Backyard summer fun

It has been sunny and hot here this past week. The boys have wanted to go in the backyard to play in their kiddie pool everyday. Recently I picked up a slip-n-slide as well. So here are some various pictures from our backyard playtime. The boys wore the same swim trunks every day, so the pictures from various days all run into each other.

Their version of a water slide:

Trying to slide together:

The slip-n-slide, this is how far Miles got his first try:

Then they preferred to turn the sprinkler portion off and just walk-n-slide:

Miles has a new-found love of watermelon, he ate nearly half a watermelon in about 3 days:
And we brought out the lawn sprinkler one day - Miles didn't want the water to spray in his eyes, so this was his solution:

Last two weeks

We had some computer problems recently, so our computer was down for a bit and I wasn't able to post some things I had planned to share. Looking back at the last two weeks in the camera, it seems we had kind of a busy time. So I'll try to do a marathon coverage of the last two weeks here.

We have gone strawberry picking:
Miles had his end of the year celebration (otherwise known as graduation) for preschool:They were all stars, and they were each recognized for their 'star quality', Miles's star quality was "clear thinker":

Here is Miles with his friend Sienna:
Miles also had a field day at school, this is what he did for much of it - hitch rides on the back of the riding toys and made his classmates drive him around:

At Mike's spring band concert, the boys hanging out during during intermission:
My parents came to visit, we spent the morning at a local park doing some nature walks and watching branches and leaves float under the bridge:
And of course we have been to the beach:

My Mothers Day camping trip

I asked for, and got, a weekend of camping at the beach for Mothers Day. And it was wonderful.

Some of you may remember we tried to camp at the beach for a weekend a year ago, with gale force winds, a collapsed tent at 2am, and generally a complete fail of a camping weekend. So we watched the forecast very closely for this weekend. The forecast was generally good, calling for light wind and possible scattered showers.

Well, we got there and apparently the weather decided not to go along with the forecast. There were some decent wind, strong enough to make putting up the tent a challenge. We finally got it up and secure, shortly before the kids bedtime. The winds weren't nearly as bad as last year, but still strong enough to bring back memories. This tent was much stronger than the last one and held solid through the night. We woke up to blue skies, light breezes and warm sun that lasted all day.

First order of business, (after a morning walk on the beach) building a fire and cooking breakfast. And we wait for the fire to get hot enough to cook:
Mike got creative and tried something new with the last bit of pancake mix: scrambled pancakes, like the egg version, you fill the griddle with pancake mix and stir until done.

The end result:(Just as a note to those who may want to try this, although it tasted like pancakes, we won't be doing this again, it wasn't great.)

Next up, some kite flying, Miles did this a lot, any chance he got:Even Quincy got into it:
And this is one of my favorite pictures, Mike flying the kite in front of the water, the boys, hand in hand heading to Mike:

Quincy, ready to go to the beach:

It's camping, so we have to have a campfire picture in here:
Another beautiful sunrise on Mothers Day:
Another of my favorite pictures from this weekend, the boys just laughing with each other:

Quincy peeking out of the tent:
Quincy sitting in Mike's chair, watching Mike pack up:Ooh, Mom's Nook:It turned out to be a wonderful weekend. Laying in the tent falling asleep to & waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach was incredible. Being able to walk to the beach to catch sunrise, watch the stars at night and just enjoy the beach and water was also pretty incredible. We were fortunate enough to see dolphins swimming on Sunday morning - they were a little ways out, so we could see them, but too far for a decent picture. And the beach was only for use of the campers, and the campground was stretched along a long portion of beach, each camp loop having their own beach access, so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves, only a few other fellow camp neighbors were out there at any given time. It was ideal. Now that we have had a successful camp trip to the beach I am ready to go again!

Wordless Wednesday

Backyard camping

This weekend we pulled out the tent and set it up to make sure everything was in order for camping season! Which to the boys meant a backyard campout.

Miles tried to switch beds with me, it didn't last long:
Quincy in his bed/sleeping bag:

Quincy wearing the headlamp:

Miles and Quincy the next morning, they woke up like this:

Miles was not too happy when we didn't jump out of bed along with them at first light:

The good news is that the tent is still in great shape, I got the seam sealer on and we are ready to go camping. Now I can't wait to get started camping!