A few fun days in Lapeer

Earlier this week, we enjoyed some family fun time in Lapeer.  I had never even heard of Lapeer before a few weeks ago, but John had a week of training there for the AP course that he will be teaching this Fall.  We didn't want to be without him all week, so we packed all four of us up, and headed east to Lapeer on Monday afternoon.

John's training was all day long, from 7:30-4:30, Tuesday through Friday.  We drove around and found a handful of parks that the kids and I were planning to hit on a fun "park day", but the rainy weather kept us stuck in the hotel for much of Tuesday.  I came home with the kids on Wednesday morning (we'd had enough Lapeer fun at that point), and John stayed until Friday.

The kids thought the trip was SO much fun, thanks mostly to the hotel swimming pool!  We spent lots of time there with John, and also some time during the day when he was gone.  

Why is it that I can never get a picture to turn out by an indoor swimming pool????  I'm posting them anyway for the memories!

This was taken right away on the first night.  It did not take long for the kids to get used to swimming again!  Trey loves the water, and even though we were worried that she wouldn't, Rowan loved it too!  

Last summer, Rowan wanted nothing to do with swimming pools, but she had so much fun in this pool and hot tub!

Trey would jump in, swim to the ladder, climb out.....over and over and over again!

Of course Rowan had to do it too!

Sweet little swimmer!  He did try taking his swimmies off once (feeling brave), but wanted them put back on right away!  Maybe after swimming lessons in a few weeks!

Ready to climb back in!

Since it was rainy on Tuesday, the kids and I spent some time driving around and exploring the town.  We discovered downtown, and found this cute little candy and ice cream shop that we brought John to later that night.

I just had to post this because this is the face we see so often on our little princess!  Not wanting her picture taken!

Enjoying "rainbow" ice cream!

Rowan wanted the same kind because it had yellow in it!

A few more pool pics from be fore we left Wednesday morning...

Swimming all by herself!  She was so funny -- she would go down the steps in the shallow end, swim to the ladder in the deep in, climb up, and do it over and over again!

Trey joined her, and they giggled SO much!

One last jump before we go!

It was fun to get away for a couple of days, even if it was in a Best Western in Lapeer. :)

One more FUN vacay to go, and then lots of family time at home for the rest of the summer!

*Summer Jar* - marshmallow structures

Okay, so our first "Summer Jar" activity actually took a few days to complete, but we did it!  And it turned out to be the perfect thing to choose first.

Last week Thursday night, Trey pulled the first slip.

The first slips, actually.  The first couple of activities that he chose just weren't going to work out for the next day, so we kept going until he pulled one that would work.  We picked a winner with this one...

BUT... despite my best intentions, we didn't do marshmallow structures last week Friday.  We went strawberry picking and had a pool day instead.  Then, our weekend was PACKED with other activities and family time, so Trey waited very patiently until we could fit in our fun first "Summer Jar" activity.

We spent the beginning of this week in Lapeer, Michigan for an AP teaching conference that John is attending.  He is still there now, but the kids and I came back a couple of days early.  There is only so much fun to be had in a hotel room and an unfamiliar city.

So, what better time than on our mommy-kids day yesterday in Lapeer to complete our marshmallow structures?  And what better place to do it than the floor of our hotel room?  On a towel, of course. (As if we can trust that a hotel towel is so much safer than a hotel floor.  Ick.)

It took some explaining, but both Trey and Rowan got the hang of it, and were pretty wowed with all of the fun shapes they could make using marshmallows and toothpicks!

Rowan made something that looked like a ladder -- I was pretty impressed!

Trey and I worked together to build this house!

I bought the rainbow marshmallows because I wouldn't be tempted to eat them!  Plus, they are way prettier than plain old white marshmallows!

Rowan ate enough for all of us!

Trey ate a few too, but didn't really like them!

So fun, and a perfect hotel room activity.  This kept us busy for a long time!

"Summer Jar" activity number one was a hit!  I'm excited to see what we'll get to do next!

