Summer in Review

Summertime in Florida means heat and humidity. Fortunately for us, we found ways to beat the heat and enjoy the summertime.

We read lots of books. Anwyn finished the Magic Tree House series, discovered Ivy +Bean and Nate the Great, and enjoyed the familiar favorites of Amelia Bedelia and Elephant and Piggie. Lily loves to read picture books with mom. Zach enjoys board books. When he wakes up too early in the morning (before 7 a.m.) Kristi gives him a stack of books to look at in bed, while she tries to keep her eyes closed for a few more minutes.

We swam and swam and swam. We went swimming a few times each week. We have a community pool in our neighborhood, but we most enjoyed swimming with our friends every Friday in various pools in ward boundaries. We visited the splash park in Alachua twice. Lily took swimming lessons with Ms. Lauren and gained some essential skills. She mostly likes to hang out in the shallow end by the stairs, but she is confident within her limits. Anwyn got a few tips from Ms. Lauren and can swim all over the pool unassisted. Zach just loves to get wet!

 We went to the beach, which you can read about here.

We had a fun “un-birthday” party, which you can read about here.

We were creative. The children made lots of forts, built many block towers, drew and colored many pictures, played many hours of school, and made numerous things out of boxes and various materials. They have great imaginations!

We rode bikes and scooters and strollers just a few times, when we could stand the heat. We also jumped in a few puddles after the refreshing rainstorms.

We enjoyed an overnight trip to Orlando. Kristi and Jared each attended a session at the Orlando Temple, we ate dinner at The Olive Garden, we slept in a hotel, and went to IKEA. Anwyn saved her allowance and did some extra jobs around the house to be able to purchase a tent for her bed. It is pretty cool. 

We watched movies. Kristi and the girls went to see Cars 2 at the theater on the 4th of July. We came home and the girls played “flying race cars”. Kristi and Jared went to see the last Harry Potter movie. Of course we loved it; it is the end of an epic! We also watched all of the Star Wars movies except for episode III (that one is just too dark/scary for the children).

We played with friends. Especially the Kay family. We are grateful to have such wonderful friends.

We tied things. Many strings were used as leashes for pet (stuffed) puppies or kitties. Anwyn learned to tie her shoes!

We made music. Anwyn made most of it. She was very diligent about her practicing and made a lot of progress this summer. She played through all of the songs in all of past and current lesson books numerous times, and sightread a number of songs she found in our cupboard. She has been working on the right hand only of songs in the Primary Children’s Songbook. A significant portion of Sunday afternoons is spent singing Primary songs.

Zach (and Lily, too) also get a fair amount of time at the piano!

Kristi taught a few (or more than a few!) piano lessons, and worked on her new Piano Fundamentals blog. She also spent many hours thinking about new programs and curriculum and methods to improve her teaching.

We did brainy things. Jared especially. His research is going well; he loves what he is doing. He spends most of his days working with brain MRI and trying to figure out how to pull as much information out of the scans as possible. If you're interested, Jared will talk your ear off about what he does.