Brooke's Drill Clinic

 The first week of August, Brooke participated in a dance clinic put on by the high school drill team. The girls learned an individual dance and also a big group dance. Brooke had a lot of fun and it was a nice way to pass the time as we waited (not so patiently) for school to start!

 Brooke's team was The Golden Foxes and they danced to the song NO by Megan Trainer so this was one of their moves:

 Brooke did a great job learning both dances in just a short period of time! She was pretty in awe of the high school drill team and their sparkly costumes too!

Passport to Summer

 The kids participated in our community's "Passport to Summer" program. Each kid got a passport book that had over 70 activities to do throughout the summer--the challenge was to do as many as you could (or wanted), take a picture of it, bring the pic to the sponsoring business and get your passport stamped. We did 40 of the activities and here are some of our pictures:

 Wearing our seatbelts

 Picture with the dinosaurs

 Visiting historical markers

 Finding pretty flowers

Having a picnic outside

 Playing catch

 Playing Soccer

 Vacuuming (funnily enough my kids LOVED this one)

 Cleaning their rooms

 We had to visit this dino at a hotel lobby

 Playing basketball

 Visiting the "Excitement In the Park" that our town does on Thursday nights during the summer. There's bounce houses, live singing groups, and concessions. I only got a picture of Grant being cute.

 Having a family day at the lake

 We got a stamp for eating ice cream and Cold Stone

 Doing a science experiment...which failed miserably!

Other activities we did:

going on a bicycle adventure

driving over 60 miles on a road trip

trying 3 new foods

playing a musical instrument

going to the splash park

having a lemonade stand

going to the rec center

playing at the park

fly a paper airplane at the airport

blow bubbles

have a rootbeer float

write about your favorite summer activity

count the teeth on the big green dinosaur

On Aug. 11 the parks and rec department threw a huge party for all the kids who got stamps in their book. There were free concessions, a photo booth (the sun came out right as the second picture was snapped), and tons of prizes given away via a raffle drawing. Brooke had her name called and she picked a Barbie for her prize. Porter's name wasn't picked and that caused some tears, but a good lesson for him that not everyone can win.

 

This was a fun way for our family to keep busy this summer and we had a blast! Can't wait to do it again next year!

July Part 2: Lagoon

 On our way home from the reunion, we stopped at Lagoon for the day. Blake and I were so tired, we almost didn't go, but decided to just go for it since we were already close by. The kids had a great time and Grant even got to ride some rides this year.

 Brooke is starting to grow up. She was too big to ride in the little boat ride this year.

It was a great ending to a really fun week! Now we're home and exhausted and getting back into our regular schedule. Mom is REALLY ready for school to start!