Welcome to Summer!

I love summer vacation! I love having my kids home and I love not having a schedule. We stay up late, sleep in and have as few regularly scheduled activities as possible. We also spend as much time as possible with our family out West since it's the only time we get to see them.

For the past few years, I have decorated our car so that when the kids get in the car after their last day of school, it's a mini-celebration. This year I wasn't sure how I'd do that because I was substituting in the library and the kids were riding to school with me. I managed to slip out during the school day and mark up the windows. They were so excited and surprised to see that the car was decorated.

Friday we went with our friends the Baltzegars to the zoo. I know I've said this a million times, but we really love our zoo.

We stopped for a quick picnic before we headed in.

We decided to start on the garden side so we could finish back at the splash pad.

We headed to the zoo side and the kids rode the carousel.

We splurged on icees.

We petted a snake.

We made new friends.

When we were hot, we headed back to the splash pad.

 That night, David and Jalen were on a Father and Sons camp out so Baylie and I went out to dinner at Smashburger.

Today we went to Storyfest, which is one of our favorite summer activities. It is how the local libraries kick off their reading programs. They give out free books from authors/illustrators that are available for signing. They do face painting, crafts, snacks, giveaways, etc. We went with the Baltzegars.

Baylie told me that she wanted me to see her "cute pink house." It was actually "Baylie's House of Terror." Crazy girl!

We do have a family plan for the summer where the kids do daily school work and reading and earn their electronic time. This has worked pretty well for us.