scenes from garden camp

One of the days that Issabelle and I stayed for the day. They were preparing salad and making crafts for the final day. Their favorite part was helping with the cutting. It was fun to watch them.

sunday smiles

bubbles at the library

An extra special story time with bubbles and music. It was pretty neat.

summer library kickoff

The big boys volunteer and the two littles go and have fun. There are crafts to make and live band for dancing. We had dinner and signed up for the reading program. It was a lovely evening to start the summer and it happened to be on summer solstice - how fitting. 

My boys do pretty good on the grill. Daddy has taught them well.

mid summer golf

A little surprise and relief from the heat wave we had been having. We headed out on an adventure. A little mini golf with batting cages. A fun few hours we had together.

family farm days

Our local goat dairy farm has family fun days throughout the year. We have gone to two this summer. They always have face painting and the goats to visit. Then they have some type of learning activity and prizes for the kids. Also all the cheese is on sale and there are tastings which is always a winner.

just because

On Sunday we took a drive to Canada. There is a flea market Eric likes to check out once a year. We bought some fresh fruit, Will got a new hat and Landon found some Lego guys. The two littles and I headed out on a train ride. This was the highlight of the day. They thought it was so cool to be on a "real" train.  Such delight in the the little things.

drums and pie

Our local library had a drumming program which was totally fun. Then to top off the morning the kids got to throw whip cream pies at the librarians for all the books they read  this summer.  Our libraries have been tons of fun this summer.

library finale

 

We attended one of the libraries we frequent, summer reading finale party. There was this guy there with all these wild games for the kids to play. Harkin was so super excited about all of it. Issabelle did a great job with a little help from her big brother. Landon was there as a volunteer but was keeping a watchful eye out for his little siblings.
A fun afternoon to keep us cool and happy.

garden camp and party

During the month of July our local library was hosting a Gardens for Learning camp. On a whim I registered Harkin and Issabelle for it. The great thing was that we didn't have to go every day, just when you could make it. It was 8 days spread throughout the month. My original intention was to go with them both and stay the day. However, the very first day Issabelle had a fever. Harkin was so set on going he told me to drop him off and he would be fine. He was great. It was the first time he had ever done a drop off thing where he didn't know too many people. The librarians and one of the presenters. I am only 5 minutes away if he needed me.

When I picked him up he couldn't stop talking about how much fun he had and the salad they made right from the garden. It was a hit and he would be going back every time. Issabelle went a few times since I had to stay with her and there were some days I just had to be at home. She was OK with that. It was more Harkin's thing this year.

Today was the last day and they had a small celebration for the parents. We got to see what they had learned about: seeds, erosion, compost, etc. They also made tie die shirts as you can see. The big boys came as well to share in the excitement. We had food that the kids had made from the garden and smoothies. Then we made our own ice cream as a special treat. Thanks to big brothers arms their ice cream actually was hard.

It was such an exciting day and the enthusiasm Harkin had was fun to be a part of. Issabelle enjoyed herself as well and it is already on the calendar for next summer:)