Summer Break 2023: Week One

We finished celebrating the big 4-0 with friends and family with a backyard party at our house.  We had appetizers, pizza, fruit, veggies, drinks and a delicious cake that Grammy had made for the occasion! I am so thankful for each person that helped me celebrate!  It was truly a memorable day!

We had some cousin time on Monday and Tuesday with a pool day and a movie day.  I love how these four kiddos love each other! :)  

Maddox pulled a muscle near his groin at some point this past weekend so we tried to keep him rested in between all our summer fun.  It is hard to slow him down but he would take breaks when needed as he was in a lot of pain.  It seems he is almost back to normal as I'm typing this.

Maddox had one of his best friends, Austin, spend the night after bible school on Monday evening.  The three boys (Z included) enjoyed sleeping in the living room on the pull out couch, watching the Super Mario Bros movie as they were winding down for the evening.  Austin joined us for the cousin movie on Tuesday to see "Megamind" and then we went to the pool for the afternoon before returning to church that evening.

On Wednesday, we decided to have a lemonade stand.  It was rather spontaneous and we don't get much traffic on our street but with a few texts to some friends, we had quite a turnout for the boys' first lemonade stand.  They decided to hand out free lemonade to anyone that walked by (or drove by ... i.e. the Amazon truck) and took any donations from friends or neighbors as they handed out the lemonade.  Money collected went to their summer fun, the Ronald McDonald House and a portion went to our church.  I'm so proud of our boys for their generosity on a hot day and their enthusiasm toward collecting money for a good cause (and to have a little spending money this summer).

  

On Wednesday night, we camped in a tent in our backyard.  This is a yearly tradition that I'm excited to say we continued.  We enjoyed taking silly selfies as we drifted off to sleep and were back in the house by about 6:00 a.m. the following morning.  Burke missed us as we decided to let him sleep inside this year with daddy as he is getting a little older and gets up frequently through the night to use the bathroom.  I was afraid he would wake up the boys and it would be hard for them to get back to sleep. 

On Thursday, we wen to the lake with the Williams family.  We love spending the day with some of our very best friends!  Josh asked if any of the kids wanted to try skiing this time and Zander enthusiastically accepted the offer.  (I was glad that Maddox didn't ask as he was still healing from his pulled muscle).  Zander tried water skiing for the very first time and got up on his third attempt (with adult skis)!  It was the perfect combination with Josh helping him in the water, Sarah navigating the boat and Mommy jumping in when needed to wait with him after he fell down after skiing for a bit while Josh was picked up further down the lake to rejoin the fun.  I am so thankful for our friends giving Zander this opportunity to try a new activity.  He talked about it the whole way home!

Last night we finished out bible school at a local church near our house.  The boys loved going each night with some of their friends from school.  I would get pictures from the volunteers who are also some of my closest friends.  They especially enjoyed the foam party at the end of the night, and I somehow let them ride home with me! haha

Today we are finishing out our first week of summer break by meeting one of Zander's friends from school to go out to lunch and catch a matinee movie! I think these boys are loving our summer adventures so far! ;)