Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

For the past two summers, Mara , a neighborhood girl, has organized play practice for the kids. She comes up with what play they will perform, prints out copies with each child's part highlighted, and proceeds to direct them through the whole production. They meet twice weekly for about a month to practice their parts, work on set production and costumes. The night of the performance, there are refreshments, programs, and of course, the cutest players ever. This summer, the kids did a trilogy of Mo Willems stories. My kids were in Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Andrew was the pigeon and Marin was the babysitter. It was extremely cute. They have such a fun time using their creativity. I hope Mara continues to do this every summer.

Slip and Sliding with Felipe

Kevin bought a slip and slide today so the kids could get cool and wet with their cousin Felipe. It was fun watching them. I think the kids had a blast and they were certainly cooled down in the process.

Fourth of July/Pioneer Day Parade

Our ward has traditionally done a pancake breakfast the morning of the Fourth of July. This year, our new activities chair wanted to do something a little different. I don't know if he couldn't get the building and was compromising or he didn't think it all the way through but they had a 12th of July pancake breakfast that was to include the Fourth and Pioneer day. Interesting idea, but not many people showed up. It was a shame since the breakfast was really well done. They had tons of fresh fruit--blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, cherries, etc. They had whipped cream and pie filling for the top of pancakes, sausage, two kinds of pancakes. It was an incredible spread. They also had a parade for the kids to ride their bikes in. It was a fun morning. Too bad more people in the ward couldn't attend.

Vacation Bible School Closing Program

Vacation Bible School came to a close on Friday. The kids really enjoyed the whole week. On Friday evening, there was a program for the parents. Each group of children sang a song for the parents. There was an ice cream social and more water sliding to follow the singing. As the leader ended the singing portion, she encouraged all of the children to come to church on Sunday. She stated that they would be learning more fun stories from the Bible as well as singing. She followed that up by saying that the church would have the water slides open after church services. I was waiting for the rest of the program for one of my children to ask about going to this church. Well, on the walk to the car at the end of the evening, Marin said, "What day is it tomorrow? Is it Sunday?" I said that it wasn't and asked why she wanted to know. She said, "Could we come here for church on Sunday." I knew it, I knew it. Of course I said we were going to our church on Sunday. How do you top a water slide at church for children. There is nothing that compares to it in our ward at least.

Vacation Bible School

For any of you considering putting your child in vacation bible school--do it!!! It was such a fun thing for my kids. (Plus it gave me a chance to do some running this week.) It was run through the Presbyterian church that both my kids attended preschool at. They knew several kids that attend our ward who were also attending VBS. It was 9-noon M-F for one week. They do crafts, learn bible stories, play games, sing songs, and play with slip and slides. I am sad that tomorrow will be the last day of it. They do a program tomorrow evening followed by an ice cream social and more slip and sliding. I wish they could do it all summer long. I can dream can't I.

Fourth Of July

The Fourth of July was kind of a chilly day. Kevin and I started out the day running the Ridgefield 4th of July 10k. Kevin's mom ran the 5k--where she got first place in her age group. It was great running weather. We stuck around for the parade. Norm is one of the Sewer Commissioners so they were in the parade. The kids loved running into the street to get the candy that was being thrown. After the parade, we hung out at Kevin's parents for a while, cleaned up, and then began lighting off fireworks. We started in the afternoon with them. Keri's boyfriend, Charlie, managed to burn a hole in his shirt trying to hold a firecracker in his fingers after he lit it. I hope my kids are not taking lessons from Charlie. Kevin and Charlie were quite the pair trying different things to make the fireworks more spectacular. The ritual fireworking of the Swanger's mailbox also happened later in the evening. Every year for the past 20-25 years, Kevin has lit fireworks in their neighbors' mailbox. We had to keep with tradition. Kevin even took video of it to post on Youtube. We finished the evening off with more fireworks at Kevin's parents' house. It was a nice holiday.

Swim Lessons

Andrew was in the Polar Bear class this round of swimming lessons. I have to admit, I was a little nervous that he would not pass the class. He really surprised me though. All his swimming skills just clicked and he was able to complete the requirements of doing the front and back crawl, the elementary backstroke, and whatever else it entailed. Andrew has pulled together his side breathing and is getting to be quite a good swimmer. I am very proud of his accomplishments.