Sunday, August 25, 2013

Last week of summer vacation

Before the last week of summer Lee suggested that the kids (not us, ha ha) have a "no electronics week".  I loved the idea and am excited to do it again next year or sooner! They went a week without movies, tv, or computers.  (We don't have any sort of gaming systems). We did listen to Pandora a few times and sometimes I let them look at family pictures on the computer so I guess I didn't wholly stick to it.  Didn't think about pulling out the photo albums...we'll have to do that next time. It was a great week though.  The kids played with legos a TON, had fun outside on the trampoline--in addition to spraying water on it, baking cookies and playing monopoly along with a few outings we did together. 

To start off the week we picked an apple from our apple tree.  It's the ONLY tree in the yard.  Our friends gave it to us as a house warming gift which was so sweet.  And it was fun that we got a couple of apples off of it a few months later!
Aug 11 2013

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Tuesday night we went up to Shenandoah National Park.  We stopped at the first picnic area and were glad to see it had fire pits.  It was only 15 minutes from our house, which was awesome.  We have an annual pass there and need to go up more often.  We brought tin-foil dinners to cook in the fire and had our version of s'mores--chocolate chip cookies with a roasted marshmallow in between. We were the ONLY ones there in the whole picnic area.  It was awesome! 
Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Clark

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Clark (2)

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Clark Lee Shanna

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Clark Shanna Lee

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Elden Cal

Haley with the "kites".
Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Haley

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Haley (2)

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Haley Cal Elden

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Lee

Aug 13 2013 Shenandoah Ntnl Park Lee Ruth

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And just to throw this in, Clark and Cal often slept in Shanna, Haley and Elden's room during the summer. I love how they all fit.  
Aug 15 2013

For family game/movie night we played a game: Monopoly.  I actually won.  I couldn't believe it.  It was awesome!  I rarely win at Monopoly!
Aug 16 2013 (2)

Clark had fun with Jenga on Friday too...
Aug 16 2013

Saturday morning Lee went to a health fair that he was invited to participate in. Mary...now you have to come and visit---Lee's sells Vera Bradley frames now!
Aug 17 2013 (2)

His booth area.  He even got on the front page of the paper...more on that to come later in the week hopefully.
Aug 17 2013

Later that day on Saturday we met some friends at Riven Rock Park.  It's a park almost to the West Virginia border.  It has a shallow river, with lots of smooth rocks on the bottom.  Great place for the kids to play. My friend suggested a pot luck so we all brought stuff for dinner.  We had a great time visiting.  Hopefully Lee had a great time hanging out with the kids at the river. Lee is such an awesome husband to spend time with the kids, allowing me to hang out with my friends. Thanks Lee, you're a great dad. It was kind of cold that afternoon too.
Aug 17 2013 Riven Rock Park

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I forgot to take pictures till the end, so there aren't any of the kids at the river.  We'll be back though, so maybe I'll remember one time.
Aug 17 2013 Riven Rock Park (3)

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It was a great way to spend the week before school started.  The kids seemed to enjoy it too. There wasn't hardly any, if none, complaining about the no electronics.  (That last sentence probably isn't constructed right, oh well.)

The last day before school, a Monday, the kids hung out at home, a friend came over, and I think they went to their friend's pool too. Shanna bought a little kit will gooey stuff and straws.  You put the gooey stuff on the end of the straw and then can blow a bubble.  Do you remember this stuff?  Anyway, Shanna shared the kit with everyone, and they loved it.
Aug 19 2013

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Haley and Shanna were able to blow HUGE bubbles. That's my girl!
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I never got a picture with Shanna blowing a huge one, but she was able.
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I was sad for summer to be over.  I wish we had a few more weeks at home.  It would be perfect to start after Labor Day.  Oh well.  The kids were excited to go back.....and thankfully they didn't really have any homework the first week.  Check out their first day of school here!

3 comments:

Deb B said...

I totally remember the bubble stuff! I don't think I've blown one that big though. I love the idea of no electronics. How much screen time do you give your kids during the week both in the summer and during school?

Mari said...

I love no electronics. We once did 50 days of no tv. It has helped my kids not rely on tv for entertainment after that. Plus during school we hardly have more then 30 mins for tv.

Mary Killion said...

Vera Bradley glasses?! Oh I am so there ;) I would love to try a no-tv week; that's great that your kids found different, fun ways to entertain themselves!