I wish I could take credit for the idea of a "Summer Fun List," but I can't. It was my sister's idea. She made one for her family, told me about it, and so we made one for ours. It's nothing fancy, just a plain ol' white piece of printer paper with 24 "fun" ideas on it. So far, we have crossed off eleven. It has included things such as picking raspberries, swimming in the creek, making chocolate banana popsicles, having friends over for a bbq, and having a water fight. I've been trying to document a few of the fun things (one of them "crooked river camping" will have a post all of it's own). Here's a few pictures of our summer fun so far!
These first few pictures are from "Swim at Sauvie Island Beach." It has been one of the favorite things we have done this summer. The beach is perfect! Great sand, gradual slope at the river so that the kids can safely swim, and a beautiful view of the mountains. It really is a special place that we plan on returning to soon!
Seth, he's pretty timid in the water
Sammy has really taken to swimming and loved kicking around on this little inflatable.
Joshy doesn't love being in the middle of the water in a floaty; he'd much rather play on the edge.
Ben's dad met us at the river too. It's so fun to have them live close! (FYI, sleds don't float in the water--we seriously need to update our river toys!)
Playing in the sand.
Such a cute and happy boy!
He loves his Grandpa!
Ben made Josh his own lake to play in. It was super fun!
Next up on the list: "Splash park with Wesley and Jude"
This is one of our favorite splash parks in Hillsboro. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't packed with people.
I was so proud of myself: I actually remembered to bring toys! I feel like I'm always the mom that arrives somewhere and wishes they would have thought to bring something to play with--and for once, I remembered! Our nasty bathtub cups were a huge hit with the kids!
Josh LOVED the splash park. He ran around like he owned the place, and even managed to shove some bigger kids out of the way of the jetting water (such a bully!) At one point in time, he slipped and basically did a front slide across the middle of the water place. I waited for the tears, and they never came. He got right up and went on playing!
Picnic lunch with friends!
Fourth of July wasn't listed on our "Summer Fun List." Turns out, that was indicative of the "not" fun nature of the majority of the night, namely the fireworks. We expected Josh to be afraid of the noise...'tis his age. But our six year olds as well? Nope. We didn't anticipate them screaming and crying at the "tick-tackling" (Seth's words) of the wimpy fireworks we wasted our money on. Not again...I'm not falling for buying anything except pop-its and sparklers. That's our families sweet spot with fireworks.
It was great to see Diane again after her three weeks in Italy! All the kids are sporting shirts that she brought back from her trip. The boys look super handsome in their Italy soccer jerseys.
Look how tense Seth already looks. He really was not a fan.
The boys decided that they would be less afraid watching the fireworks from the back of the van...with the door closed.
There was redemption and good memories at the end of the night, however. Our drive back from Jeff and Diane's house takes us right past where they let off the big Portland riverfront fireworks. The first time going over the bridge, they hadn't started yet, but on a whim Ben took another loop around the city, and they had started! So we drove over the bridge as slow as we could and watched them right in front of our eyes! Then, once we were out of sight of them, Ben zoomed around the city loop again so that we could catch the end of the show. This time, there we at least 30 cars parked on the I-5 bridge, so we joined in! I still can't believe that we parked on the bridge and watched the firework show. It was so fun and crazy. The big boys thought it was the best thing ever and told us over and over again that it was "the best 4th of July ever!" It was a good memory!
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