Fun at home

In between the girls' trip to the beach and our big vacation to Connecticut, we had a ton of fun right here at home. This is the point when summer started feeling short! William got out of school in mid-May, and September seemed ages away. Once we got to mid-July with Connecticut and another beach vacation ahead of us, I realized summer would be over before we knew it.

We were still enamored with rain in mid-July, so any rain drops meant it was time to throw up the blinds and stare outside. 

I hosted a busy bag party at my house. Busy bags are activities made to keep children entertained. You put the activity in a ziploc bag, and it is intended to be something that isn't used up so you can take it out when you need it over and over again. We got some fantastic bags! Fifteen people participated (some had to drop their bags off because they couldn't come that night). 

Big boxes have a long life in this house. They are used until they fall apart.  The boys usually "sleep" in them and then pop out. 

We went to the boys' first movie in a theater - "Kung Fu Panda." They did better than I expected, but they certainly did not make it all the way through. It was totally worth it for $1 a ticket. 

A lot of people missed the movie outing because of the torrential downpours that morning. Stephanie, Taylor and I clearly needed the outing because we trudged through the rain to make it to the movie.

We loved having Emily home for summer! She is the best helper with all the boys, and they love her.  She has always given William lots of attention. I get the feeling that he is a little weirded out by the fact that she pays Ryan lots of attention now. 

Ryan was pretty shy this day. I think it was because he had never been to that bowling alley. If we went back again, he would be all over the place like he is at the alley near our house.

High fives all around! 

The rain stopped on a Sunday afternoon, and we were all desperate to get some wiggles out. We met Amy, Grammy and Grandpa at City Centre. We weren't the only ones with this idea, but it was still a lot of fun.  

They look really old to me in this picture. 

Laundry hampers are just as awesome as big boxes.  

I don't know why it is so fun to pretend to sleep! 

Monkey see, monkey do.

I can't remember why I took Ryan's shirt off. Probably because his shirt was so filthy that it was pointless to even wear it. He could not get dirty enough.  

Such good buddies! They did not want to leave even a little bit when it was time to go. We brushed them off with a brush the restaurant uses for the sand box, and there was still sand in places sand should not go.

Ryan is such a happy boy! True to form, William takes his job as umbrella-holder very seriously.