Sum, Sum, Summertime!

It's really here!  Summer actually made it.  We've even been to the Splash Park already!  It has been hot enough for the kids to endure the chilly water immersion.  In other words, they run around like crazy for an hour (up the stairs and down the slides), then shiver in their towels in the sun trying to warm back up for 15 minutes, and repeat in shorter increments.  Owen had a good time with his buddy, Jacob, and Hadley sort of did her own thing for a while, which was mostly eating lunch. :)

After a food break, O and H actually played together for a while, which was sweet.  They even found a place to play hide and seek.

Of course, we had to end up on the carousel as always.  They still love it!

Did I mention that Hadley has been potty-training since June 1?  She seems to have the hang of it now, but of course she'll have the occasional accident, especially if the bathroom is not convenient.  This may put a damper on our hiking agenda for a while (would you feel confident with a newly potty-trained toddler on your back?), but we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather with a different hike not too far away at Deer Parks Wildlife Management Area.  The hike ended up being about 4 miles around a canal, which would have been more impressive if we were birders.  But Owen hiked the whole thing! And Hadley didn't have an accident.  So, that's something.  This is the view of the Butte Slough.  Sounds beautiful, doesn't it?  ;P

 

The highlight of the hike was definitely the mule deer fawn.  The park ranger showed us this 2-week old fawn that was apparently abandoned near the butte.  The ranger and his wife are taking care of it until it is old enough to be in a different facility.  They thought the kids would enjoy petting it, and they did!

We drove by a golf course every morning on the way to O's school, so the kids were curious.  They offer several different summer programs, so I signed O up for one that was 3 lessons and a mini-tournament with his friends.  They briefly covered driving, chipping, and putting skills, and provided him with tiny clubs.  Maybe too tiny...

He was reluctant at first, but enjoyed the tournament with his friends, declaring golf to be "awesome!"  If we can find some reasonably cheap clubs for him, we might be going around some of the short courses in town this summer.  I'd say his strength was his long game, since he'd get to the green in 3 strokes, but putting would go back and forth across the green.  Maybe it's time for putt-putt to hone those skills?

Aren't they cute?  Owen played with Stella, Carson, and Brady.  He came in last place in his age group, but he still got a trophy, which he thought was really cool.  For the record, they played two holes, and he got a 37.  We were supposed to count whiffs, so you can imagine that the total would probably have been halved without those!

T-ball has also started.  Though half the team is on their 3rd year of t-ball, we added several newbie 3-year olds to the roster, so there are still lots of laughs.  Owen likes to play with his friends, but he nearly nailed 3 of them in the face when he threw the ball at their heads when they weren't paying attention.  Next time, we'll call out their name first. :)

There are also several opportunities for summer art classes around town.  We checked out a painting class where you had to make your own brushes out of random items and popsicle sticks.  Owen enjoyed it and made two paintings, one of which suffered from the kids at the table blending the plate of colors together into a muddled brownish-red.  He had previously told me that art was his favorite part of school, painting especially!  We may do another class, but it's hard to keep H entertained for an hour while O is doing something fun that she can't join in on...

We love summer!!!  Stay tuned because next week is swim lessons for both in the same class.  Can't wait to see what Owen thinks of that!  And I won't have to entertain anyone outside the pool!  Woohoo!