Kickin' Off Summer

The first day of Summer was wonderful! I am SO happy to be done with school and just have my children mine mine mine. Friday came and we played hard! 

First stop: the Amazeum. There is a new exhibit on how things are made inspired by Fred Rogers. The children played with a huge die cut machine and folded paper boxes, pressed and stamped pennies with a hand cranked roller mill and lever, and built wooden trolleys on an assembly line. My favorite new thing at the Amazeum is this giant lite brite wall. 

After the Amazeum we hit up the Bentonville Library for new books. Corbin has already finished both a magic treehouse book and an I Survived book that were both about the Titanic. I told him I would find some video footage online of divers and machines exploring the real titanic at the bottom of the ocean. He's very interested to know what the found in it. 

One of my preschool parents gave me a super thoughtful end of the year gift: 16 homemade crepes, individually packaged and ready for the freezer. 

I pulled them out last night and we stuffed our faces with delicious crepes, filed with everything we could think of. What a fun dinner, and a fantastic teacher gift! It made for an exciting evening to have a new treat to try at dinner time. Long live summer break. 

These neighborhood kids could play from sunup to sundown. Here they are  all camped out on Laura's driveway searching the sky for Venus and the space station. 

I taught the children how to play Clue after church, today. I played 3 games, and they kept the fun going with game after game until 7:30 tonight! I used to play Clue for hours with my friends when I was Reese's age, so I'm thrilled my children enjoy it, too. 

I'm sitting here, soaked from head to toe after a friendly visit on the porch with our neighbors after I tucked my kids into bed.  What started with a splashed water bottle between a couple of the neighbor kids escalated into a full blown unforgettable water fight with hoses between the adults with in the driveways. It was unexpected and indescribably funny. I called it quits and headed in shortly after getting sprayed, but I think I hear Ryan carting one of his kids over the pool and threatening to dunk em.  Laughs never stop on this little corner of heaven. I was reminded tonight of the time my dad kept getting my mom with the hose, so she put a kink in it, dragged the hose with her and followed him right into the house and hosed him back, carpet, furniture, and all. 

Tomorrow we will hang our flags out front, hit the lake, swim, BBQ with friends, and enjoy a day with daddy home. I know we are only a couple days in, but Summer 2016? So far, so good.