Crazy" we do everything, the kids do their chores, math, etc, I have a plan, we go to the pool or biking or hiking every day etc.  

"What's phase 2?"  I asked.  "it's....do whatever you want" he said.  That is actually exactly where I am this week.  He then said after that comes Phase 3....which is.....Time for routine again!  He has me down.  I am enjoying finishing our phase 1 and getting into phase 2 of summer around here!