1st Week of Summer

The 1st week of summer is coming to a close.

I can't say every day has been super relaxing, but there is definitely a slower vibe in the household.

No one "sleeps in" in this house (boo...hoo...) so unfortunately, that has not become part of our summer ritual. But, there is no rushing off to school at 7:30 and Payton is around a lot more in the afternoons which makes things easier on a lot of levels.

Payton has been in a Creative Arts camp all week and has been making things like paper mache, a painted matchbox car, a candy necklace, a painted "surfboard", a tie-dye pillowcase, and many other messy projects that have required me to wash his camp t-shirt every. single. day.

The afternoons have been spent lounging around, swimming with friends, playing with chalk in the driveway, coloring, doing a puzzle and preparing for Father's Day (we've got lots of fun things up our sleeves for Brian this weekend!).
Here are some random pics from the week:

Parker has discovered squirrels. And he's like a dog. He likes to chase them in hopes of capturing them. So far, he hasn't had a lot of luck...

( I'm pretty sure this squirrel was laughing at him.)

 Brian and Payton did a little experiment called "Mystical Tree."

 Basically, you start out by assembling a little cardboard tree...

 And then you add water to the base, and watch it grow.

This is what it looked like about an hour later:

 And this is what it looked like 2 hours later:

 It's a little creepy if you ask me. What is in this stuff? Why does it grow so fast? Why can't they use this chemical to make other things grow that fast? Strange. But it made for a very intriguing science experiment.

 Payton is really into the book series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." I found this 200 piece puzzle at Marshall's last weekend and thought, "Oh, this will be great for the summer! It will keep him busy for weeks!"
He and his friend started it after camp one day this week:

 Working hard!

 And this is how it looked the following morning:

 What?!? He finished it in less than 1 day??? So much for keeping him busy.
So, he's been drawing a lot instead. He made this picture of all of us:

(That's a pacifier in Parker's mouth if you can't tell. Also, don't you love that he put me in high heels? When does he ever see me in high heels? I love that he thinks I'm so fancy!)


Parker figured out this week that we have a hose on the side of the house. Now he's obsessed with filling up his beach bucket with water. He prefers to do it first thing in the morning while still in his pajamas. Which then he gets soaking wet, so I have yet another item for the wash. That's okay though, because I'll have to wash Payton's camp shirt any way!

 This is his "Gimme that camera!" face.

He also enjoys coloring with chalk while in his PJ's...

(like how I got my toes in that shot??)

Lastly, today was the final day of Creative Arts camp, so I told Payton I would take he and his 2 buddies out for pizza afterward. Of course we went somewhere that also had an arcade, because what fun is a restaurant without an arcade???

 After a couple slices of pizza and some brownies, they were off!

 I gave each of the "big kids" a dollar to play a game (they were all $1 each - what a rip off!!!)...

 But Parker was happy as could be pretending to play the games. So happy in fact, that I could NOT get him to sit still for a picture. These were all I could get:
Totally blurry:

 Almost clear, but not quite:

 Back to totally blurry. You'd think he was Jeff Gordon the way he was driving that thing!

 A good time was had by all! That's for sure!

 Now, I'm off to make Brian's favorite Mexican dinner to kick off our Father's Day celebrations.
Have a great weekend!