Summer 2009

We've been having a really good summer but I realized that you might not know since I haven't been blogging about it so much! We've just been busy enjoying ourselves and I haven't brought the camera along on most of our outings to document it. I can't say I really regret it, since sometimes it's just nice to enjoy the moment without stopping to take a picture (at least that's what I'm telling myself!).

Anyway, nothing big going on, but honestly we've just been having a nice time. Maybe some of this is due to the fact that I really wasn't sure what this summer would be like with a new little baby in our family. I wasn't sure how much we would get to do, so I am happy to discover that we have been able to do a lot. We do have to work around Lucas' naps, etc. but really I am quite pleased with how much we've been out and about. It really didn't feel like that much until I looked back and realized, wow, we really have been able to do lots of fun things. So, highlights of our summer so far in a nutshell:

Vacation Bible School The Lutheran church Daniel's preschool is at puts this on for a week each summer. We would have felt like infiltrators except a good number of the kids attending were LDS right along with us :). It was super fun and the boys had an awesome time!

Gymnastics Camp A family in our neighborhood/ward have a mini gym set up in their 3 car garage. The boys had a great time but they sure were sore that week!

Get togethers with friends - old and new There are lots of neat people here in Oregon! Also, several families we knew from San Diego moved up here just after we did, including our neighbors & good friends from student housing! It has been wonderful to get to spend time with them! (And yes, this segment does deserve all exclamation points!!)

Exploring area parks including mini-hikes and a really great park with water play. Probably my favorite afternoon of this summer so far was spent at that park with our friends.

Swim lessons we found a neighborhood pool close by that offers really nice lessons. We're pretty much doing them every week day for the whole month of August. The boys are making lots of progress and having a great time!

Library Summer Reading program Both Joshua and Daniel earned lots of prizes for filling up their reading charts. It was a great program and lots of fun. Along with the summer reading program our county library system puts on lots of fun summer activities. We got to see a fun puppet show and Daniel won a drawing, among other things.

Berry picking This has yet to happen because we're having a really hard time coordinating with our neighbor, but I am putting it up here because I am hoping that will help make it happen. Berry picking is amazing here in Oregon as there are more farms and types of berries than one could possibly visit in just one summer.

Tending our garden We have a thriving garden! This is a surprise to me since we weren't planning on starting one til next year but things just worked out and we've been enjoying it as a family quite a bit. And tonight I was able to make my signature Creamy Tomato Basil Soup using our very own basil for the first time!

Playing in the sprinklers One of the things we were really happy about when we bought our house was that it had a sprinkler system. Our front yard turns out to be an awesome sprinkler-run for warm summer evenings. Add popsicles to the equation and the boys are in absolute bliss.

So that was a big nutshell, I realize. Anyway, here are some pictures I did finally did manage to take of the swim lessons. Enjoy!