In.....but not really liking it....

Jeff got in the pool with Lily the other night.
But she would not let go of Jeff.
And she really didn't want to be there.
Then today, we got her to go in voluntarily.
By bribing her with a new mermaid pool toy.
She did get in, and did not cry, but she held on to me the whole time.
Maybe by the end of summer she will be in there happy & playing by herself.
Baby steps.....
=)

Scout Camp!

This was Zach yesterday.
All ready and excited for Scout Day Camp.
I wish I had taken a picture of him when he got home.
He was EXHAUSTED!!!
But a good exhausted. =)
He got to swim, make a craft, build a wooden race car, shoot a BB gun, do relay races, and lots more!
The only downside?
He found a tick on him last night in the shower......
on a part of his body that he has become really shy about....
you know since he is 7.
He wasn't too crazy about the removal of said tick.
But he survived, and he heard (I think to his relief) other "horror" stories of other boys finding ticks on them in similar places when he saw them this morning.
Other than that, he had a great time yesterday.
He goes back today and tomorrow for some more outdoor fun!

#1: Swimming

Jeff set up the kids' pool on Sunday.
The water was FREEZING!!!
That did not deter the boys from jumping in and having fun though!
Lily on the other hand, was NOT going to get in.
I even got in and tried to get her to get in.
She did NOT want to get in that cold water.
Maybe she will change her mind later this week when it warms up.
At least the boys get to check off number one on our summer list.

We bought a new pool this summer.

We got a bigger one because the old one was getting a little crowded.

So we had to move it from where we usually put it.

It ended up next to the swing set, which the boys liked.

They now have a place to climb up and jump into the pool.

I am sure we will be spending lots of time in this pool......

now if only we can get Lily to join us! =)

Aquarium

On Saturday, we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium.
We got season passes last summer.
We have been wanting to go again since then.
We just now got around to going......a month before our passes expire.
At least we got in one more trip.
Zach invited his friend Cody to come with us.

As usual, we MUST pose with the statues.

Lily thought she was funny, sticking her head in the alligator's mouth.

Silly girl. =)

Inside, they have a huge viewing area where you can see all kinds of fish!

The kids love this part.

Their other favorite part?

Touching the sting rays and sharks!!

After that, we went around to look at the other exhibits.

Then the turtle feeding station was open!

They put little pieces of fish on clothespins connected to long sticks.

The turtles snap up the food FAST!

They have a whole section where you can look at sharks.

BIG sharks.

This time when we went, they had a new exhibit open.

You could touch shrimp and crabs.

Those shrimp would jump up at you.

I thought Lily was going to have a heart attack when one jumped up at her!

I was surprised that she touched the crabs after that!

We all had a fun time at the aquarium.

I am glad we got in one more trip.

Mulberries

My parent's have a mulberry bush by their house.
One of my favorite memories from when I was younger, is going to that bush with my sisters, Amy & Mary, and eating the berries off of the bush.
The other day when I was at my parent's house, I noticed the bush had tons of mulberries on it.
Lily was the first one over there and when I showed her a berry and told her she could eat it, she looked at me like I was crazy......until she tasted it.
Then she said, "More! More!"
The boys loved them too and they picked LOTS of berries!

Riley is taking his berry picking seriously.

Lily picked some for awhile...until she realized that Grammy & I could pick them for her.

Then she was content with just holding her hand out. =)

Yummy!

One thing I remember from when I was little, is that those berries stain!

They stain your fingers, mouth, tongue....clothes.....

They thought it was funny that they had purple all over them.

Riley was definitely the most purple.

They picked almost all of the ripe ones and are now waiting for the rest to ripen.

I like that they will have some of the same childhood memories that I have.

#2: Sprinkler / Slip N Slide

The first thing we checked off of our summer list was:
#2. running through the sprinkler.

Lily is not a fan of the sprinkler.
So while the boys were having fun doing this:

Lily was doing this:

Hanging out on the deck.

We tried the slip n slide, thinking she would like that better.

The boys LOVED it!

Lily.......

not so much. =)

She preferred to stand at the bottom of the slip n slide and splash in the water.....

the boys did not appreciate this.....

since they couldn't go down while she was just standing there.

So she went back up to the deck to chill out with a popsicle.

Hopefully she will like swimming better than the sprinkler.

I KNOW the boys will! =)

Garden Update

The garden that we planted several weeks ago is really growing!

Soon we will have giant sunflowers, and yummy carrots, green beans, and watermelon!!