Summer Fun: Week 1

Summer is upon us, which means the Lacy Clan tries to pack as much fun into every moment as possible.  Week 1 of the summer fun did not disappoint.

Dalton spent the week in Soccer Camp, which is loved.

That left Addie and I to pal around together during the day and enjoy some “Just Us Girls” time.

Monday, we got all the boring stuff out of the way….laundry, household chores and errands since we had been out of town over the previous weekend.  Dalton’s camp ends at 2 each day, but the last hour is spent playing at the splash pad.  Addie and I meet him up there most every day after camp to join in the fun

Tuesday, we had some friends over to play while their mom went to an appointment.  Addie LOVES having friends over to play.  She would invite someone over every day of the week if I let her.  She is still quite the social butterfly.  After our friends left, we headed up to the Y to pick up Dalton, grabbed some drinks and snacks from Sonic and then headed over to the library for “Crafternoon” activities.  Dalton and Addie still both love making crafts and going to the library to do them means I don’t have to clean up the mess afterwards.  Score!

Wednesday, we took advantage of the Summer $1 Movies and went to see the Kit Kittridge American Girl movie.  Up until recently, I’ve been able to shield Addie from the excitement of the American Girl craze.  To be honest, I didn’t know much about them but had heard the stories of the extravagant weekends in Dallas that friends had taken their daughters on to go tour the famous American Girl store and café.  But then, her lovely and wonderful preschool teacher (who Addie and I really do adore) sent her home with a catalog one day.  OH NO!  Ever since, she has talked about “the dolls” that you can get to look like you with matching clothes and all.  Since it was just Addie and I headed to the movies, we decided to try out the American Girl movie option.  Another friend had said the books that go along with some of the dolls are fabulous and I figured that was what the movie was based on.  The movie was great, it kept Addie’s attention mostly and I think in a few years she just might enjoy reading some of the books.  Now, if she wants one of the dolls, I think she is going to have to hit up Grandma or Macca on that front.

On Thursday, Addie and I headed over to the local library for storytime.  The summertime theme is Spies and Detectives, so I’m hoping even Dalton enjoys going in the coming weeks.  Plus it counts as reading time towards the summer reading program.  We’ve participated every year we’ve lived here and the kids have won some really cool prizes.

On Friday, Addie and I headed up to one of her favorite places to play in New Braunfels.  They host a “Playnastics” time for preschoolers a few different times each week.  Unfortunately, Dalton doesn’t qualify in the preschool age anymore, so we have to go when he is busy doing something else.

Just so you don’t think it’s all fun and games this summer, I am having the kids do some “school time” activities each afternoon/evening while they have a snack or I cook dinner.  You can take the teacher out of the school for summer, but the kids know I have a knack for turning our house into a learning zone too.  Blake and I are blessed with children who really do love to learn, so the school time activities are something they both seem to enjoy doing.  It is fun to see how Dalton pitches in to help Addie when she doesn’t understand how to do something all on her own.  It also helps we left them earn bonus chore money for a job well done. 

Friday afternoon was the end of the work week, but our fun did not stop there.  We had a few unused Groupons that were in danger of expiring soon, so we headed out to use one for dinner on the Riverwalk….(Pizzaritas is a great little pizza place and a family favorite)

….and another Groupon to go exlpore the Tower of America.

While we were there, the kids got their faces painted….

enjoyed a 3-d movie experience about our great state of Texas…

and enjoyed the amazing views of the city.

Saturday morning, we ventured out to one of our favorite breakfast spots, Grumpys and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.  We then killed some time looking at our dream homes in the surrounding areas.  This is not necessarily one of our dream homes, but check out this front entrance we came across while touring some neighborhoods.

How would you like to climb those stairs to your front door every day?

After driving around and stopping to look at open houses as long as the kids would let us, we then headed down to the NB Children’s Museum to check out their new outdoor exhibits.

Addie making a joyful noise in the new outdoor instrument area.

Showing off their big, blue muscles in the new building area.

Look, we built our dream house!

They still enjoy being silly with all the old stuff inside too.

Sawing Varsity’s horns off! 

Batboy and Batgirl picking up a few groceries for the Bat Cave.

Blake’s masterpiece at the water table.  We finally had to walk away so the other kids could have a turn.  It’s a good thing they require each adult be accompanied by an child or we might just have to give Blake a lesson in taking turns with the other kids.

Saturday evening we ran to the store to pick up a few things for the upcoming week.  We were hoping to get back in time to pitch a tent in the backyard for the kids, but the sun beat us home.  So as a consolation, we decided to make s’mores in the microwave and enjoy a traditional campsite dessert instead.

We finished up the weekend with church on Sunday morning and a spontaneous trip over to Fiesta Texas that afternoon to enjoy the waterpark.  It was HOT, HOT, HOT so we only hit up a few rides, played in the water for about an hour or so and headed home.

It was a great first week of summer and we are looking forward to many more!