Summer Days

One of my goals for this summer was to relax and enjoy life, and to make the most of the days, not frittering away my time (especially online).  While I haven't done this perfectly, I've been able to see a lot of progress, and I am thankful.  And I'm happy to say that although the summer is going by quickly (as it always seems to!), I don't feel like it is rushing by at breakneck speed.  In fact, it's going exactly as I'd hoped . . . lots of leisurely days at home, weekly adventures with the kids, time for cleaning and summer decorating, time for sewing and creating.  In short, we've been soaking up time doing lots of things we love, and I thought it would be fun to share some pictures (okay, a lot of pictures!) of a few of our days this month.

On the Fourth, we had our annual church picnic at the home of one of the church families.  It was a super hot day (as many of our days have been this month!), but a really fun time.

Flag cake

Josiah by the pond

Some of the other kids went boating and swimming

More kids by the pond

We saw a rainbow after supper (you can just see a piece of it toward the middle of the picture--to the right of the big tree)

And enjoyed some great fireworks!

Trying to keep eyes open in spite of the flash :)

Julia's star braids (Pinterest project! :))

Last Friday, we went to the science center where my parents got us a membership for Christmas last year.  I had planned to get over there sooner than this, but with rain and vacation, it hadn't happened yet.  Friday was a great day for it, as it was hot but not terribly humid.  We were able to meet up with some friends and enjoyed several hours of walking the trails, looking at animals, and playing!

Sam and some other kids watching a guy with a hawk

We got to see an "Up Close to Animals" presentation about coyotes--this is a 12 week old female, which was soooo cute!

The kids were watching a deer--which is kinda hard to see in this picture.

In the children's center--a wonderful barn full of fun stuff to climb on and do!

Ready to slide . . . 

One of the black bears . . . this thing was HUGE!  They definitely keep them well-fed! :)

Two bald eagles . . . the younger one doesn't have a white head yet.

Watching turtles and frogs in the pond from the floating bridge

Sam and Josiah with our friend Joshua

That night, we had a little birthday celebration for my Grampa.  He turned 90 last Monday!  I made blondies and we had ice cream with them.

Singing to him . . . 

Love this one!  So thankful that God has given him good health and 90 years of life.

Yesterday, we met up with my aunt and cousins who are visiting from Florida and went swimming.  It was VERY hot and the water was VERY cold.  It felt good though, once you got up the courage to jump in! :)   The kids loved tubing and playing with their older cousins and aunt Carolyn.

And building "drip castles!"

Jim got home a few minutes after we did, and we decided to make grilled pizza since it was so hot out.  This is our third time to have pizza in a week, but happily no one minds. :)  Grilling it makes it a little different, and it is yummy, although a little more work!  I use the recipe from Money Saving Mom, which makes 8 individual pizzas.  I had a pretty little helper (and Jim helped too :)) so supper came together quickly.

"Decorating" the pizzas (Julia's words :))  Mine is the one with all the veggies . . . the rest of my family thinks I am weird. :)

But I say YUM!  Chard from the garden, plus pepper and onions . . . what's not to love about that? :)

To top off a great day, this was waiting for me in the mailbox when we got home from swimming: my  new Lisa Leonard Bookworm Necklace!!!

I have loved Lisa Leonard's jewelry for years, and bought her tiny squares necklace with my kids' names a few years ago.  Recently she was running a special deal where you could buy anything in her shop and get a free Love of Family necklace . . . that one hasn't arrived yet, but this is the one I ordered to get the free one.  Isn't it so cute?  And perfect for me!  Love it!

So, that is a peek into our month so far.  We also had an awesome boating adventure, but I want to share that in a separate post because there are lots of pictures!  How is your summer going?