Strawberry picking

Last week Friday we headed out for some fresh, Michigan strawberries!  We had never been strawberry picking as a family before.  June is still a bit busy for us with school letting out, and our summer break just beginning.  In the past, by the time I thought about going to pick strawberries, the season was already over.  This year, though, it was on my list of things to do on our first week of break, and despite a misty morning, we made it happen!

The gloomy weather didn't stop us, and there were lots of other people who chanced it too.  The strawberry field was packed!  We got our own row to pick from, though, so there were plenty of delicious berries for us!

Trey and Rowan each got their own little boxes to hold.  Trey did a good job of picking only berries that were a nice, deep red color.  Rowan wasn't so great at that, so John helped her.

He thought it was fun how strawberry plants are so different from blueberry plants.  We always go blueberry picking several times during the summer, so this was a fun, new experience for all of us!

Happy girl helping daddy!

Finding one of her very own!

Trey worked hard and filled his whole box several times!

Delicious!

Oh!  I caught him!  He actually only ate one or two berries.  They aren't quite as easy to pop in your mouth as blueberries are!

Rowan had to try one too!

Such cute little strawberry pickers!

We left with close to 10 pounds of strawberries, and I was able to make 15 jars of jam for us to enjoy through the winter.  Super easy and such a treat!  We've also had a lot to put on our cereal at breakfast (my favorite), put in yogurt (Rowan's favorite), eat with lunch and dinner (Trey's favorite), and snack on throughout the day (John's favorite)! 

I'm hoping to have our first-ever raspberry picking experience later this summer too!

Pool day

It was beautiful today!  It was the perfect day to pull our little pool out for the first time this summer, and hang out in the backyard for a few hours splashing around!

I LOVE pool days so much!  They are one of my absolute favorite things about summer.  It is so much fun to watch the kids play in the water and run around, jump in, splash, giggle, and play, play, PLAY! 

Trey had some of the best, funniest splashes today!

It was fun to see Rowan enjoy the water today because last summer she didn't love it.  Today, she couldn't get enough of it! 

SPLASH!

 Happy girl!!

Trey had so much fun squirting the water gun (but NOT at mommy!).

Rowan got the hang of jumping in too!

So fun!

I can't wait until our next pool day!

No more training wheels!

Trey reached another milestone last week while I was still in school.  I came home one day and he showed me how he had learned to ride his bike with no training wheels!  I couldn't believe it!  

At the end of last summer, we attempted to take the training wheels off his bike one day, and it didn't go so well.  He must have just needed a few more months to build up strength and confidence.  He is still SO excited about being able to ride his bike like a big kid!  

We l-o-v-e living on a cul-de-sac, partly for times like this.  We can let him ride up and down the street (staying by the grass!) as much as he wants to.  Of course, when he goes, Rowan isn't far behind.

We've already taken several long bikes rides and we know that many more will be in store for the summer.  He's taken a few nasty spills too, but he hasn't been afraid to get right back on and try again.  Nothing that a fun band-aid and a little love from mom or dad can't fix!

We're so proud of our little bike-rider!

"Summer Fun!" jar

Last summer, I read about the idea of having a "Summer Jar" over here on Jodi's blog.  A "Summer Jar" is just a jar containing ides of fun summer activities.  Ours are just typed (because I'm a little obsessive over fonts) onto slips of paper that Trey and Rowan will be able to pull out occasionally to decide what we will do to fill our days together.  

Today was rainy and gloomy, so we needed a good indoor activity, and I had wanted to get this jar finished this week, so after dinner we got to work!  

Trey was in charge of cutting (great practice!) the activities into slips.  He took his job very seriously.

A few of our slips before they went in the jar.  I just love the jagged edges and imperfections on them.  Trey's masterpiece!

Then, I folded the slips in half and Rowan was in charge of putting them, one at a time, into the jar.  She loved her job too!

I just love the faces that Trey makes when he is concentrating!  This tongue made me laugh!

It was a big deal to pull the scissors out tonight!

Our completed jar!  We will pull the first slip tomorrow night to determine what we do on Friday!

Silly faces!  Trey's request.

The jar has a summer home right next to our fish, Crackey! (Worst name for a pet EVER, I know.  John wanted to let Trey choose a name.  And, yes, we absolutely call him Crack for short.)

I can't wait to make memories!