Early Summer Fun

It's summer! These are the days we live for! On the boy's last day of school we got out our slip and slide to welcome in the summer! 

The water started out slow, but once they got going, they had so much fun! I find this much easier and more fun than filling up a kiddie pool! And we have the perfect hill for sliding! It definitely became a summer favorite! :)

Starting from the very beginning I tried to install somewhat of a routine and had my boys do a little bit of summer homework every day. I thought it would be more of a struggle, but it mostly just became routine and my boys would even get their work done before I was even up! I'm proud of my boys for wanting to keep up with their work and do what is expected- because then we have more time to play! We love the nights when Luke is home early and goes out to play ball with the boys, they love it too!

As fourth of July approached, I kept longing for the summers of Colorado. The fourth of July was one of my favorite holidays in our old home since I loved our location and that we were walking distance to the best firework show in the city. There were a lot of things I missed about Colorado, and we had almost made our one year mark of living in New York, and this seemed like the last holiday we spent in Colorado before moving, and the last one we would need to spend here in NY before we could say we've been here for a year and finally feel settled in.

But- despite me feeling sentimental about the holiday, we ended up having a very nice weekend for the fourth! It was mostly low key, and we did have friends over one night for a small BBQ dinner. We ended up also going to see fireworks one day early on Sunday since that's when they were doing them at Saratoga Lake. The weather was perfect and it was such a relaxing and pleasant view by the water and the boys got to play on the sand, where it wasn't crowded- at all! The fireworks were nothing spectacular but our experience was great! We hope that might be a great new tradition for us!

 And turns out, of all 3 of our kids, Ava seemed to have loved fireworks the most! My boys have always enjoyed them and would get awestruck and wide eyed at her age. But Ava was a wonderful combination of squealing, giggling, spitting, shouting, and pointing at the fireworks the whole time! She was loud but it was so adorable people didn't seem to mind, and we even got a few people around us laughing at her too.

On the fourth, Luke had to go in to work but the boys and I enjoyed a day at home, swimming in the backyard, and then making our own fireworks at home. Actually we just had small little things but it was perfect to do with the boys, and another beautiful pleasant night!

 It was fun making some new memories together as our first full summer here in NY!

Our first week of summer the boys also started swimming lessons. We decided to try lessons that were being offered in a lady's backyard, but she and her daughter take on several students, so it was a good class! They were a bit strict on not allowing goggles which Jacob had to get used to, but they each made a lot of improvement during their 6 lessons and had a lot of fun!


Since they boys lessons weren't at the same time it did require some patience waiting for each other. After waiting an hour Blake was always excited for his turn after, and as long as I kept feeding Ava something to eat she was usually happy too! And also hot- some days we wished we could get in and swim too!

 For the first time we also attended the summer carnival at Gavin Park, which is close to our house. It ended up being a little rainy in the morning so not many people were there, but made it nicer for us.

 The boys saw a few familiar faces and enjoyed a few rides.

 Then we got to end with an ice cream treat! Summer is the best!