Summer begins

This month marked the official beginning to Summer and end of preschool for Kate. Gwen and I enjoyed one last morning outing just the two of us and Kate said goodbye to our favorite teacher Ms. Radhika. We loved Kate's Montessori preschool but are looking forward to Kindergarten. Kate learned so much--it's crazy how those preschool minds absorb so much information so quickly.

 

 

Kate and Gwen finished up a week of swim lessons with Ms. Debbie the swim nazi. She is actually a very sweet lady, but produces results wether or not the child is happy about it! Thankfully, both girls liked her and the lessons. They made great progress.

 

We hosted a Sunday dinner party for some friends and had a panini bar. I saw the idea for a grilled cheese party here and we love grilled cheese sandwiches! It was fun to do something different and everyone liked customizing their own sandwhich. We had 15 kids over and they were in heaven. After dinner the boys were outside wrestling and coming close to breaking limbs while the girls were sitting inside in a circle quietly combing their dolls hair. Quite the contrast. It was a good reminder of my childhood growing up with 5 brothers. My sweet mom was a champ!

 

After so many Saturdays spent doing home improvement projects and feeling like boring parents, we are trying to get out and see new places. We took the girls to a wildlife sanctuary to check out the baby ducklings and go for a nature walk. Kate loved it, Gwen got tired of walking after 5 minutes.

 

Later that day, we got a sitter and headed out on a hike in Laguna Beach. The scenary was gorgeous and a good reminder of why we pay so much to live here!

Kate picked our first cucumber! After two years of failed attempts at growing cucumbers, we may have some success this year!

 

Our Father's Day celebration lasted all weekend. Saturday my parents hosted a pool party and BBQ. The girls love being with their cousins and it was nice to spend time with family. Saturday afternoon the girls worked hard on a candy poster for Paul. It was fun to see them so excited about giving him his gift. Especially with hopes of stealing a few pieces of candy. Sunday after church was relaxing--for Paul, at least. He watched sports all day and climbed on the roof to fix the antenna--all for the sake of Master's golf and NBA games. I gave Paul a BBQ for Father's Day (not sure who was more excited about it--probably me).  This is the first time we've owned a grill and I feel like a whole new world of cooking has opened up. It's fun. We grilled steaks and had homemade ice cream.

 

We are enjoying slower Summer days. The girls entertained themselves for an hour with the BBQ box. Painting it and playing house.  We went on a nature walk with friends and have been playing at the park.

 

The girls played an early morning game of hopscotch. We are loving summer with it's warm weather, delicious produce and pretty flowers.