June is done and we are 1/3rd of the way to the end of Summer.  I'm not celebrating (too much), are you?  Okay. Okay.  I am totally celebrating that we have one month down.  I loathe summer, sweating and running here, there and everywhere.  Not that it is much different than the other 9 months of the year.

Anyway - we are off to a good start with our bucket list! Here is where we stand going into the month of July.

-Go strawberry picking

On the very last day of the season we got out and picked a row of strawberries.  They were tiny but the girls had SO much fun.  Grace and Brooke picked almost every strawberry we took home and Emily?  Well she spent most of the adventure sleeping.

-Go to Deanna Rose Farmstead

One week the weather was unexpectedly cool and we took FULL advantage of it by spending the afternoon at Deanna Rose with Aunt Kara.  We walked and walked, saw all the animals, fed the goats, slid down the slide, played on the playground, ate some ice cream, melted down a time or two... and finally crashed on the way home.  Just the way it should be.

-Complete the summer reading program through the library
-See a movie at Memorial Stadium

Unfortunately we will not get to actually mark this one off this year.  It was almost 100 degrees on the night scheduled for the movie... so because of our littlest girlie... our time was better spent in Kansas City shopping with an aunt that was visiting from out west.

-Swim lessons

Our original plan was for both Grace and Brooke to take swim lessons at the country club this summer.  But after one terrible first lesson and a so - so second lesson.. Brooke will wait until next summer and Grace will continue this summer two times a week.  Grace hates putting her head in the water and for some reason has a really hard time trusting even adults with her buoyancy... so my goal this summer is to get her to float, on her own.

-Gymnastics

We are back with the parks and rec program for another session.  Grace LOVES gymnastics and her coach Ms. Gina! It is a win for all of us.

-Picnic at the lake

We jammed packed those few days of lower temperatures, jumping at the opportunity to picnic at the lake without sweating our butts off, wearing sunscreen or dealing with five billion bugs.  It was a lovely little picnic complete with a blow out from Emily and a skinned knee for Brooke.  We are the traveling circus y'all.

-Go to the fair
-Go to the zoo
-Spend an afternoon at Wonderscope
-Run through the sprinkler
-Build a fort and watch a movie in it
-Take sister pictures of my girls
-Have lunch with Grandma

Bonus points... Aunt Erin happened to be off and we got to enjoy lunch with her too!

-Learn the alphabet
-Teach Grace to write her own name


-Practice Grace's speech diligently
-Learn the difference between left and right
-Potty train Brooklyn
-Attend Vacation Bible School

I seriously cannot believe that I have a child old enough to attend Vacation Bible School. Some of my greatest memories growing up a Catholic include the weeks spent at VBS during the summer.  This has been a real hit with Grace and I look forward to hopefully getting her into Religious Education come this fall.  Fingers crossed it doesn't fill up as fast as the Catholic preschool program does.

-Go to the farmers' market

A few other highlights that should have made our list this summer?

-Go to Science City

We last minute jumped at the opportunity to go to Science City with my sister, as part of her job.  We got to ride on a school bus, which probably could have served as an adventure by itself.  Science City is way different than what I remember, but my girls seemed to enjoy themselves, so that is all that matters.  It was a solid afternoon of entertainment.

-Visit the lakehouse!

This was not originally on my list because going to the lake with a baby is not as fun as you would think.  We did it two years ago when Brooke was the same age as Emily... and it was stressful and not at all relaxing.  So this summer we were not planning on going down to my parents lake house.  On Friday, my husband persuaded me to be a little carefree this summer... and so Saturday afternoon we loaded up the van and off we went for a 24 hour adventure to the lake.  It ended up being jam-packed with fireworks, church and playing on the boat before grabbing dinner and heading out of town.  We are all feeling it come this morning, but at the end of the day I really do think it was worth it.

So onto July.  What will you bring us?


always,
amanda