First Week of Summer

 We were out of town for the first five days of summer vacation which was delightful!! But then we came home and Phoenix finally decided to be hot hot hot!! And of course Tim had work so I decided to do my best to fill the week up with fun things to do with the kids and of course there was plenty of time for Oliver to play Minecraft (his favorite thing right now), read books, watch movies and do the other summer shenanigans at home.

I finally got a picture of Oliver wearing the hat he made while he was on his virtual Mexico field trip.

Wednesday morning we went to the Children's Museum.

The kids love the craft room.

I would have loved painting something like this as a kid.

The boys are old enough to do most of the craft by themselves now which is great because....

I ended up following Molly around most of the time. She was so excited about the little mermaid puppet she found in the puppet corner and carried it around the entire time we were in the craft room.

Thursday morning we went to the aquarium and talked to the mermaids.

I kinda wonder what my boys think about them. Their tails look pretty legit and they are very sweet talking to the kids. But, my boys didn't give me much of an answer when I asked. 

Do you see the star fish bra?!?! I would hate wearing that, but they offer more coverage than you would think and the tails come up quite high which was good.

We also got to visit a mermaid out of water and touch her tail.

Molly loved the aquarium because unlike the zoo she can get right up to the animals in the glass and really see them.

I must say that I am so proud of myself. Venturing out with three small children is kind of stressful, but so far it has been manageable and even kind of fun!! I like having all of them with me doing fun things. The dynamic is so great with the different ages. And I am becoming more obsessed with them!

These two cute brothers!!

How creepy looking is that eels head peeking out?!

Molly did something she has never done before. She woke up from a nap and I gave her a bottle and let her lay on the floor while she drank it and then she fell asleep on the floor for another 45 minutes. It was pretty dang cute!

Thursday night I went out with some girlfriends to a pop up shop in Mesa and then we went to The Soda Shop afterwards and I got a drink called "the smooth criminal" which is Dr.Pepper, coconut syrup, vanilla syrup, and half and half mixed together and it was SO GOOD!! They also have delicious sugar cookies!

We have also managed to make it over to my parents pool everyday this week!! Which is so much fun and such a great way to get outside and be active in the heat. Friday morning we met up with cousins to swim and the kids had a blast.

Molly really enjoys the water and being around the pool.

But she won't stay in one place for more than a couple of minutes. 

She is so busy!!

Last summer we bought this little kids kayak at costco which has ended up being such a fun impulse buy. The kids love playing with it in the pool. Molly loves getting rowed around the pool in it.

Molly has also discovered my mom's diet coke addiction. And while she doesn't love the drink itself (she spits it out whenever she tries to taste it), she LOVES the actual cup and straw. I honestly think it makes her feel like a big kid. She has some major independent issues...she's like 13 months going on 5.

Just walking all over the deck with her empty diet coke cup.

We had popsicles and she for sure felt like she needed her own giant popsicle that is so heavy mind you that she needs both of her hands to hold it up. She's such a character!

The boys chillin' in the "little pool" eatin' popsicles.

This year Tim had to work the same weekend as the Father's and Sons campout so he decided to make it up to the boys by taking them on a little campout Friday night.

They got donuts on their way up.

And had fun setting up their site.

They went exploring

Roasted hot dogs for dinner

And had s'mores for dessert.

Which they look extra delicious and gooey!

And it was cold enough to have a fire this morning!! And then they packed up and came home. The boys had a blast!! And Tim is the nicest for going to all that trouble for such a short amount of time.

I had fun with just me and Molly. We played together just the two of us which was so sweet and then cleaned the house big time before the boys got back. It's so much easier to clean the house (ahem....throw away junk....ahem) while the boys are out of the house.

We ended up our fun first week of summer with a trip out the Mesa this afternoon. 

We stopped by the Soda Shop (I really am obsessed with that drink) and got cookies and fun sodas.

Molly got ahold of Tim's water and wouldn't give it up! Maybe it's just the foam cup and straw that she's so obsessed with?

And then we stopped by the Mesa temple. We usually only take the kids to the temple to see the Christmas lights but thought it would be fun to go when it wasn't crowded and we could enjoy the visitor center a little more. I'm so glad we did this. There were some super sweet sister missionaries that talked to us for a little bit and showed us a couple of videos. The boys loved the touch screens and had a blast "coloring" and "building" temples. It was a fun, short, sweet, well air conditioned activity.

I seriously love each one of their little faces!! They are just delicious!!

So long week one!!