Crazy Summer Week 3

The title of this post is a little misleading, because I think all our weeks are crazy.  Our first week back in Maryland was full of more bucket list summer fun in addition to getting ready for school.

We were somehow able to unpack everything the day after arriving home...this usually never happens.  We usually come home with one extra suitcase (at least) thanks to the generosity of my mom, sister, and John and Mary Ann.  They love clothing and spoiling our kids.  I am thankful that we were able to unpack quickly because it enabled us to have some more summer fun the week before school started.  Here's the happenings of the week of August 17th-23rd.

 I was welcomed home with these beauties!

Ditching church ensembles 

Monday morning, we went to Robert E. Lee Park and 

were joined by my friend Kari and her son.

Monday afternoon, we had a neighborhood reunion.  We missed our friends!

Eric carrying everyone home, another reason not to have any more kids.

Tuesday, we went Irvine Nature Center. 

See Bees

Bird Watching

Overlooking the Meadow

Playing in the Outdoor Classroom

Lunch

Wednesday, was Peach Picking at Larriland Farms.

We also grabbed some blackberries before going home.

That afternoon, we did some more Back to School shopping since a new supply list came in.

Audrey got a loose tooth assisted by a sibling with a stick.

We also spent an hour at Herring Run Park before dinner.

Upon coming into our neighborhood we saw some kids with a lemonade stand.  I originally said no to the kids and drove by, but felt like a Scrooge so we circled back around.  

The very loose tooth fell out the following day with an assist by her other sibling- what a team!

Family Devos

Thursday- After a mellow morning of reading,

turning everything into a transformer,

drawing peacocks,

and hanging out with Max,

we went to another creative playground.  This one was in honor of Lyn Stacie Getz.

It was surprisingly hot and humid, one of the only days like this over the summer, so we did not stay long. 

That afternoon, we cooled off with a fun shaving cream activity.  It started off with a mellow art project, but they caught on to the fact that I was going to let them get messy and took full advantage of the opportunity. 

It was a little anxiety producing but a quick clean up with the hose.

Friday, we got to "Sneak a Peak" at Elliott's seat in his Pre-K classroom and meet his new teacher.  She is awesome!  The kids got to play a little in his new classroom at a brand new school building.  We are really thrilled with our decision (and perseverance) to send him to Waverly.

After the school visit, we went to Oregon Ridge.  We went with the intention of swimming, but learned that they had a tragic event while we were in California and closed the beach for the season.  We got to visit the nature center and playground there, which was the first time for our family.

This playground was by far my favorite of all the ones we visited this summer.

Adeline was more interested in the fowl.

Can you guess what happened?

The majority of Saturday was spent at church for at Leaders Retreat.  I honestly was a little hesitant to spend my first Saturday back doing this, but it ended up being incredibly refreshing and inspiring. 

Blackberries after dinner

BFF sleepover

Eric was not excited about their interest in an 11pm snack (or me taking a picture of the moment).  They finally fell asleep at midnight, we we did five minutes later.

Yeah, so that was a busy week, but a fun way to finish summer (at least the non-school part of summer).  Now I am wondering if I have ADHD.