Summer Vacation Recap--Week 5

Sunday, June 24--Myah and Maysen sang two songs from bible school in church. 

The girls and I then headed to Lake Mills for a few days with my parents.  After lunch at Subway, the girls were excited to go to "Papa's Pool."  They LOVE the big blue slide and spent most of the 2 1/2 hours going up the steps and down the slide.....they were exhausted.  We spent the evening out at my grandparents' house....they always love to see the girls.

Monday, June 25--We hung out at mom and dad's most of the day.  It was kind of nice to just chill out.  We keep busy, and it's mostly by choice, so it was nice to not have to run off to an activity.  We met my high school friend, Jennifer, and her daughters at the park before supper.  Meg and her son, Finn, met the rest of us up at the Grand Cafe.  The girls continued to play outside with Papa to really wear them out :)  Brandon attempted to go to the Colfax-Mingo softball game in Story City, but ended up blowing out a tire on his car (haven't we had to replace enough things recently?!?!).

Tuesday, June 26--Spent a lot of the morning on mom and dad's deck enjoying the cool morning and fresh air.  We headed to Burger King near the Interstate for lunch and the girls and I headed back to Ames from there.  I was sure to register for the Lake Mills July Jubilee 5K before I left, though!  Brandon spent the morning at his final grad class....one of the two classes are done!  What a relief! Once we got home, I did laundry, paid bills and then it was time for swimming lessons.

Wednesday, June 27--We got back into our busy groove again today.  In the morning, I got groceries (since I was out of town on Sunday) for the week until we go to 'Boji.  I pulled some weeds and vacuumed out the van before the three girls and I headed to the Big Bucket.  Brandon met his dad to get the tire replaced on his car and then helped his friend, Mike, move into a house here in the Ames area.  It was the hottest day of the year......maybe not the best day to move.  The Geisler family (our back yard neighbors) came over for supper.  For those of you who don't follow my blog regularly, we have them over for supper once a month, and they have us over once a month as well.  Dellisa (the mom) is a vegetarian.  She doesn't cook with or eat any (real) meat---she's made us a few dishes using soy meat, and it's actually pretty good!  I gave this lasagna rollup recipe a try tonight.  I made two pans....one with meat and one without.  It was tasty, but very tedious.  Next time, I'll just make the lasagna, so what if it's messy.

Thursday, June 28--Day #2 of extreme heat.  Due to the final swimming lesson being in the evening, I tried to keep the kids busy without going to the pool.  I did run 3 miles in the morning--it was already 82 degrees and no breeze.  I survived, but was a hot sweaty mess!  After a shower, I got some more things done around the house (like hanging the photo boards that the girls got for their birthday that I had meant to hang every day for the last month).  Myah and Maysen went to K-Club at the library where they learned about and read stories using shadows.  We also made the (almost) weekly trip to Target.  The girls rocked their skills at swimming lessons and passed on to Level 2 for the next time we sign them up.  I'm pretty proud of them, and they absolutely LOVE the water!

To celebrate one of Brandon's classes being done and the great success of the girls at swimming lessons, we had supper at Village Inn.  It's kind of a joke between us and my parents because it's a very retro looking place and has a certain 65+ crowd except for us and our three crazy kids!  We had a coupon for 20% off and also 4 $5 off gift cards (courtesy of the MS Walk) so we paid a whole $10 for the five of us to eat there, and that included a splurge on 2 pieces of pie (to go!) for dessert.

Friday, June 29-- My mom, aunt Kathy, and family friend, Sonja came down from Lake Mills to join us at the Big Bucket.  Kelsey, Eric, and Rooney also came for a little while.  We went for a late lunch at Panera Bread.

We spent the rest of the day around the house doing laundry and playing in the backyard with the neighbors.

Saturday, June 30 -- I got up and ran 3 miles before it got too hot.  Myah and Maysen took a kids cooking class at HyVee in the morning and they thought that was pretty fun.

In the afternoon, the girls stayed home with Brandon and napped while I went to a movie with my backyard neighbor and some of her girl friends.  We grilled burgers for supper with the Geisler family to celebrate 5 years of them moving to the neighborhood.  The kids played in the sprinkler and on the swingset until bedtime.