June Fun

Our first month of summer vacation has been packed with playdates, half-day camps, swim lessons, sports class, museum visits, water fun, baking, family time, and more.

June was all about:

watering our garden and watching our plants grow,

going to the neighborhood pool,

writing, writing, writing, 

eating the first cherries of summer,

practicing our correct pencil grip by "writing on the wall,"

emailing Gramma,

getting our first CSA box of the summer, packed with our favorite fruits and veggies,

reading non-stop (this kid devours books!),

coloring Shrinky Dinks

and watching them shrink in the oven,

eating our weight in watermelon,

and doing lots and lots of sticker mosaics.

Let the summer fun continue!

Pink!

When you think of my kids, I'm sure you think of rough-and-tumble, light-saber-battling, high-energy BOYS. But last Saturday, it was all about pink. Pinkalicious, to be exact.

We were invited to Chloe's 6th birthday party at Main Street Theater to see Pinkalicious.  

Pinkalicious eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink! When she eats one more cupcake, she turns red and has to eat her green veggies to return to normal. The play, like all the ones we've seen at MST, was awesome and, despite all the pink, not too girly. 

After the play, the kids made crowns,

met Pinkalicious,

and ate pink cupcakes.

It was a great party, and thank goodness no one turned pink! But we'll still load up on our green veggies, just to be safe.

Cousin Fun

Cousin Mary was visiting Nana and Pop all week so we got the cousins together as often as we could.  Yesterday, we invited Mary and Nana to join us at the HMNS in Sugar Land.  I love visiting the Sugar Land location because the exhibits are excellent but it doesn't have the crowds of the main location in the Museum District.

We got there a few minutes early, so we wandered around the space exhibit and the boys stood in front of Jupiter.  Will is making thunderstorms with his arms!

The boys posed with a scary T-Rex

and a not-so-scary Triceratops.

And then as soon as Mary arrived, we went for a dinosaur dig!  I love that my boys are rolling around while Mary is doing the real work.

Then we checked out a new exhibit called "Animal Secrets," which was perfect because it was all hands-on.  The kids put on chipmunk costumes and stockpiled acorns for the winter.  Henry patiently made this acorn blockade.

The kids learned about habitats, searched for hidden animals in a cave, pretended to be racoons, examined shells through a magnifying class, read books, and matched animal tracks.

Cousins!

We had a great time exploring the museum with Mary and always look forward to spending special time with her when she's in Houston.

Father's Day

Mike and Jess were in town for the weekend so we spent all day Saturday celebrating Father's Day with three of my favorite dads.  The dads were on duty and doing what they do best -- playing with their kids!  From puzzles and trains to exploring outside and splashing in the water, they played hard.

Gene found some old laser tag toys at Nana and Pop's house and actually got them working!

They also found Mikey's old Star Wars toys.  So much fun for my Star Wars-obsessed boys.

The three dads!

Eating a "Dad" cookie for dessert.

On Sunday, the boys gave Gene their "All About My Dad" questionnaires that they had worked on.    Their answers were hilarious!

Then we headed out for a special Father's Day breakfast at Ikea.  We really just went because we were out of lingonberry jam for Swedish pancakes but it turns out that fathers got to eat breakfast for free.  $8 for breakfast for 4 is not bad.

We left Ikea with the lingonberry jam and these crazy plush veggies (a carrot and broccoli) for the boys.

What a wonderful weekend!  I am so thankful for all the amazing dads in my life.

Swim Lessons

After years of trying to get the boys in the pool for swim lessons, we've declared this summer THE summer to finally learn how to swim! The boys are signed up for lessons all summer long at our community rec center.

Will loves his lessons and can't wait to get in the pool each day.  Henry, on the other hand, is absolutely terrified of the water and clings to his teacher for most of the lesson.  He is so petrified that they had to get an assistant for the class, which actually turned out to be a great thing because the assistant is incredibly patient and we're going to use her for some private lessons next month.

At the end of swim class yesterday, the boys all jumped off the diving board.  You can see in this picture that Will is contemplating how far down he has to fall.

One of the teachers gave him a gentle nudge!

Henry jumped too, but he also needed a little help from the teacher.

Session 1 of swim is done, but we've got many more weeks of both group and private lessons lined up til the end of August.  'Tis the summer of swim!

Phoenicia

Phoenicia is a specialty market with a couple Houston locations, including one in downtown.  Since the boys and I had never been, we decided to head over there for lunch on Saturday. Yum! Henry is still talking about his olive flatbread pizza (with goat cheese, or maybe feta?). It was incredible!

After lunch, Gene took us on a tour of the store. I loved seeing the products from so many different countries, but the grain aisle was my favorite.  Bulgur, wheatberries, millet and more!  Can't wait to go back again.

But the best part by far was the pita pocket conveyor belt.  The boys were mesmerized. And of course they loved the samples!

We came home with a box of Hit cookies (from Germany), some Armenian string cheese, and a couple of new bowls and platters.  But we'll be back again soon to get some olive oil, more pitas, and maybe even an olive pizza, if Henry will share with me.

Baking, Writing, and Playing

Able Baker Charlie (aka Daddy) has been busy baking up a storm lately.  Two loaves of homemade sandwich bread lasted us exactly 3 1/2 days.

Gene's focaccia is amazing.  It was the perfect complement to our summer pesto pastas.

Writer Will has been busy writing daily this summer.  His best piece so far was the fairy tale he made up on his own!  So cute and clever.

And when we're not busy working, we play!  This week, after swim lessons, the boys and I discovered that the covered park at the rec center is actually pleasant to play in, even on a hot and humid morning.

Henry was brave enough to go down this crazy sideless slide!

And when the heat is too intense, there's always movie night, complete with popcorn...

or perhaps a fresh-from-the-oven piece of homemade bread!

The Start of Summer Vacation

With three long months of summer vacation stretching before us, the little boys and I are always looking for ways to keep busy.  Will's teacher sent home summer homework packets, so Will got to work first thing on his writing assignment for the day.  Henry did work too.  He traced letters and cut and pasted shapes.  

Then it was off to have some fun!  It wouldn't be our family if the boys didn't ask to visit a museum on a day off. They've been itching to go to the Health Museum, so we got there bright and early and had the entire place to ourselves!  

Henry sat on the teeth and showed me his gap-toothed grin.

Will was obsessed with all the brain teasers in the main hallway.  We made a cube!

Henry and I could not figure out how to fit these shapes into a T, but it took Will all of ten seconds to do it.  Yay Will!

And because if one museum is good, two are better, we hit up the science museum last night for a special members' preview of the new Paleontology Hall.  The first stop was food, of course, and then Henry got a balloon sword

and Will chose a balloon dinosaur (a mean one!).  Can you see Henry's blue sword edging in for a battle?

Then we made it in to the new hall.  It was AMAZING.  We have been looking forward to the opening since last summer and it did not disappoint.

Some of the highlights:  fossilized dung (Henry was fascinated and we got to touch it), fossilized triceratops skin (wow!), a megalodon jaw (hugest shark ever), several T-rexes, a sloth-zilla, a mastodon, and a model the first predator ever (some 500 million years old).  There is so much to see and I cannot wait to go back and explore the Paleontology Hall again.

We got home late after our adventures at the HMNS and the day ended with a sleepover. Will grabbed a nap mat and crashed on Henry's floor.  What a way to begin our summer vacation!  I am looking forward to spending many more summer days exploring, learning, and laughing with the best little boys ever.