SUMMER TIME!

when you think of summer, you think of warm lazy days spent next to a pool, eating popsicles and watermelon. but somehow, summer schedules seem to go into overdrive and get busier and busier the older these kids get. so fun in a lot of ways and so not fun at the same time :)

jack and ellie's first week out of school was spent at tennis camp! they went for a couple hours each morning with their friends Jenna, Dani, Miles, and Lillie. while they were at camp, charlie was taking swim lessons with his buddy brynn at the pool that is literally right across the parking lot.

to say they loved tennis would be an understatement! 

we were rained out twice, so for two days they took two lessons back to back, which was definitely not enough for these two- they'd come home and play tennis in front of the house for another hour or two.

ellie especially liked it and said after the first day "THIS is MY sport!"

ellie won the camper of the day award one of the days!

so glad they get to try new things and experience all the fun of being a kid!

we have spent several afternoons exploring the various public pools and water parks around here, which has been fun... but a little weird paying to go to the pool since we never had to do that in florida. oh well. the kids said that its been too long since they've been able to swim and i agree. it feels so good to be back in the water. 

the week after tennis camp, all three kiddos took swim lessons.

jack and ellie did great and charlie did too. he's still using a floatie on his back that they call a bubble, but he's doing really well. and he loves his bubble so much, he even brings it to bed with him :)

on the last day, all the kids have to jump off the diving board. if they don't jump, they get tossed. ellie was SO NERVOUS. she wasn't sure if she could swim all the way to the side, but she did!

i thought charlie would freak and have to be tossed, but he jumped on his own!

btw, that is NOT christopher wearing a speedo on the diving board. he is an amazing swim coach from New Zealand... that makes the speedo ok, right?

like usual, jack's coach said he needs to join the swim team and start competing, which got him very excited. is there anything this kid can't do??? he loves to swim.

when we aren't at the pool or at camp, we've been doing other things to keep cool.

we went to the rodeo one night and saw some very interesting outfits

we went bowling because we signed up for the free kids bowling thing they have here.

this picture is terrible, but i love how excited charlie is to see his ball rolling down the lane!

and we even went to see some monster trucks

charlie loved his first corn dog experience!

ellie and chris went to a daddy daughter dance they had at church and had a great time. 

ellie asked chris to practice dancing with her a few nights before the dance so they'd be ready. it was pretty sweet. she wanted to buy a new dress (more like a ball gown) because "all the girls are getting dresses", but i just couldn't do it. instead we picked up a pair of fancy gloves at the mall for $6 and she thought they were perfect! then right before the dance, daddy surprised her with some pearls to wear. what a great dad.

she's pretty darn cute, if i say so myself!

they played and danced the night away and then ended their date with a strawberry shortcake sundae at the local ice cream place called Braum's. she's still talking about her date with daddy.