Last Day, First Day

I love summer!  So if I overpost about it, please forgive me.  It is just that every little thing about summer brings me joy, so I take too many pictures, and I post the same things too many times, and looking back on summer memories keeps me smiling all through the winter.  So bear with me, or meet me back here in the fall.

So first up is our last day of school celebration!

We picked up the goblins from school, said goodbye to teachers and friends and then we were outta there!

To celebrate a successful year, we went for ice cream.  We always go on the first day of school but Alyssa and Quinn begged us to go again.


When Chloe decided she didn't want her cone, Alyssa quickly took over for her.


These two were on the phone the night before talking about attire for the last day and they decided on flowered dresses.

Alex begged for an airhead so he could make it a tongue like he did on the first day of school.  Alex told me that he had a vision that he would wear his Avengers shirt on the last day.  Who knew last day of school outfits were important enough for visions?

Chloe copying her big brother.

After ice cream all the neighborhood kids came over and ran wild at my house for a few hours until Alyssa had to go to ice skating.  It was her last lesson until fall.  She is actually taking a break from piano, viola, and skating for the summer.  We are even taking a TKD break.  Al will still go to leadership class since we pre-paid for that for life, but we will skip his regular training/promoting curriculum.  We start swimming tomorrow but everything else is on hold until school starts again.

To celebrate the elimination of bed times and schedules we spent the evening at the drive-in movie theater.  We saw Madagascar 3.  It was terrible, but the kids thought it was funny.

Oops, I focused on their shoes and left their faces fuzzy but I love when these two cuddle.  Alex would cuddle with any and all of us all day but Alyssa is never on board and Chloe is hit and miss.

And now that you have seen our last day of school, how about a look at our first full day of summer break.

With our season passes to Six Flags we got free passes, good for this week only, and we are using some of them on Thursday to take Aunt Emily and her baby (flying in tomorrow!!!) and the kids I am babysitting that day, but we still had one unclaimed freebie.  This morning we called Alyssa's friend, Quinn to see if she wanted to come with us today.  She quickly had me talk to her grandma, grandma gave her consent and we headed over to pick her up. I can't believe we are already to the age where Alyssa is on the phone ALL THE TIME and where we have to start bringing buddies along with us, but alas, here we are and I am glad that she has a best bud.  The weather was perfect today and thankfully it only took 30 seconds to get in the park this time.  We had another awesome day!


I have a funny video of these goofballs on the bumper cars spinning round and round in circles trying to figure out how to drive but it is taking 100 years to load so this is all you get.

Chloe wanted to be with the big girls as much as possible.

So I got this cute guy for my ride partner, in a Batman shirt of course.



One of the kids' favorite rides is being repaired this year so these bees are filling in until it is back.  The girls said it was the most boring ride ever.

Even the little kids look pretty bored.

Thankfully Chloe did not want to go on the raft so I got to sit out and watch.  They flew by so fast that all I could get in the pic was the back of Alex's head.

The picture does not do justice to how drenched they were.  So glad I sat that one out!


Quinn doesn't like coasters so we mostly stayed off of them but we did do the baby coaster.  Me and Al rode one turn ahead of them so I got to watch Chloe's terrified face, even if the picture is too fuzzy to tell.

They suckered me in to the teacups which I get sick just watching.  I didn't think they could spin us that fast though.  I was wrong, and dizzy!







For a souvenir Alyssa and Quinn decided on photo booth pics, twice, so they would each have one to take home.  Here is the one Alyssa kept.


Next it is Alex's turn for a special Six Flags trip complete with photo booth pictures.

And now you will have a few days off from me since we pick up Emily and Griffin tomorrow afternoon and keep them until Monday.  I still need to get her room ready since I was off playing when there was work to be done.