We just had to go soak up some rays at the beach this afternoon, knowing it would be our last chance before the liquid sunshine was upon us.
We were lucky enough to be joined later by Thea and Sai. Q took advantage of the sun to take a dip in the icy water,
and do a little seaweed chucking,
and fishing for seaweed for Sai.
We celebrated the first day of Froggy Holler by visiting the frog store down there and had a little ice cream for dinner (later had spaghetti for dessert ;)), it was a lovely way to celebrate such an wonderful day!
We couldn't have picked a better week to be up at the beach house on Whidbey. It was perfect weather and the time went by too fast for all of us. We had a lot of fun on the beach of course,
swimming,
sand playing and castle/creature/vehicle building,
fort making,
teaching the art of tiny shell finding,
lounging to expose pearly white skin,
"booty sliding",
(as termed by H)
sand rolling,
done by those trying to warm up from those cold dips in the sea, or by a mimicking sister
Just cause my husband thinks I'm a dork by making our mantel look like a library doesn't mean I shouldn't share these:
(Plus it gives me one last chance to show you the 4th of July garland I made from our "firecracker" paintings)
Of course these are just a few of the vast numbers we've been reading and checking out. I'm using the kids as guinea pigs for some of what we'll be reading in Froggy Holler. Any other "must reads" (kid or adult) you'd recommend this summer?
Ok, cause I know you already think I'm an overachiever (really I just use outings as a way to avoid housework/I LOVE them!), AND Thea told me I should blog about it, I will now share with you our summer to do list, it's just a mite bit longish, but as you can see (ooo, how I love thee strikeout font!), summer is over half over and we've done pretty well! I have to say though that we usually do our activity for the day in the morn that way we can still have nap/quiet time and laze around in the pm, plus we have off days here and there too, phew. Q and I made up this list, which is partially why ice cream appears 3 times (cause he and I share a love for it), and many of these ideas are ongoing, so we still hope to enjoy lots more play dates, concerts and such, oh boy!
Summer Ideas 2010
Go out for ice cream (went to Molly Moon's with preschool pals, but will go other places again I'm sure!)
Go to Yost Pool (yikes, will soon!)
Go to Vashon for Strawberry Festival
Go to Vashon for 4th of July Weekend
Go out on a boat (with life jackets)
Buy a bouncy house!
Go camping
Go hiking (to see mountain goats)
Go to Leavenworth (ooo and I get to go again for a girl's weekend!)
Go to the Whidbey house and have mini day adventures there (coming up!)
Edmonds Arts Festival
Museum of flight
Burke Museum
Camping right in the backyard (hmmm, we've set up the tents but have yet to sleep in them...)
Get the hot tub set up (X that one cause we've decided we don't need it hurray, will dispose of soonish...)
Go fishing on Papa’s friend’s boat
Get ice cream from the ice cream truck
Play on the slip n’ slide
Play in the backyard pool and in the sprinkler
Keep growing plants in our garden
Go out to a movie (free!)
Get slurpees at 7 Eleven
Go for a vacation out at the ocean (Shi Shi camping!)
Go berry picking (still need to get to the raspberries and blueberries)
VPG
Jetty Island beach day
Park play days with Preschool (a few anyhow)
Motorcycle Sunday on Vashon
Swimming lessons/pool time (will be more I do hope)
Science mini camp for Q (this week in fact!)
Forest Park in Everett
Go out to a ball game
Zagofopo
Fondu party (might have to save this for the fall)
Northwest Trek
Museum of Glass
Olympic Sculpture Park
Market time (Edmonds, Columbia City, Vashon, Pike Place, etc.)
Light Rail to the airport
Backyard picnics
Play car wash
Lots of bubble time
Backyard movie night
Concerts in the park
Sandcastle contest
Lots of craft time
Outdoor dinners and BBQ’s
Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Time off! (Papa)
Time to plan Froggy Holler (Mama)
Visit Papa at work
Preschool pals play time
1st Thursday
Zoo visits
Kelsey Creek Farm
Make homemade ice cream
UW arboretum
Bike Centennial Trail Library Reading programs/concerts etc.
Theo chocolates tour Kruckeberg Garden Tots program
Trip to Philly for Todd and Quin
Hazel's Birthday!
Host a Martin family gathering
As added by Thea and Mathilda:
Do a play (kids have been at it frequently though Q's "shows" are nothing compared to the stunning performances Thea and I did in our youth...;))
Underwater basket weaving
Strip poker (whoo hoo!)
Pepper eating contest (I'll leave that up to Todd)
Spend one full day naked (didn't say who had to complete that task and H has been all for it!)
Cross dress at the park (hmm, again I think I'll get Todd on that one, just for kicks...)
Maybe I'm not a true Seattlite after all, or maybe I just don't have much to complain about cause I haven't been stuck in a hot office building/house etc. for the past few days, but I love this weather! I love that it gives us the excuse to do all these summery things all at once. This week besides eating large quantities of ice cream and popscicles,
here the kids are eating my attempt at homemade fresh strawberry ice cream which resulted in a delicious milk shake
we've had fun visits with all sorts of friends in all sorts of fun spots, including our own backyard (which is particularly lovely and cool, feel free to invite yourself over!).
"Hazel's rolling in the grass!"
Yesterday we went up to Everett's Forest Park with the Roberts. We went on their obligatory "hike" (they are doing 1 hike, 1 adventure, and 1 science experiment every week this summer!), then enjoyed the rest of this park's awesome features, the playground, the spray park, and the petting zoo!
all hikes ought to include cute photo opts and log climbing:
H is such a happy farm girl!
Whereas Q is a serious farm boy:
They all thought they were kids:
I'm sure this won't be our last visit to this amazing park this summer!
We had a lovely morn visiting with friends Melissa and Carter at Edmonds Marina Beach while enjoying the breeze by the water.
So, when we were about to head home and in the sweltering car, I went for a quick dip and took the camera with me. Don't worry it's waterproof!
After my lens broke, I picked up this little water/shock/dust/freeze proof camera (aka kid proof) which has been a fun toy to have around already this summer. We also used it when we got to swim at the Solhaugs community pool:
That was also the day Q swam across the whole little pool all on his own (with life jacket and noodle at first, then just life jacket) for the first time!
Now we just need to take a tropical vacation someday to go snorkeling with it!
