Summer-Week 1

I'm enjoying the sunshine in the back yard, watching Levi ride his bike around the drive way and climb in the maple tree as I type this blog post.  Oh, the wonders of summer!

We started our summer off right by asking a few of Levi's friends from school to join us at the berry patch.  Several were off on vacation, but it was fun!  The kids did a surprisingly good job picking and we had a nice picnic lunch together after all our hard work.  Levi and I made home made strawberry ice cream, a strawberry pie, and strawberry oatmeal bars with our berries.  Plus, we got some in the freezer for smoothies in the winter too!

Gabe and I did our second of four 5K races on Sunday.  (Gabe kept telling me the best Father's day gift would be me telling him that I was actually teasing and didn't sign us up for a race on Father's day.  I think we made it up to him by taking him to lunch at Fire on the Mountain.)  Levi ran his first of two 1K races.  He did great!  Gabe and I also improved our times from our last race.  I ran mine almost 3 minutes faster!

Since it's been overcast, cool or raining since summer vacation started, we took a trip to the library on Monday to pick up the summer reading packet.  Levi is super excited and we might need to make another trip this week for more books.  I love how much this kid loves to read!

We were (more like I was) very thankful that Levi's summer craft box arrived yesterday afternoon in the mail.  We were running out of things to keep us busy inside while it rained.  A tent and "fire" for roasting marshmallows was perfect!

We've also been keeping busy with swimming lessons in the morning.  Levi back floated for 10 seconds today without his teacher holding on to him.  Now...putting his face under the water is another story.  That's his area for growth!
I also enjoyed an evening with my friend Alexis yesterday.  We went to Powell's to hear one of our favorite authors (Jeannette Walls) speak.  It was fun and I probably wouldn't have bothered to do it if I hadn't set that goal about friendship this month.  I figure it's nice to spend time with old friends while attempting to make some new ones.

We're off on our first summer camping adventure this weekend!