June Has Been PACKED!

I can't even believe how much we have crammed into this month!! 

Last day of school smores party! 

I loved helping out in Sean's class this year. It was such a great group of kids!

After school got out, we have a picnic to celebrate and to have an excuse to see some good friends that were in town. It was so fun to see them again! I sort of wished I had my camera out when Sean was reunited with his friend Grant. They hugged and picked each other up. It was really sweet. 

Matthew found a butterfly that was his buddy for a loooong time. It sat at the table with us while we ate lunch. It even climbed up my water bottle. Matthew was super pleased to have a special pet for a while.

A few days later, we went to Dad's. We took the kayaks to the Sound. It was a bit choppier than at the lake, and we had to walk a lot further to get to the water, but it was still really fun.  

I love this one. It's like she's saying "No more pictures!"

I sure love him!

The next day we were going to celebrate Summer Solstice (a day late). It was a little chilly in the morning, so Sean found a cozy sweater. 

Matthew being his hilarious self.

Maisy is a little trouble maker. She likes to dig in Dad's garden. He's so patient and hasn't banned her from the house. Someday she will be a perfect dog. Right now it's a good thing she's so cute!

Our traditional yogurt pancake dinner with the crew. 

Sean helped me make some cement mushrooms earlier in the week so we could paint them as part of our Solstice celebration. 

I love how they turned out. The kids were great painters!

The cousins got to have a sleepover at Dad's. They were beyond excited. I made them sleep in separate rooms though. I knew someone would try to start the party early the next morning. Sure enough, a girl who shall remain nameless woke up a little before 6. I grabbed a bag full of books and told the ladies to read quietly until at least 7:00. All the kids had fun until we broke their hearts after lunch and had to come home.

When we got home, I decided it would be fun to build a fire. We got it going and roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows.

Mini-marshmallows are fun to toast because they take about 3 seconds to be ready. 

Here are some fairy garden projects:

A new structure the kids put together. I made a little ladder out of string and popsicle sticks (we had been putting our sticks in the garden, but this is a better use for them).

I love our library! This year's summer lineup seems more packed than previous years and many of the activities are right up my kids' alley! We learned about watersheds here:

It was a neat display where dirt, pesticides (not real ones, but cocoa powder), fertilizer (kool-aid mix), animal poop, and car oil were poured on this city. Then the kids took turns spraying rain on the city and watching where all the debris ended up. It was pretty fun.

Then there was a 'bug dip.'

They found mosquito larvae, algae, and a mayfly nymph. See what I mean about this activity being just perfect for my boys?

Later that day, there was another library activity with Indonesian puppetry and dancing. Sean picked up the dance moves pretty well.

Speaking of bugs, we had a lovely visit to the Bug Museum.

We love that place. We got our annual caterpillars too.

We went to a baseball game! It was the Mariners vs. the Red Sox. 

We met up with our family and took the ferry over together. It was so fun to have these 3 boys together. They get so silly. 

The ferry ride home was fun too. It was so late so the kids were especially silly. Matthew likes to make friends everywhere he goes and so he talked to this nice man next to us for quite a while telling him all about his day.

The next day we went to Poulsbo. We had to hit up Sluys because it is awesome and delicious. Then the boys climbed a huge rock and we enjoyed the nice weather for a while. We even saw an otter!

I love that June is wrapping up and we have already been able to do so much. Sometimes it makes me tired, so we take a day off to just stay home and relax. And then it's back to having loads of fun!!