Parade Watching {Summertime Fun}

Last week we headed out to our little town’s main street to do some parade watching.

I have to admit…I didn’t do much parade watching before having kiddos.  Well, I guess I did when I was a kiddo myself, but not much since then.

Now it is a much anticipated summertime event in our home. 

The kiddos are always excited when people in the parade hand out fun stuff like bead necklaces and flags…

and, of course, tons of candy .

Carnival Fun

Last week we took the kiddos to the carnival…

the sun was shining and the weather was hot, hot, hot,

but each of the kiddos had “all you can ride for one price” wristbands, gifted to them by grandma and grandpa…

so of course we had to make sure they didn’t go to waste

and they didn’t…the kiddos rode lots of rides,

and had lots of fun

and were tired and happy by the end of the night .

Ft. McHenry ~ Family Fun and a Fieldtrip

We took advantage of the free entrance to a nearby national park a couple weekends ago…

 

 

We picked up Junior Ranger handouts at the visitor center for each of the kiddos…these were basically scavenger hunts designed to help you learn more about the fort during your visit.

Ds10 thought that cannons were pretty cool.

 

We even got to witness a reenactment of the cannon being fired off…

 

Yes, they really fired the cannon…that is real smoke, but they didn’t use a real cannon ball . 

 

The kiddos had fun exploring the fort and finding places to escape from the sun.

Dh and I hadn’t been to Ft. McHenry since we were kids…it was quite a learning experience for us too.

Local Minor League Baseball

We’ve had a packed week around here…packed with lots of fun activities and lots of hot weather.  Earlier this week we headed out to watch our local minor league team play some ball…our evening out began with a rain delay.

After a bit of a wait, the game finally started ~ over an hour after originally scheduled.

 

In between chatting and playing with their friends and heading to the snack bar for munchies, the kids did watch some of the game.

After the game ended we were treated to a fantastic fireworks show.

I thought ds5 was asleep…but he was just mesmerized by the lights exploding in the sky .

Swinging

We tore down our old swingset a couple years ago…and the kiddos have been asking for a new one ever since.  Back in the spring dh and my in-laws spent the weekend putting up a new one.

Ds5 was so happy to have anytime access to a swing!

 

The other two kiddos love it too…

I tell ya, our new swingset is the most used piece of “equipment” around our house these days .

It’s Been A While…

Since my last post…

Ds9 became ds10

Dd7 became dd8

{But ds5 is still ds5 }

Christmas cookies have been all gobbled up

spring has sprung…

We’ve celebrated Easter

spent many hours using our new swingset

and we’ve even visited some newborn foals at a nearby horse farm.

 

I’ve missed updating my blog with pictures of the goings on around here.  Hopefully I’ll be able to add blogging to my list of things to do…at least once every couple of days ….we’ll have to see.

A Special Day Calls for a Special Trip

An American Girl Store opened near us last year {well, it’s about 1.5 hours away}…so for dd’s 8th birthday we took a trip to the store.

Her plan was to get Emily’s {her American Girl doll} ears pierced.  Our dd won’t have the privilege of getting pierced ears ‘til she’s at least 10, but we did allow Emily to get them pierced .

Dd also spent a large part of her savings at the store.  And she left a very happy shopper.

There was a Lego store at the same mall, so the boys got to check that store out.  It made a trip to the American Girl store just a bit more enjoyable for them, too .