Summer activities

We have had a great summer. It is quickly coming to a close so we thought we'd right a post of the things that we enjoyed doing this summer! It has been do great to have Francisco home most of the time with us and we are going to miss him next week when he starts school.

Here is what we've been up to:
Play-dough: We made some home-made play dough and Luke absolutely loves it! He will sit and play with it for a very long time for a 2 yr old! Maybe 30-60 minutes at a time! Of course, we had to make it a neon green color!

Washing storage closet door: Luke really likes to wash the door that goes to our storage closet on our balcony. He takes a large bucket of water and a wipe or a wash cloth and goes at it! Awesome.

Water colors: With Mami or Papi painting, Luke LOVES to paint as well. He is getting much better at not mixing the colors and a lot of this paintings are quite creative!

In order: Emily, Francisco, Luke

Game boards: Luke has gotten into the habit of taking the board games out and making a mess playing with them. Cranium was the worst. All the cards. Everywhere.

Luke is saying that he's two and pointing to the 16+ 

Blocks: Gramma K bought Luke blocks while she was here last October and he loves them. He builds "casas" and likes to make more messes with them. We are working really hard to teach him to pick them up after he's done playing with them.

Splash Pads: It is impossible to enjoy the outdoors without some source of water during the summer here. So, we checked out a Splash Pad. It was really cool and free!

"Pillow me": Luke loves to take all the pillows off the bed and couches and cover us with them. Then we must do the same to him. I (Emily) actually enjoy this game because I get to rest while he throws pillows on top of me. We are playing and I am sleeping at the same time! Win-win!

Train tracks: Today Luke brought out his train tracks and we put some batteries in his cars. He went wild watching the cars chase each other! We usually do not have batteries in the cars because they run out so fast!

Bath time: Luke loves playing in the water, but does not necessarily enjoy baths. The washing part takes place maybe with 1/2 of his baths. Usually it is just playing in the water with his bath toys. At least he gets rinsed off! We recently moved his toys to his bathroom rather than in our master bath. I am enjoying having my shower toy free, but I"m not looking forward to washing two showers! (Although Francisco usually does that lovely task anyway! Love you sweetie!)

Craft sticks/glue: Luke is our resident crafter. He recently discovered a box of craft sticks and has been addicted ever since! He made a house, a kitty, a grid. Then he colors them with either water colors or markers.

mirror smudges: Did we mention Luke is artistic? Even his messes end up being a work of art! Check out this mirror smudge. What do you see? Pretty good for a 2 yr old, huh?

swimming: With a pool literally outside our apartment, I thought we'd hit the pool a little more than we did, but we still made a few trips with the boys. Luke loves the water, Sam not as much. The Olympics have inspired us to take up swimming as a workout and both Francisco and I went this morning (at separate times) Both of us only lasted about 20 minutes. Swimming is hard work!

Oregon trip: This deserves a post on it's own. It was awesome! (Horse back riding, Wave pool, Yurts at Wallowa Lake, paddle boats, Family time, learning to play, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" on the piano, visiting friends, the Saturday market, Enchanted forest)

Work: Both Francisco and I picked up some summer jobs and made a little extra cash. I worked for Green Pest Guys Pest control doing some scheduling from home and Francisco worked for Baylor doing research and teaching a summer program.

It has been an awesome summer! I'm not loving the heat, but what can you do?

Francisco loves seeing his little Luke growing and trying different things. He loves when Luke hugs and kisses him and says that he loves him. Luke is a really good kid. We love him so much.

Now we are looking forward to a lovely fall and are excited for Halloween!

Because Francisco and I both post and both use the first person when writing, we are going to start signing our names at the end of our posts.

-Emily