July 1 - 6: Swim Lessons, Donuts, 4th of July Celebrations!

July 1-6:

The girls did a Barbie Fashion show.  So cute.  The gray mat was the runway.  

More swim lesson pictures:

Noah is rocking his float.

Isak is getting better at diving too.

We bought a whole bunch of different kinds of popsicles for the summer.  One evening the kids picked out a popsicle and we went for a walk.

We saw a rainbow!

I couldn't get the whole rainbow in one photo, because it was so big.  See those dark clouds...it did start to rain on us.  

More swim photos:

Playing games and eating.

My fitbit died so I got a new one.  Also, see all of the shoe boxes.  I ordered ten shoes from Amazon to try on.  

Scooter/walk.

Sofie's cute Panda room:

Noah goes on the big slide all by himself.  Yay!

July 3: my birthday and the last day of swim lessons:

We got donuts to celebrate being done with swim lessons.

They were patriotic donuts!

Not much for my birthday this year.  Nels worked late and I wasn't in the mood to try and celebrate.  So it was just a normal day.  I did make BLT's for my dinner though.  Two friends stopped by, one with a loaf of sour dough bread and the other brought me cookies.  So sweet of them, and helped me feel special.  Texts and phone calls were also received and so thoughtful.  Sofie and Kira made me these cards and my mom sent me a card too.  Sofie's cracked me up.  It's a flamingo with a 43 ft long neck.  Haha.  Kira gave me a beautiful origami butterfly and penguin milk carton and a blue bead bracelet.  

July 4th was awesome:

Nels and I got up early and played some pickleball.

Then we took the kids to Boro Beach from 11-4:30 p.m.

So glad Nels could join us.  He worked 7 a.m to 10 p.m. four days in a row so he could have the 4th of July off.  So he definitely deserved some down time!

We brought lunch and snacks.

And we swam and swam.  

Isak participated in the belly flop competition.  He didn't win, but I think he had fun trying.  I did the rock wall with Isak too.  I, also, went down the slide.  

We played with the beach ball.  And we forgot our diving rings, so we used coins instead.  The kids loved diving for coins.  I remember doing that as a kid.  

We played Marco Polo and had swim races.  

"Mom, watch!" was a frequent saying.  I loved watching the kids do all of their tricks.  :)

We stayed until the pool closed.  Then we changed and headed to Red Robin for dinner.  Here's me and Nels with our matching sunglasses.  :)

Red Robin, yum!

They even sang to me and brought me a hot fudge sundae.  It was a good time!

We stopped at a firework stand and bought some sparklers.  Then we waited until dark.  Our neighborhood did a lot of fireworks.  We just stayed outside and kept turning around in circles to see all of the different fireworks.  

And we did our sparklers.

Happy 4th of July!!

It was a great 4th of July. 

I always remember my Grandpa Swensen on this day, since it's his birthday.  We'd often have a big water fight at our house and I think Grandpa would start it once in a while.  :)

July 5 - 

Noah, Sofie and Kira read 600 minutes for the Summer Library Reading Challenge.  Hooray!  I loved seeing them read and color in the chart.  They were very focused on finishing the goal before we left for our trip.  And they did it!

So we went to the library and they got their prize.  They each got to pick out a book and a goody bag.  Then we treated them to ice cream at Hattie Jane's.

Sofie got Cookie Jar.

Isak got banana pudding.

Kira got pineapple coconut.

Noah and I shared chocolate and a brownie.

I think Nels got the same as Kira - pineapple coconut.  I'm glad we could celebrate their accomplishment.  Isak read all school year, and was taking a break from reading.  :)  So he got rewarded for reading 30 minutes everyday of 6th grade!  

Nels was so sweet and returned all of my ten shoes I bought from Amazon.  None of them worked.  :(  My feet are so picky!

July 6th: 

Sunday Best:

Up next: Our Summer Road Trip to Utah & Idaho!