Summer bucket list

In May, we made our summer bucket list -- things we wanted to do before the end of the summer. We didn't get everything done on our list, but we got most of them checked off!

Things on the list that we did: 
swim at the "other" YMCA (i.e. the one with a fun outdoor pool and waterslides)
go to sprinkler parks
ride the train downtown
make mud
Lake Pflugerville
jump at Jumpoline
Rock 'n River Waterpark
Creekside Pool (or the "Pool With a Diving Board" as the kids call it) :-)
Zilker Park
get snowcones
have a water balloon fight
Bull Creek
New Braunfels Children's Museum
Waco Zoo
Austin Children's Museum
Emma Long Beach
science experiments
art projects
bowling
Austin Nature & Science Center
play with the hose

Things that we didn't get around to:
swimming at Blue Hole
Children's Day Art Park
Pioneer Farms 
Zilker Botanical Gardens

So, we didn't get around to doing 4 things, but there's always next year! Here are some pictures :-)

One of our visits to Lake Pflugerville:

Rock 'n River Waterpark, where Theodore showed off his fearlessness by going down the 4 foot water slide by himself, and jumping in from the side:

You can just barely see Theodore in the splash of water in the pool below:  :-)

Jumpoline, such a fun place to play on a hot afternoon when everyone is tired of going swimming. Too bad it's so expensive!! We only went once. :-P

At the Nature & Science Center:

 Making mud:

More mud:

Popsicles!

At the Creekside Pool:

Bowling:

Gotta love bowling shoes. They're much cuter on a 4 year old!

One of our few attempts at science experiments:

I guess you could call this a baby science experiment . . . shaving cream and food coloring. :-) 

Two birds with one stone -- snowcones at Zilker Park!  :-)  

Here are a whole slew of pictures from Emma Long Beach!

Theodore with his best baby friend!

Theodore loved watching the speedboats (which also created waves for us!):

What a fun summer with my favorite little people! 

An Oliver video!

In June, Oliver decided that he wanted to quit taking gymnastics classes . . . and the following week (his last week of classes!) his coach asked him to join the level 4 boys' team. Oliver is a hard worker, so although he's not exactly the right build for a gymnast, it wasn't a total surprise that he was asked to join the team! :-)  

He's had fun practicing routines with the other boys, but he's decided to quit after the summer session is over. Gymnastics practice is 2 hours long, twice a week, and Oliver has  also been moved up to another level on the swim team, so beginning next month he'll be going to swim practice three times a week. Add that to Math Pentathlon, homework, and just being a kid and doing fun stuff after school . . . and that's a lot! So he won't actually get to go to a gymnastics meet with the team (meets start after the beginning of the school year), but he did have fun and he's learned some new tricks!

Here he is demonstrating one of his routines at the playground. :-)

Another ridiculously adorable video of my baby boy singing

Theodore likes to sing along with me when I rock him before bedtime. We usually sing "Praise Him, Praise Him," but one night last week he started singing "Jesus Loves Me" instead. So we sang together, and it was so cute that I had to run and get my phone to take a video!  

Here it is. :-)  Enjoy!

At the creek

Last week we had one of those rare mornings when everything just worked out perfectly, even though it didn't seem like it was going to be like that at first! I took the kids to the gym so I could run, and although they all grumbled about being dropped off for an hour, they all had fun playing with their friends. 

After that, no one could agree on what we were going to do, so I chose the sand park. No one wanted to play in the sand, but they were all perfectly happy to play in the creek! Oliver and Buttercup even found more fossils and shells to trade at the Nature & Science Center. 

I love this picture, because I have another picture of a 3 year old Oliver doing this exact same thing in this exact same part of the creek. :-)

My sweet girl showing off her collection of shells!

Theodore climbed this little hill by himself, and proudly stood at the top and said, "Ta da, Mama! I climb mountain!!!!!" He was so proud of himself. I love that sweet baby!!!

Singing at the top of the "mountain" :-)

After they played in the creek for a while, we walked over to the sprinklers for them to splash around before we headed home. I was swinging and watching them play in the sprinkler, when I had such a wave of nostalgia watching the woman next to me push her toddler and baby in the baby swings. It was only 4 years ago, but seemed like forever since Buttercup and Oliver were that little! Time goes by so quickly. 

Two-wheelin'

Buttercup has been wanting to ride her bike without training wheels ever since Oliver learned how to do it a year and a half ago. The problem was, she wouldn't let me help her, because she insisted that she could do it by herself.  :-)  Then she would try, but would get frustrated with herself because she couldn't do it without my help, so that was the end of that for a while.  

Then a couple of weeks ago, she decided that she wanted to try again. This time, it worked out a lot better! She listened when I told her what she needed to do, let me help her a little bit, and then she figured out how to do it on her own!

Great job, Tootie! 



  

A morning at the lake

One morning this week, we went to the lake in Pflugerville with some friends. This morning was, hands down, our favorite visit there.  The weather was perfect -- sunny and overcast, and not too hot, and it was very windy! So windy that there were actual waves on the lake, which made it much more fun for the kids. We had happened to bring their kickboards (thanks, Grammy!), and they had a blast trying to stand up on their boards and ride the waves in. (It didn't work, ha ha, but they had fun trying!)

Here are some pictures!

Video of Theodore singing

I still sing "You Are my Sunshine" to Buttercup when I tuck her in for naps and bedtime, and Theodore has learned the song over the past few months. Here's a cute video of him singing along with me. :-)