Skip to main content

Summer(?) Fun

While the rest of the country is trying to figure out how to survive the heat, here in Seattle we are still wondering if we will see the sun for more than two days in a row.  The temperature has finally started reaching the 60s and 70s regularly, but there have been lots of clouds and rain to tease our idea of "summer".

Despite the weather, we have been determined to enjoy our times outside.  We've been going to lots of parks (I really will start doing some park reviews again soon), and just finding fun activities to do around town.  Here are a few of the fun things we've done lately....

Seattle Center
For one afternoon, we decided to make a trip downtown and walk around the Seattle Center.  The city has really done a lot to upgrade the Center as the 50th anniversary of the World's Fair in Seattle is this year.  There is a beautiful glass garden, upgraded buildings, and they even painted the Space Needle it's originally hideous orange for the occasion.

Playing in the public art

Mirror fun

Indoor terrarium

The boys loved racing around the fountain.  It was too cold to go in, but they never seems to grow tired of running around in circles.

Can you spy the orange top?

Greenwood Car Show
The largest one-day car show in Washington State was just 15 minutes away so we decided to go.  Buddy and Button have recently gotten into noticing cars and their logos, so this was a special treat.  The boys loved looking at all the special cars, and of course, they loved all the activities for kids including a bounce house, free balloons, and mini-games.





Home Fun
We've also been enjoying our backyard more.  We've been grilling more, eating outside, playing on the playground, and doing container gardening.  The kids have been especially enjoying the swingset more this year as Buddy can now pump himself, and Button is starting to learn.  Buddy has also been enjoying helping his little brother out on the swings when mommy is not available.  I love seeing them delighting in one another.






We also had a great time on the 4th of July.  We went to the Yost Park in the morning followed by the Edmonds Parade.  We were then invited by some friends from church for a BBQ at their house.  It was a very fun and exciting day!  Buddy was especially pleased to have his very own American flag.







Over the next couple of days, Grandma and Papa came to visit so we did a lot of fun stuff in our own backyard!  It also helped that it was finally sunny for two days straight.  We had lunch outside on our deck, pulled out the wading pool for the first time this season, and even roasted chicken sausages and marshmallows over the fire pit.  It was a great time with them.













Only a couple more weeks to our next trip to sunny California.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Little Disciples

As I've been learning more about Charlotte Mason and her methods, I've been thinking especially about what she means by "Education is a Discipline."  As I was reading her thoughts on discipline from her Homeschooling series, I was particularly struck by the following quotation. Discipline is not Punishment ––What is discipline? Look at the word; there is no hint of punishment in it. A disciple is a follower, and discipline is the state of the follower; the learner, imitator. Mothers and fathers do not well to forget that their children are, by the very order of Nature, their disciples... How Disciples are Lured ––He who would draw disciples does not trust to force; but to these three things–– to the attraction of his doctrine, to the persuasion of his presentation, to the enthusiasm of his disciples ; so the parent has teachings of the perfect life which he knows how to present continually with winning force until the children are quickened with such zeal for virtue...
7 comments
Read more

Styrofoam Tray Shrink Art

Making styrofoam shrink art was one of those fun childhood memories I have from being a kid.  My mom would clean off the meat or veggie trays from the grocery store, give it to us kids to draw on, then we would watch in awe as our creations shrunk before our very eyes in the oven. I really wanted to do the same thing with my kids so I (silly-me) tried to find a tutorial of the sort on the Internet.  I did this mostly because I didn't know the temperature the oven needed to be or how long it should be in there.  Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't find one!  The closest thing I found was this website , but there were no pictures or anything.  I decided to wing it - it couldn't be that hard, right? And, yes, this craft is super easy.  First, I gave the boys a clean tray and a bunch of markers for them to draw with. I had to convince them to color a lot  since they were only making small markings. We put their creations on an aluminum-covered bak...
4 comments
Read more

A Brand New House

Another major thing we did while my parents were here last week was a major room change in our house.  It feels like a brand new home!  We have a play room, the boys are now sharing a room, and Phil and I have moved into Button's old room (which was really the library/office/nursery/catch-all room).  I am so excited!!!   I finally feel settled into this home since there is finally a place (or at least a room) for everything.  The boys seem to really love sharing a room, and they are actually going to sleep better than they were when they were separate.  It's fantastic. By far, I'm most excited about our play room.  This room comes right off the kitchen, and it used to be our master bedroom.  Now, we have our books and toys in it which keeps our living room so. much. cleaner.  This room will eventually become our homeschool room with some minor improvements in a couple of years.  In the meantime, we are enjoying the extra space to play ...
3 comments
Read more