Stories of my summer

The big story of my summer is that I had a baby, and that lots of company came to visit and see the baby. But there were plenty of other smaller stories that were part of this summer, too, all of them adding to the not so glamorous but incredible sweetness that is my life most of the time. Let's see how many I can cram into a single blog post, shall we?

Story #1: Movie at the Park

Early this summer, Forest took the girls to see "Inside Out" on the big screen at the park. I stayed home with Wylie, so I still haven't seen it, but somehow know a lot about the movie, anyway.

 The pretty sunset was an added bonus to their outdoor show.

Story #2: Adventure Camp
Ramona and Mika got to participate in a 3-day camp put together by a church in Timnath. The theme was "Under His Armor."

 

Later we spotted their pictures in a local magazine

On their last day, they got cotton candy and shared it with Paula

The three sisters didn't always get along perfectly this summer--in fact, they had a lot of learning and adjusting to do once they were suddenly together all day. But there were times when they did find ways to play happily together (all three of them), and those moments were like gold.

Story #3: The Sisters Dress Up

All three girls at one point were pretending to be mermaids and requested "mermaid tails," so we used blankets and hair elastics to create some.

There was another time when they dressed up as superheroes . . .

. . . and yet another time we dressed them up as various Book of Mormon prophets (Nephi, Alma, and Abinadi) for a family home evening lesson.

Dressing up also happened in conjunction with some birthday parties this summer. There was one ballerina-themed party at a dance studio . . .

. . . and a princess-themed party at a friend's house, too. Mika went as Cinderella.

Story #4: My Little Baker

Paula sometimes enjoyed dressing up as a baker and pretending to make me little waffles, using one of the kitchen cabinets as her oven.

She also helped me do some real baking at one point

Story #5: In Our Own Backyard
We didn't go many places this summer, but the girls still found ways to have fun in on the patio and on the lawn

When some rain damped their plans to swim at the neighborhood pool one afternoon, Ramona and Mika played in the rain with their swimsuits still on.

Sometimes they drank smoothies on the back patio

And they were always good at using their imagination to play games outside with the neighbor kids

Story #6: Artsy Craftsy

My girls kept very busy creating various works of art this summer

I started out taping their artwork to the wall, then finally got some little cork boards to help display it.

Story #7: The Tennis Bubble
Ramona took group tennis lessons at Highland Meadows Tennis Center (the bubble) for four weeks in the middle of the summer. At the end of the session, the kids got rewarded with ice cream sandwiches and a bunch of other prizes. Ramona loved her teacher, coach Darla.

Mika didn't take lessons at Highland Meadows this year, but she still got to eat an ice cream sandwich.

Ramona and Forest tried to teach her a few tennis skills at the park one day--I think the lesson lasted about five minutes before she ran off to find the playground. But she says she wants to take lessons next summer.

Story #8: Book Worms
Thank goodness for libraries and summer reading

Story #9: A Hike Around Bear Lake
Our family of six ventured out to Rocky Mountain National Park in mid-July.

At the end of the hike, the girls got to touch an elk antler

But Paula preferred the stuffed toy elk

Shuttle bus back to the parking lot:

Paula saying "Bye Bye, Mountains!"

Can you see the ghost on the mountain?

Picnic and visit to the playground in Estes Park:

Story #10: Carnival at the Library

Did I mention we love our library? They organized a huge party for the kids toward the end of the summer, complete with cotton candy, crafts, petting zoo, and inflatables.

Story #11: A New Park!

We've been waiting a while for the Timnath Community Park to come to our neighborhood . . . a couple of weeks ago the city finished phase one and fed everyone dinner to celebrate.

THE END (of summer vacation, and . . .)
THE END (of this blog post)