Summer fun continues

We have had a hot summer thus far so we decided to pick up an extra thing to do while staying cool in the pool. This basketball hoop was quickly turned into a dunk tank game and later a raft. Who knew? 

Lounging. I think a few adults might wind up with one of these since rafts aren't allowed but we had no problems with this.

While visiting a different library in out branch system to see an "Animals on the River" show (we saw an opossum, rat snake, and hawk) we fell in love with this branch of the library and its "Makers lab". Boyd's school is in the process of getting their library remodeled to include a lab as well. It was awesome and we might be visiting more often.

Airplane project

Robotics. This really made your brain work to figure out which joints to move and position. Boyd experimented with how many blocks he could pick up that were stacked.

Window markers

Gotta catch 'em all Pokemon! All you Pokemon Go people can find Pikachu.

Boyd has been terrified of thunderstorms which has been a nightmare since they often happen at bedtime. Headphones and music helped us through an afternoon storm.

Boyd and I play many silly games while just monnkeying around. This day I was trying to pretend eat his tootsie toes. Then he said "Wait!" and came back and did this and exclaimed, "Look at these tootsie toes." Even better.

We took advantage of our one not miserably hot and humid day and loaded my Subaru up with our bikes (not an easy task) and headed down to Historic Fredericksburg. They have a paved trail that loops so Boyd and I held our version of the Tour de France. Here he is after a fluid stop following the completion of stage one. He beat me by a fraction of a second. 

Close to the finish of stage 2 I remembered that there was a famous custard stand nearby if we deviated from the trail,  so we took a detour. He is even wearing the yellow leader jersey. 

I had to add this picture because when I flipped through my camera I thought, hey todays garden haul on our fire pit stones looks really pretty. I didn't even notice the placement or contrast of colors at the time. The bean on the right is really long. Not pictured are the mutant looking and discolored cucumbers I picked.

Boyd is finishing up his Focus camp today where he is doing computer coding and stuff way above my skill and knowledge level. I get to attend his showcase here shortly.

Summer Story 2016 part 1

My fish. We still spend a lot of time swimming at the pool. This weekend was a blast with Boyd completing the track and field events while jumping in and also having a huge pool jumping competition with at least five others. Adam did show them all up with his cannon ball, while Boyd accidentally did his first belly flop. It was entertaining to say the least.

This photo was from the second to last day of school. He made a necklace out of his loom  bands and received many compliments about it, including from his teacher.

A little last day of school present so he doesn't have to borrow all summer long. Yes, he already has a few tricks. I forgot how many time I hear, "Mom, watch this" during the summer.

Boyd's teacher loves fashion and accessories. As I mentioned before, she liked his necklace so he made her one along with this card to thank her for a great year. Boyd was actually sad the year was ending and said he wished school were year round (I think he is like me and likes routine and dislikes change). Four weeks into summer I doubt he were wishing he were in school. It was cute when he delivered this gift as he was so grateful since she didn't have any jewelry on except for one eating because she had lost the other one in the morning hustle and bustle. He proudly told me, "She wore it all day."

Now that school is out I hear, "Mom, I'm hungry almost as much as I hear Mom, watch this." While playing restaurant Boyd built this sandwich and I just loved his facial expression in this series of photos-The eyes-haha.

The tough part about summer, when I am exhausted and need a nap.  During this quiet time Boyd found his Tops baseball cards from the first season he was alive, a gift from Grandpa Ramsey. He came into my room and asked if he could open it. I had to check with my dad on that one but we decided yes which led to a very exciting afternoon and lead to flashbacks of my childhood.

Just getting so big!

But he is still my little love bug. I swear sometimes we just hang out lounging on the floor being silly for an hour or two. We decided he really did look like a bug in this picture.

photos are a little out of order but the first week out of school Boyd did the high school baseball camp from 9-3 for four days. He was in heaven. Thursday was rescheduled due to weather so Boyd seriously played baseball indoors all day.

The first day school was out I had him make a list with our nanny of his summer to do list. This is what he came up with and by the end of the first full week almost everything was checked off. The list actually made me laugh a lot.

Sometimes there are no words...

After playing basketball with friends he opted for a free ride around the neighborhood.

Our garden is producing!!!! We are fighting Japanese beetles like crazy and now squash bugs but it keeps us busy. 

Neighborhood pre 4th of July activity. It was like an impromptu 2 hour kids play together party.  We decided the kids were just there to do the handprint.

Love Boyd's creativity. He decided there should be a garage band while meeting up with some friends.

And paper airplane flying.

He worked hard on this project.

Happy 4th of July!

Even festive waffles

Boyd watched pretty much all of the U.S. Olympic track trials and decided that I should do the 200 instead which made both Adam and I loose it with laughter. Then he pulled his shorts up like this and said he was wearing mens running shorts.

We also have a bookworm and he has already completed over 1000 minutes of reading and is over halfway done with the summer reading program at the library.  He read a 300 page book in less than 24 hours after getting a suggestion from our kind librarian.

I'm going to have to ask Boyd what he called this pose and get up again but he was very stoic meditating.

My sports fan in his new jersey from Grandma and Grandpa Burla's worldly travels.

Playing pokemon go for two days before dad scared him away from it.

Catch in the backyard with the garden in the background

First week of summer baseball camp

Always up to something. Here he is as a caveman.

My total snuggler but he pretends he is too cool for a photo on the 4th.

Since mom was too tired and it was raining on the 4th he convinced me to buy a few fireworks to set off on the 5th. My first time buying fireworks (they scare me) and since it was after the 4th they thew in some free stuff to Boyd's delight. We had a private show with a few neighbors the 5th until it started to rain and finished them off on the 6th.

This week we are on to wrestling camp and playdates afterwards. These two wrestled hard fro 6 hours, went to the pool for 2, then were jumping off the railing for two playing some sort of army game. I know they were in China for part of their assignment but I can't remember where else their travels took them. Nock was the flyer and Boyd was the parachuter. 

Nick also thought the wooden knife was pretty cool and as boys will be boys , they had to show off  for the camera and pretend it was going into Boyd's skull. Seriously, as a mother of a boy, sometimes I just don't get it.

We are off to a fun start. We also saw the BFG since Boyd and I read it together last fall. I loved it and Boyd said, "The book was better."- That's always the case. The Sunday Farmers Market has been giving us a low key post Sunday long run activity and who knows what the next few weeks will bring. Adam started his new job after the 4th so this summer is full of adventure for all of us over here.