June adventures

It's been a busy start to vacation! No lazing around yet, although that will hopefully come. For now we've been to NY to visit the cousins, gone strawberry picking, camped, and are currently in the midst of vacation bible school. We're also in the midst of some gorgeous weather, so I've been skipping naps/quiet time and keeping the kids outside to soak it all up. Here's a smattering of what we've been doing (and most of it is in no semblance of order):

Our tire was losing air, so Hudson checked on it before each outing for me. 

You know you're not in Boston any more when the rest stops feature these.....

The park up the hill from the inlaws just got renovated and the adults had a great time on the climbing wall

She's got some impressive muscles!

The traditional meet-up for a cone (or 2 in John's case...)

It was way past his bedtime and starting to show. Actually, the theme of the weekend could have been "it's way past his bedtime and it's showing". And yes, those are bananas on Henri's romper. 

He adores Ava, and she's so sweet to him. He thoroughly enjoyed the dress up

On the way home we swung by Animal Adventure Park, home of the famous giraffe, April. 

Lots of other great animals though (camels!!!!) that you could feed. The kids really liked it, and the weather held off until we got back in our car.

Ta-da!!! I met the internet star.

...also a baby camel. Awwwww!!!!

Hudson's favorite was the macaw. Hudson insisted he looked like a pirate in this picture

Back at Harris Hill, someone took their golf game super seriously

And back again....

Can you see Hudson's tongue out too? Hahaha

Um, terrible unflattering photo of me, but April was trying to take a lick of Steve's phone

The strawberry field we picked in was way out back, so we got a hayride out to it. Hudson was thrilled, he still talks about the one he got in September with Henri's class. 

Pretending to pick

This is pretty much all she did. 

It's too easy to go overboard on the picking. The cost is always a bit sobering at the end. But they tasted awesome!

Fruits of our (very short, not really strenuous at all) labor.

Honestly, they should weigh her before and after. She's got to cut in to their profit margin by a good deal.

Headed back with full tummies and in anticipation of the sugary strawberry donuts

Camping! I have next to no pictures of this as my phone stayed in the car for almost the whole thing. It was hot, everyone was exhausted, everyone was sick/recovering from illness. It rained all night Friday and as we were tearing down Saturday. It wasn't a horrible trip, but it wasn't our greatest by any means. Very disorganized, kind of "meh". However, Meg and Nate came, which made it much more fun!!

See? No "pep" this year (she had bronchitis and was on medication but still coughed all. night. long.)

Dinner on Thursday was a burned mess, but Friday morning Steve made the best Toads on Toast ever and that was pretty much the highlight of my trip. We also got to sample grilled glazed donuts (wow), and downed lots of Deepa's special percolator coffee (a true blessing after a long night of no sleep).

We did Kimballs for lunch and ice cream on Sat and the kids were asleep before we left the parking lot. 

The neighbor's roses. I feel bad, it's his bush, but the only blooms always push through the fence to our side so we get to enjoy them. 

My tomato plant is getting huge!!!

...and all it's producing is 2 little tomatoes. Must remember to not attempt any kind of garden next year and save the money for a CSA membership instead.

With the kids at VBS I was able to get in a particularly grand thrifting trip. Italian made shoes for me for $5.49? Don't mind if I do....

Yup, they're amazing. 

It worked out that the girl I hired to paint our kitchen, hall, and bathroom was able to do the job over the weekends that we were out of town which was perfect since it's a very small house and we would have had to find something to occupy the kids with for a few days. Now it's on to researching and contacting contractors to do the kitchen reno. Hoping in the near future to be able to fit more than one guest at our table!

Looks blue here, and maybe it is, but it's a very light grey with green undertones. They did a fantastic job (I despise painting so this was fabulous!!!) and having it completed all at once was great. So now the whole interior has been converted to shades of grey and blue. Muuuuuch more peaceful. 

The bathroom is definitely a lot more blue than I love, but it was Steve's choice and I can live with it. Feels too "coastal" for me, but I'll try to tone that down with decor. 

Assisting in keeping the kids up through nap time, I made frozen coffees today. Coffee syrup, concentrated coffee, some creamer, lots of ice. I drank it straight from the pitcher it was so good. And being coffee, it earned "A+" ratings from the kids.

That's a wrap

And just like that, the school year is over. I was reviewing all of the reams of papers Henri has brought home over the past week and while the progress is impressive and obviously it took time to achieve, this really did fly by. We are looking forward to a laid back and moderately structured summer (being realistic, it'll never be unstructured because I need my schedules and I've already written up the monthly, weekly, and daily to-do lists...) although I just looked through all the workbooks sent home and realized that I'll be essentially homeschooling for the next 3 months (four from the teacher (math, spelling, language, letter sounds), plus keeping a reading log and journal). We'll be starting our She Reads Truth study in Romans on Monday, a week late but wanted to wait until school is finished. I got Henri the children's one and might copy a few of the pages for Hudson since they are not all reading/writing based and he hates to be excluded. It feels like the start to summer in truth with the weather we're having today, but unfortunately everyone except me is ill with that nasty cold that lingers. Henri really should have stayed home this week but she was adamant she had to go, and honestly we had so many obligations and timing was so precise it would have been a massive headache to keep her home.
So, about the past year, and Henri (since this blog is, ostensibly, for her...): Henrietta learned to read and the worst punishment I can give is to forbid her from reading at night in bed. Her current favorite series are Boxcar Children, Winnie the Pooh (we've started the poetry books), In Grandma's Attic, Little House on the Prairie. She reads a lot of Arnold Lobel and Mo Willems too. Her ability to memorize continues to be ridiculous and last night at the closing ceremonies recited 26 verses to correspond with the alphabet. Her absolute best friend is AJ (not sure he feels the same, but also not sure he has any say in the matter. All teachers and parents have informed me that Henri has their future planned in exhaustive detail and he seems on board), Sam, Isabella, and Dylan. She says her favorite subject is art, but I hear most about Lexia and Science. Her teacher, Mrs. Garcia, has been a great fit for her and has encouraged my perfectionist to just try with the expectation of not being perfect, and that it'll be ok. Next year will of course be different and while we're both a little apprehensive about the change (she is her mother's daughter in some respects), I have heard nothing but glowing reports about her next teacher. Until then, I'm going to enjoy having her all to myself.

There's a few inches in height gained, and a ton of knowledge, between these two pictures!

The kids' end of school year gift was new hiking packs since I plan to have us out exploring a lot this summer. 

He knows he's not allowed to blow the whistle except in emergencies but he loves to pretend he's about to

She was so proud of this award, and I agree it fits her well

The amazing Mrs. Garcia

Last day of Kindergarten

My peonies are blooming! Had to bring one in.