First Week of Summer!

Woohoo! We survived the first week of summer with one mommy and four kiddos! AND, we're all still alive and still mostly like each other. :) Seriously, it has been a busy week...one of those "set your coffee down and forget about it only to end up reheating it three more times before you finish the cup" kind of weeks! These little dudes like to go, go, go all day long. And although I do like to have activities and outings planned as I find it easier for everyone (with less fighting and mess!) there have been some really great moments this week where they have played together so nicely for a long time. Plus, just being outside and able to scoot around, explore, and find bugs keeps them entertained for long stretches of time. I am so happy that summer is here, and what a way to kick it off!

This week, we started off by making our traditional fairy gardens. Thanks to Minneapolis CSP (Community Supported Projects) I didn't have to do much work. This is a great little service that offers a weekly craft project delivered directly to your door. For a small fee, we received everything we needed to make individual fairy gardens (houses, stones, pebbles, grass seed, plants, and a pie tin filled with gravel and dirt.) The only extras I added were a couple more plants and some little miniatures that I knew the boys would love. They had just as much fun painting their fairy houses as they did designing and setting up their gardens, and they turned out SO cute! The fairies have already made a little visit, leaving a trail of blue glitter everywhere along with some special moon stones. We are hoping they will make many return visits this summer.

this guy surprised me with how long he worked on painting his fairy house 

look at all those colors! mr. creative

We hit the pool for the first time this week as well. With temperatures reaching the mid 80's, it was definitely warm enough to take a dip, and the boys were so excited to head back to one of our favorite summer places, the Edina Aquatic Center. With slides and sprinklers and even a zip line, there is much fun to be had by everyone. Miss Emmeline decided to take a little nap before checking out the water, but once she was in, she loved it, too!

We made old-fashioned popsicles, and they were yummy!! (fresh squeezed orange juice, greek yogurt, banana, and vanilla coconut milk) As good as they tasted, the boys had no idea that they were actually quite healthy, too!

On Friday, we headed out to the MN Zoo. Our main goal was to check out the Big Bugs exhibit, but we checked in with some of our other animal friends, too. It was a really fun day, and we love how there is always something new to see. The tiger down at Tiger Base Camp was strolling thru the swamp and roaring like crazy, something we've never seen or heard before. There were two scuba divers in the aquarium using some sort of vacuum to clean the rocks (at least I think that's what they were doing,) and we spent probably a half hour down there identifying all the fish. On the way out, as we crossed over the large pond, we saw two really big snapping turtles right at the surface of the water! Very cool! The bugs were awesome, too--not just the giant animated ones but the actual real live bug exhibits. There were some things in there I have never heard of, and they were really big! I definitely wouldn't want to encounter any one of those in the outdoors. The boys had a great time and were so good the whole afternoon.

our little ladybug meets big mama

up close and personal

brody introduces his little sis to the bears

my little ants

run for your lives!

And that is why I love summer. An action packed week with fun, learning, playing, and just being together--summer makes my job as a mommy that much more fun!