School's Out!

It was another fun and busy week. Memorial Day was great. Nate took the day off so we could play. We started the day off with a little shopping trip and then we took the kids for a bike ride. At this house that means loading up all the bikes on the van and heading down to the flatlands. We went to a fabulous park in Farr West. We rode through the neighborhood and then played at the park for while. Elise wanted a chance to ride her bike too, so we did a few laps around the bike path at the park. Those folks out in Farr West still believe in using the real stuff to fertilize their fields, so it was a little stinky but lots of fun. We finished off the day with some pizza and a family movie. I love lazy family days!

The kids had lots of fun activities at school this week. When I was a kid, we had a field day at the end of the year, but I remember that it was mostly about races and we got one popsicle at the end of the day. These days the whole last week of school is one big party. Both Ben and Emily got to go swimming for their reading incentive activity (Elise thought this was entirely unfair!). On top of that, Ben had a combo field day/fieldtrip at the Ogden River Parkway and Dinosaur Park, Emily had a class picnic (complete with cotton candy), and then the kindergarten field day was today. Nate and I went down to do the candy cannon for the kindergarteners. It was great fun. Elise was an awesome helper! She filled the cup with candy each time and retrieved every rocket after we launched it. I think it took every ounce of willpower she had to pick up the empty bottle and not grab any of the candy. We rewarded her with a big Slurpee on the way home.

I love this picture just because it shows what different personalities our kids have. I was looking at Ben’s field day pictures today and he made it to exactly six of the 15 games. Emily went to every one. She explained to us on the way home that "the mom at #2 didn’t have a pen and there was no #9."

The kids were only home for about three minutes before they were off to friends’ houses to play. I have a feeling that there will be lots of neighbor time this summer. After Nate got home, we gave each of the kids an end of school gift and took them out to Sizzler to celebrate the end of another school year.

I am so excited to have my kids home for the summer. I know that I will probably be singing a different tune after a few days, but for now it sounds blissful to have lazy mornings and no homework and lots of play time. I printed off a summer calendar yesterday and loaded it up with fun activities to keep us busy. I figure that if we are out doing stuff every day, the kids will be happy and the house will stay reasonably clean. It’s a win-win.