In Full Swing

We haven't wasted any time in getting our summer started. We're barely more than one week in and we've already packed in lots of adventure.

We spent our first day of summer at Kid's Day, a free annual program put on by the city Parks and Rec. There are always lots of games and crafts, all made more fun by spending it with friends.

The many inflatable rides are evidently worth the long wait in lines. Natalie was fearless when she scaled this huge slide. Alyssa had to give her an occasional boost, but she eventually made it.

The kids started swimming lessons last Monday. It's Natalie first experience with lessons and she seemed excited to be able to participate. All was well for the first two days, then something went awry. On the third day I had to force her in the pool and she quickly became that clinging-to-the-wall, screaming child that causes all those in the stands to wonder what kind of mother that poor little girl must have. I bribed her, gave daunting threats for time-out and even tried explaining the registration fee as if my three-year-old had any concept of money.

On that day, she won. I took her out of the pool to spare the sanity of all the innocent bystanders who had been subjected to her screaming. I did follow through with a very lengthy time-out and then went for the positive attitude approach. She was successful yesterday and today and appears to be over her short-lived disdain for swimming lessons. We're thrilled to give her her daily three cheers as we load the car for home. You know it's bad when several perfect strangers feel to go out of their way to mention your daughter's major behavioral improvement.

Swimming at the lake and digging in the sand is the perfect way to spend a summer day, especially when Mom allows Cool Ranch Doritos as part of the picnic lunch.

Babysitters seem harder to come by now that summer's here so we've had to be a bit negligent, er, I mean creative.

We really wanted to attend the adult session of our stake conference so we made use of Jon's church office, turned on Nemo and gave them a cell phone. They only called twice, both valid reasons, and we were able to enjoy the meeting.

Caleb finished another fun baseball season. He was a consistently good hitter, once saving the game with a double, and caught his first pop fly to end an inning. We love sports!

Summer means the strawberry fields are ready for picking. The big kids were great pickers this year. We picked our 10.25 pounds in no time and we'll be enjoying smoothies all year long.




Finally, the kids endured some shopping for new church clothes since they were promised a trip to the movie theater if all went well. They succeeded and we all had fun watching WALL-E while holding our sodas in our buttery popcorn hands. And they sure looked cute for church the next day.


Summer: so far, so good.