Anniversary Picnic

Today was our 7th wedding anniversary, and since last week was extremely busy with VBS, we decided to take today off of work and spend time together as a family. We took the kids to a local nature preserve for a picnic. We played on the playground, ate lunch, and took a walk (with Landon on his tricycle). The weather was beautiful, and it was a perfect day to hang out outside together.

Relaxing Summer Evening

We set up Landon's pool and sprinkler tonight. He enjoyed splashing around, and Simon spent some time hanging out in his little cabana.

Vacation Bible School

Yesterday we finished up our week of Vacation Bible School at church. This was Landon's first year in the preschool class. The preschoolers joined the big kids for singing during the opening and closing each night, and then with their own group they watched little movies, made crafts, ate snacks, and heard Bible stories. They even got to make the snacks for the entire VBS crowd one night; Landon wasn't too interested in helping with that, though. In fact, he spent a lot of time this week just watching what was going on (for example, he and several of the other preschoolers chose to sit and watch during last night's closing program instead of going up on stage to sing with the other kids), but he came home with several completed craft projects each night, learned several new songs that he enjoys singing, and had a fun time with his friends.

Our theme was Crocodile Dock. At the kickoff carnival last Sunday, he made a crocodile mouth cookie. It has pink icing on the bottom cookie, green on the top one, and four mini marshmallow "teeth" between the two cookies.


The preschoolers went to the crafts station every day, where they got to make the same projects as the big kids. They also did some coloring sheets and stickers there, plus they did an art project in their classroom each night.


Landon had a great time at VBS this week! Several times today he's asked why we're not going again tonight. I'm glad he had so much fun!

Toddler Camp

This afternoon Landon participated in a Toddler Camp offered through our local conservation district. Our topic was caterpillars and butterflies.

After some books about caterpillars and butterflies and a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we headed outside to learn more about what it's like to be a caterpillar or butterfly.

Here Landon's pretending he's in a chrysalis.


He's carrying his butterfly wings.


And sucking nectar from flowers with his straw-like mouth.


Back inside, we did a few projects, including decorating butterflies. To learn about symmetry, the kids painted one wing, then folded the paper in half to transfer the design to the other side.


The kids ended their camp with pretzels and baby carrots that they could arrange to look like butterflies and "flower nectar" (lemonade) that they drank through straws, like butterflies use their straw-like mouths.

Landon had a lot of fun at camp. Next year I'll register earlier so we'll be able to sign up for more than one session.

Fourth of July

We had a very rainy holiday. It rained all day long. We went to the parade anyway.


Landon has a rain cover for his stroller, so he didn't mind the rain at all. He liked the fire truck and the drums.


We had red, white, and blue treats. We made apple muffins in star-spangled muffin cups and ice cream sandwiches with homemade chocolate chip cookies and patriotic sprinkles.


We took the ice cream sandwiches to a "cookout" at our friends' house. The town fireworks were postponed, but the kids looked out the window to see ones that people were setting off in the neighborhood. Landon thought those were great, but when we walked out to the car, he stopped liking them. Seeing them from inside made him feel much safer. We could have gone to the rescheduled display on Sunday night, but we decided that he needed to get to bed early that night instead. Since I don't think he would have enjoyed it anyway, I didn't feel bad that he missed out.

Landon and Simon

Toddler Racer Recall

Last summer I linked to our Toddler Racer pool boat. These were recently recalled, so if you have one, please stop using it and contact Aqua-Leisure for a refund.

Superspiral Spinkler

We tried out our new Little Tikes Superspiral Sprinkler today. It was a big hit. It took Landon a bit to warm up to it, but by the end of the day, he was sticking his face right in the spray.

The sprinkler comes with four balls that you drop into the spiral chute, and the water shoots them back out the top. If the sprinkler's positioned just right, the water will keep the ball suspended in the air for a while.

From the above link, it looks like these retail for about $25, but we got ours for only $10, perhaps because the box was broken. However, it's been a great toy so far, so I'd pay more than $10 for it.

We're taking it to a little July 4th get-together tomorrow. Hopefully the other kids have as much fun with it as Landon does.

Our little summer trip

We took a trip to my parents' last week and filled our time with quite a few summer activities, including park after park, the zoo, and the pool.

We also participated in a kids' fun run--an organized event where children run around a track. Each kid got a ribbon and treats after completing his/her run. It sounds like many communities offer running activities like this one, so it might be worth checking into whether there's one in your area. Landon had a lot of fun, and if we lived closer, we'd participate again.

Landon at the fun run with Daddy and Grandpa


One of our many park visits. He's wearing swim trunks because the park had a splash area, but he wanted nothing to do with that. He much preferred the playground equipment.


This is the only picture I managed to get at the zoo. It's not too good, but it's all I have. Once again, he's wearing his swim clothes for the splash area, but he didn't play in it.