Sweet Summertime

I was doing so good keeping up with blogging and I was certain that once summer got here, it would be super easy to blog every little thing we did.  Was I ever wrong!  We have kept so busy and have been having so much fun that I have hardly been sitting down at the computer.  I'm barely keeping up with getting pictures from my phone and the camera onto the computer.  Between swim lessons, autism summer camp, our new pool, playing racquetball, etc. we have just had a great (and busy) summer so far!!

So here is the first batch of pictures of what we've been doing. 

We:

Went to the park a few times in the evening before it started getting miserably hot all hours of the day...

Garmin in one of the baby swings.

Garmin and Kecky got to come on this particular park trip.  They got to swing, go down the slide, and ride the dinosaur.  However, they did NOT scream bloody murder when they saw a couple little bugs like someone else at the park with them did!!!

Lady and the Tramp got to go too but since they're the adults/parents, they had to sit on the bench with me where I was sitting reading a magazine.

I've never figured out where Kaelyn came up with calling all her stuffed animals "pals" but I don't think there could be a more appropriate "title" for them.  They really are all her pals and she always has a few of them with her going everywhere she goes and doing everything she does.

[We:]

have been spending lots of time in our new pool...

We just put up a sixteen foot pool the beginning of June.  It's about four feet deep and the perfect depth for us - yes, even for me.  :-)  I have sat on this floating chair a few times and read a magazine.  After Kaelyn saw me do it the first time, the next time we got in the pool she climbed up on it and asked us to get her her most recent Phineas and Ferb magazine.  I didn't think she would actually sit and read it because it's tricky to sit and read without your magazine getting completely soaked.  She did though and probably sat like that for fifteen or twenty minutes.  It scares me how much she wants to do EVERYTHING just like me!  (but I did think this was particularly cute)

[We:]

have spent lots of time trying to catch lizards...

Lizards aren't really my thing.  I've been in Florida for almost fifteen years now (minus a year in NY) so I am used to them enough that I don't flip out over them but I don't really care that much for them either.  We have a great arrangement: usually, as I walk by, they skitter out of sight and out of my way.  And that works out just fine - I don't bother them as long as they don't get in my house.  Kaelyn has this little bug catcher thingy though and she got the great idea of catching lizards in it.  Now mind you, this girl is TERRIFIED of insects.  I mean "blood curdling scream cause she spotted a gnat four feet away" kind of terrified.  (It's actually a big problem and we're not sure where the phobia all the sudden came from or what to do about it but I digress.)  Point is, I don't see how a person can be terrified of an ant crawling on the ground that you can barely see and yet not be bothered by a skittery, ugly lizard.  But I'm not about to suggest to her that she should be afraid of lizards too so I bravely set about one afternoon to help her after she had already tried in vain a few other days to catch one.  It turned into a whole event because Kevin got home from work while we were lizard hunting and then Brittany Brown came down because we were going to eat supper together since her family is away.  Finally, between three adults, a pool skimmer, and Kaelyn's bug catcher, we were able to get a baby one.  It didn't survive the ordeal very well - actually, it didn't survive at all but it seemed to cure Kaelyn's "itch" (at least momentarily) to catch one.

Hopefully we won't be spending a lot more time on THAT activity!!!

[We:]

bought a baby doll stroller for Kaelyn's pals...

Kaelyn had a Target gift card from her Uncle Tim from Christmas.  She rarely finds things that she really, really wants so I usually save gift cards till I hear her mention something repeatedly or something that I know she'll actually play with when she gets it home.  She started talking about buying a stroller for her pals so we went one day and found this one at Target.  We have already taken it lots of places with us and I was so glad she had the gift card and that we waited to use it for something that she really wanted.

Ellie and Hello Kitty are in the stroller and Garmin got to ride in her Hello Kitty purse - her idea.  I thought it was SO cute!

[We:]

went to a restaurant called Dune Dogs and got this super cool balloon!

Dune Dogs is an outdoorsy, hot dog/seafood, Florida-ish type restaurant.  We went one evening with Britt.  It was kid's night so kids eat for 99¢ and there was a guy doing balloon art for the kids.  It was incredible!  I've never seen anyone who could make so many things and do it so quickly.  He made bows and arrows, a Darth Vader mask and light saber, an octupus, Pluto and those are just a few of the things we saw him make for kids at the tables around us.  He made this Hello Kitty one that you can wear on your wrist for Kaelyn.  I was bummed that I'm not a kid and didn't get to choose one.  I would have gotten Donald Duck!  :-)

[We:]

made Buster sit on a chair???...

I included this picture mostly just because it amuses me.  Poor Buster!  I'm not sure what Kaelyn was trying to accomplish here.  See, she watches America's Funniest Videos where people video their pets doing funny things and she watches all these dog training videos on youtube and then she tries to "train" Buster or get him to do things.  She kept making him jump from the freezer on to the chair and she seemed to think it was hilarious to have him sit in a chair like she was.  She asked us to take a picture.  If Buster could talk, I'm pretty sure he would say, "Someone just shoot me now!"

[We:]

found a cool pal for Daddy for Father's Day...

Kaelyn was SURE that we should get Kevin some kind of  "pal" for Father's Day since he doesn't really have any and none of us could think of anything else to get him.  It actually turned out kind of cute/cool because we happened to find a pal from one of the games that Kevin and Kaelyn both like to play on their phone/pad.

They both like the game equally as much I would say.  It's called "Where's My Water?" and the main character is an alligator named "Swampy".

It was absolutely KILLING her not being able to show it to Kevin when we found it at the store.  I had to stop her several times from getting it out of the cart and showing him.  None of us had ever seen the plush toys from the game before and she was dying for him to see what we had found! 

:-)

Aren't they cute?

[We:]

went bowling one Friday afternoon...

We have been bowling a couple other times but Kaelyn was too young to remember.  The bowling alley is part of a group of bowling alleys that has free bowling for kids all summer.  Once you go to the website and register your kid, they get two free games each time.  Her class at school had a small plastic bowling set that she loved to play with so she was very excited to try it out.  She and I went out for lunch first and then went bowling.  We had a great time.  Hopefully we'll make it back one more time before summer ends.

So as you can see, we have been staying busy and having lots of fun as a family this summer.  I am actually loving summer break this year and am dreading school starting back up.  I have lots more pictures to post.  Hopefully, I'll get them up fairly soon.