Soakin' Up Summer

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over (well, my summer anyway). This is my last week of freedom before meetings start. Schools starts for us on August 24. Actually, I am not dreading it. We have some exciting things to look forward to this year and I'm ready to get on with it!

But just because I'm not dreading the start of another school year doesn't mean that we haven't been playing hard and trying to soak up as much summer as possible. I thought I'd start this post with someone we don't see too often on the ol' blog: Blake.

Brooke and I are a little less extreme. Hanging out on the beach with cousins is more our style. DD's kids came to play for a long weekend. Funny how this whole time I have seriously underestimated how fun just hanging out on the beach can be! Brooke loved digging and splashing. I need to do this more often.

The last week in July is the fair. This was the first year I decided to take Brooke to a few activities for kids. One of them was The Little Red Barn. It was the cutest thing ever! Brooke got to pretend to be a farmer: picking produce, planting seeds, collecting corn kernals to feed to the animals (pretend), collecting eggs, and practicing milking a cow (also pretend, but the utters really did squirt milk!) Then she took what she collected to the "farmer's market" where she got a coupon for a treat from the store. Out of all the treats (including chocolate milk, which I was sure would be the winner) what Brooke wanted most was an apple. We also got to see real animals. Brooke was convinced the chickens really wanted a bite of her plastic carrot.

Another attraction that I did not fully take advantage of this summer was the splash park. Brooke was a little timid at first but as soon as she got a cup that she could fill up and dump out she was in heaven. We've been twice and I think next summer it might become part of our weekly routine.

And although Brooke isn't quite up to water skiing yet, she was brave enough to ride the tube!

–I love Brooke's arms stretched out to hold onto the handles.And finally, yesterday was a daddy-daughter day. Brooke did chores with Blake in the morning like wash their bikes. Then they went on a four-wheeler ride while I was able to go grocery shopping and do things around the house alone! Then in the afternoon I went to (finally) see the new Harry Potter movie while Blake took Brooke swimming. It was heavenly for everyone, I think.

I'm not sure how we're going to top these past few weeks, but this being our last week of summer, we're sure going to try!