The last FULL week of Summer--Week 12

We have had a fun and full summer!  When it comes to back to school, there are parents who are excited and parents who are sad.  I don't know where I am.  Can I be in the middle??  We have had a good time together and if summer were to keep going, we would continue to have a good time together.  That being said, school provides a needed break for us from each other.  The boys can get on each other's nerves at times and so having school is another outlet for them.  I'm not looking forward to having to get kids out the door, though.  There's good and bad to school I guess.  I'm just in the middle.

Anyway, with this being the last full week of summer, we decided to pack it full of fun!  Oh, and errands.  On Monday Finn had an ENT and GI appointment.  We were at the Children's location here in the Springs from 9am until nearly noon.  It was a long morning and I was really, really tired.  Kai and Bree stayed with a babysitter and had a good time.  Kai never got dressed on Monday as after we got home we did chores around the house and just played.  The rest of the week was busy and we didn't need to wear ourselves out before it had even begun.

On Tuesday we went to the zoo with some friends.  It turned out to be Sawyer's 7th birthday that day (the boys had gone to his birthday party last Saturday).  It was a great birthday trip and the kids got to do some special things at the zoo just by chance.  The most awesome "special" thing was feeding an elephant.  It's normally $10/person to feed an elephant at zoo but we happened to get there right after they had handed out food to people for free.  There was a long line and all of the food was gone but Sawyer was whining just loud enough for some people in line to hear him and some nice older gentleman stepped forward and gave us their food so that our kids could feed the elephant.  We waited in line at least a half an hour but it was totally worth it for that once in a blue moon experience.  Even Bree got to feed the elephant a carrot and she loved it!  There were docents everywhere at the zoo that day and it was just a good day.  We stayed for five hours (which we have never done before!) and fed giraffes and elephants, touched a baby wallaby and a milk snake, and had a beaver wave at us.  The kids rode the carousel and even had some Dippin' Dots.  It was a really fun day!

Finn's favorite animals at the zoo are the Red River Hogs

Sawyer and Kai made friends with this giraffe before they even fed it

Feeding the elephant a cucumber

Feeding the elephant a carrot

Bree and I feeding the elephant

My kids plus Sawyer driving the antique airplane

Kai has decided that the wallabies are his favorite.  This is him petting a baby.

Kai and a snake

The boys plus Sawyer

A friendly beaver!

On Wednesday we went back to the Miller Athletic Center in Castle Rock.  This has become one of our favorite places.  This was meant to be the final play group event of the summer but only one other family showed up.  I'm glad someone showed though and they have two boys that match my kids so that was great.  Bree loves this place because of the awesome playground but she is very partial to the pool.  Bree might just be my swimmer!  And Finn has become very very daring in the water as well.  I need to get both of them swim lessons soon!  Kai on the other hand is content in the 1 foot deep end with a life jacket on .  It cracks me up!

The neat climbing area at Miller Park

The slide

More climbing with a couple of swings

The see-saw

Thursday was scheduled to be our down day but Wednesday night we got invited to go to Sky Zone with one of Finn's preschool friends, so we couldn't say no.  The early part of the day was filled with grocery shopping and relaxing, but then we had a great time at Sky Zone with friends.  Finn's preschool friends were an hour late so we didn't get to really see them, but at least we had invited Sawyer and Jude.  The boys had a good time together!

Finally, on Friday we went to Pirate's Cove.  Another friend from the ward (and the entire family--including dad!) came with us.  The kids had a good time swimming, digging in the sand, and riding on the lazy river.  Finn LOVED the lazy river and Bree loved being in the "just too deep" area of the pool where her feet didn't touch and floating with her ring float.  She wouldn't let me help her either.  She's going to give me some gray hair!!  Everyone was worn out from a long day in the pool and the sun.  Bree got a slight burn but luckily I got it the worst.  I told Reid last year that I wanted him to come with us this year but he didn't really want to,  I told him last night that next year he has to come with us.  At the very least he can help me keep sunscreen on back so I didn't end up lobster fried.  I'm going to be hurting for the next week or so.  Boo!

Today we are hanging out at home and relaxing before the back-to-school crazy starts next week.  I have a meeting with Finn's teacher on Monday afternoon and then we have the school open house on Tuesday before school starts on Wednesday.  Wow!  We made it through the summer.  I'm still in shock.  And the weather is still so nice there is so much more we can do.  I'm looking forward to the fall!