Crammed Full of Fun

This was our last week of  summer vacation before school starts August 16.  Boo!  So long, sleeping in and lazy mornings at home.  Sunday after church, Julia, Lauren, and I went out to lunch at Jamba Juice, then to see a play.  Julia's friend, Elizabeth, was in Anne of Avonlea at the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre.  It really was a lot of fun!  The play was good; Julia happened to be reading the book right now, also. 

We made a quick Costco run and did a little back-to-school shopping for the girls.  We'd gone two weeks ago with everyone, to get backpacks, lunchboxes, basic supplies...  Austin picked out a few new shirts, but he was sooo bored when Julia and Lauren tried on clothes!  Then Lauren started talking about how she itched, and she had a "botherin' feeling" that she had lice.  Oh, what the fitting room attendant must have thought!!  Big brother horsing around with baby sister; then one kid talking about lice.?!?!  So much easier just to take a couple kids at a time!  At least clothes shopping!

~Lauren mentions getting a "botherin' feeling" often, when she can't stop thinking about something; or when she's very concerned about something not going right.~

Our last swim lessons were this week, ending Weds. the 8th.  Julia's job [for just a few minutes] was to hold the pool noodle and make a tunnerl for Caroline to swim through.

The kids were so funny choosing what kind of silly jump they wanted to do at the end of the lesson.  Sometimes Miss Jennie lets them choose, like today.  Austin's back was red, as he'd been scratching it.  Miss Jennie asked him why he was so itchy that day?!  His reply:  "Bedbugs!"  Not sure where that idea came from!  Bedbugs?  Lice?  Where are these kids coming up with this stuff?!

Tired out after swimming lessons.  Caroline wanted to sleep with Bitty Baby, so badly.  Lauren really didn't want to share, and kept making comments how Bitty Baby was her doll!

One of our "Annette" dahlias, from Doug and Annette.  :)  This dahlia was huge!

They are really blooming right now.  Sadly, a gopher completely chewed through one dahlia's stem--no more dahlia!  :( 

The leaves seemed a little wilted, so I checked on that plant, and out came the whole stem, gnawed off about and inch below ground.  Naughty, naughty gopher!!  There are also gophers destroying our garden, and one of them killed some of my other flowers!

Caroline was so tickled to be carrying Bailey around the yard!

Bailey has such a sweet personality, and tolerated Caroline chasing him, picking him up, then letting him go.  Over and over she did this.

Bailey always loves attention--not sure he knew what he got himself into with this attention-giver!  Oh well.  She had fun and didn't hurt him at all.

Monday night Julia had a sleepover at her friend, Lorin's house.  I picked her up Tuesday morning, and took the kids to the Avila Barn.  It was really hot there!  The kids had fun feeding the goats and other animals.

It was a perfect day for ice cream, but no one got any, b/c the power was off for the whole place!  I let my kids choose cookies and a giant Rice Krispie bar for their treats.

We also went on a hay ride around the orchards and berry patches.  There was no fruit ready to pick, so we just got a ride.  Until just before the end, the driver (the Barn's owner's son) dropped us off in a Triple Crown Berry patch.  We picked a very few blackberries, as they weren't quite ripe yet.  But at least it was a little something.  :)

The kids were still starving, so we drove to San Luis Obispo to eat at Panera Bread.  Yummy!  Caroline wanted to go to Old McDonald's.  ;)  Oh well, I'm sure we'll end up there another day!  We did a few errands after lunch.

There are lots and lots of these beautiful zinnias growing  at the barn.  They were so pretty!

Beautiful colors!

Thursday we had a free day at home.  The older kids had me buy canvases months ago, for paintings they wanted to do.  Well, guess what--it didn't happen till now!  There is just too much going on, typically, for us to get a big chunk of time to do art.
Austin made a splatter painting.  It goes perfectly in his room!

Caroline's art...I didn't buy her a canvas, but of course she didn't want to be left out from the big kids!  She wanted a picture like Lauren's, so I helped her draw sea creatures and sea life.

Lauren used oil pastels, and Caroline used crayons to draw their sea life.   Then they both painted blue over top their drawings, to make an ocean scene.

Julia found a cat drawing in the art book we used, and decided to paint this cat.  It was very challenging to her to draw a cat!  Her painting turned out cute though!

Caroline had her big birthday party in WA, but I didn't take along three of her presents.  No room!  She saw these presents set up, and made her own scene with them, with her ballet outfit, toy instruments, and her ocean art!  Then she wanted me to take her picture.

Little girl, BIG present!

Friday, Brian took the day off from work. We went to the Ravine waterpark in Paso Robles.  There were big, long slides, as well as a kiddie pool with short slides. There was a lazy river to float down, which connected to a wave pool.  The wave pool was Austin and Caroline's favorite thing to do at the park.  The water park had life jackets for infants, all the way up to 90 lbs.

It was such a fun day.  The kids loved the waterpark!  We ate dinner at Olive Garden that night in San Luis Obispo.  We were all so tired and worn out!

In the group picture below, you see Lauren's arm raised high.  The kids have been watching the Olympics, and she sees the gymnasts raise their arms like this.  Lauren has gotten extremely interested in gymnastics.  She checked out gymnastics books from the library, and she and Caroline practice doing the moves/tricks in the books.  Then they dance around like they are doing gymnastic floor routines.  So fun!



 Austin stacked a bunch of inner tubes just before the park closed and we left the park.  This was at the shore of the wave pool.

Caroline's "big" birthday present was this Snow White Cottage.  It is so cute!  I bought it last year on Black Friday for $15!  So worth it!  I saved it in my present stash for her birthday.  All 3 younger kids like playing in these tents!  the pink one is Lauren's castle tent.  The kids combined the two to make a bigger tent!  They rigged the tent storage bags and Austin's shirt on top to connect them both.

 So cute!