Summer Fun Club - Junior Ranger Badges at Wolf Trap

This surprise field trip activity was planned well in advance.  There was a Wolf Trap Junior Ranger Program on their list of events that Aunt Kari had her eyes on.  She called me and we set a date.  We didn't know at the time that it would turn out to be one of the hottest days of the year.  We were all pretty hot and miserable, including the Rangers.  They took pity on us and signed the kids off even though they hadn't finished all of the requirements, since everyone was melting.  It was cool to see the "backstage" areas of their Theater in the Woods.  Next summer I might take the kids to a performance there.  They also learned about Cicadas, and looked at some nice pictures.

Extended Family Time

 I was so busy while my sister and parents were in town that I hardly ever broke out the camera.  But here is some proof that we were all together in the same place for a while.  I sure love all these people!

Summer Fun Club - Make Your Own Kite

This summer fun club was marginally successful.  The kids had fun coloring the kites, but the color wiped right off, and the kites broke as soon as we tried to fly them.  This activity will not make it into the summer activity list next year.  The kids are still cute though!

Boys, Birthdays, Family and Presents

After Enoch's baptism, our local family and out of town family gathered at our house for some dessert and some more present opening. This time Phinn got to join in on the fun since his birthday was the following week.

Enoch Turns 8

On July 11th my sweet, sweet boy turned 8.  He had a stellar birthday.  First of all, since his birthday was on the first day of Cub Scout day camp, he got to go.  I tried to tell him not to have too high of expectations for the rest of scouts!  I went with him too and got to see him doing some of the activities and fitting in with all the kids.  The last activity of the day the kids all read letters from their parents.  Dave wrote an incredibly touching letter to Enoch about what a great kid he is and how proud we are of him.

 At home we had cake and ice cream. Best of all, we had Grandma and Grandpa High, Aunt Melissa, Tabitha and Alicia all in town from Seattle visiting.

And most importantly, Enoch was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by his dad.  It was so hot and humid outside that the camera lens kept fogging up, these were the best pictures I got.

 We love you Enoch, you are an amazing kid and we can already see the great adult you will become.

Summer Fun Club - Painted Owls with More Cousins

While our Hale Cousins were in town, we introduced them to Summer Fun Club.  The first activity was painting owls, since we had a few left over from our previous time.  They loved it.  In fact, the Hale girls had so much fun that when they returned home to Seattle, WA, another Summer Fun Club was born.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture any pictures of this one.

Summer Fun Club - Science! Milk, Dye and Q-Tips

There are millions of fun science experiments for kids.  For summer fun club we did a quick one that we had all the "stuff" for.  All we needed was milk, food coloring and Q-Tips.  You pour milk into a shallow pie pan, then the kids added in drops of food coloring.  Each took a Q-Tip and watched what happened when they submerged the Q-Tip into the milk.  Then they had fun trying to swirl the colors all around.  It was just our speed.