Read-a-Thon

The mornings have been cool with all the rain.  It's been perfect for reading out in the playhouse.

Summer Wildflowers

We drove through Alpine Loop to look at the wildflowers and ended up at Cascade Springs.  The kids love to walk the trails here. 

 

I love how most of the time they play so well together and are the best of friends.

At one point Ciera was singing and dancing and wanted lots of pictures taken of her. 

Fun at the Grandparents

Camden and Ciera love to play in Grandpa and Grandma's sandbox.  They're smart to pull all the toys over to the shaded area under the playground.

A run through the sprinklers helps to cool them off and rinse some of that sand off before we go home!

Best Friends

These two have so much fun together.  They can be quite silly at times.  This morning they were pretending to be inside eggs.  When they would hatch, they would try to knock each other over.  I could hear all the hysterical giggling and had to check it out.

Purple Raspberry Jam

We have found a new favorite flavor of jam.  Some neighbors have friends with a berry farm and were selling cases of berries.  We got three half cases of blueberries, raspberries, and purple raspberries.  Purple raspberries are now one of our favorites.  They made the best jam and a very yummy fruit crisp.  The kids had fun helping me make the jam.  Camden loves homemade jam and could hardly wait to have some.

 

Splash Park

Both Camden and Ciera love to go to splash parks.  It's a perfect way to cool off in this hot weather.  Since I got to sit under a tree in the shade, it wasn't too hot for me either.

"Camping"

Since we had too many other things happening and couldn't go camping for the weekend with my family, we went up for just the day.  It was nice to relax and play games with everyone.  The kids had a blast with their cousins.  They really wanted to stay longer and have more time with them.

Water Guns

We got some new water guns for the pool.  They really wanted to try them out, so we got them a bucket full of water.  I think any sort of water gun is one of Camden's favorite summer activities.

Blackberries!

We've been enjoying our blackberries recently.  The birds seem to actually leave these alone.  They eat our raspberries but ignore our blackberries.  Today we made blackberry limeade with some of them.  It was a hit!  We will have to remember to make this again next year when our blackberries are in season. 

Sidewalk Chalk

The kids have been having fun with sidewalk chalk this summer.  Today they were trying to see how much of the patio they could cover with pictures.

The Fourth of July

We did our usual flag hunt and let the kids play with the pinwheels again.  Our lunchtime barbeque was topped off with a yummy flag cake.  While I was decorating it, Ciera asked, "Is it my birthday again?!"

Our homeowner's association always has a Fourth of July party with free food in the park.  The kids loved the water slides, bounce houses, and playing with their friends from the neighborhood.  Free dinner is always nice too.

Later, we headed over to our usual spot to watch Thanksgiving Point's fireworks along with the rest of the fireworks across the valley.  While waiting for the big show to start, Camden and Ciera had some fun with glow sticks.  They were disappointed that I forgot to bring my camera, because they wanted to draw shapes and letters in the air again and see the result in my camera.  The phone camera just doesn't work for that or for taking very good pictures of the fireworks.

Cool Treat

Both Camden and Ciera really enjoyed helping me make some popsicles from pureed fruit, coconut milk, and lime juice.  Every time we needed to add the next layer, they would get so excited.  I think it was mostly because they got to drink the leftover pureed fruit each time.  Once they were frozen, Ciera only wanted to lick hers.  Each time she would start at the bottom, lick all the way up, then throw her head back at the end.  It was pretty funny.