Summer

The End of The Summer Passport

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Labor Day weekend is over. Kids are back to school. Starbucks has pumpkin spice lattes.  That seems like a good time to end the Summer Passport.

I loved having a summer passport this summer. There were weeks where I wanted to just stay home, but the passport got me out. We tried different things, instead of going to the same three parks over and over. I liked it so much I’m thinking about doing a fall passport too.

The passport included the following items. The items we completed are crossed out.

  • Go to music class
  • Walk to farmers market
  • Play at a new park
  • Make Pudding pops
  • Have a breakfast picnic
  • Go berry picking
  • Paint outside
  • Eat on Patio at Saints (a kid friendly sports bar in our neighborhood)
  • Visit the Clive Library
  • Visit the Science Center
  • Walk around Gray’s Lake
  • Decorate 4th of July cookies
  • Go out for ice cream
  • Go to the beach at Big Creek
  • Play at Riley Park
  • Play at Tower Park wading pool
  • Play at Beaverdale Park
  • Swim at Ashby Park splash pad
  • Have a Dance Party
  • Play at Greenwood Park
  • Hike at Walnut Woods
  • Hike at Browns Woods
  • Go to the zoo
  • Visit the State Historical Building
  • Walk the River Walk with Uncle Todd
  • Visit Ivy’s farm
  • Swim in a hotel pool
  • Bike to Breakfast
  • Go Camping
  • Visit McHenry Park

I didn’t start the Summer Passport until late June. Had I started it on Memorial Day I would have been able to include the State Historical Building, Ashby Park, hiking at Browns Woods, having a breakfast picnic and music class as we did all of those things earlier this summer. It’s fair to say that we’ve had a busy summer.

Last week, leading up to the end of the passport was even busier than normal. We crossed several items off the list: the beach at Big Creek, walking around Gray’s Lake, eating on the patio at Saint’s, and going on the river walk with Uncle Todd. signal-2018-08-31-145347-13734971905584774236.jpg

This week we are going to have to spend a few days getting errands run to make up for last week. It was a wonderful summer, and I hope next summer is even better.

 

WIP Wednesday: 34/52

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Now that I’ve finished the Study Hall Shawl I’m back to working on my caramel sweater. It’s amazing how much progress you can make when you only have one project on the needles.

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Never ask my husband to take pictures of your knitting.

I hope to be on the sleeves by next week. I’m done with the green stripe and have about 25 rows to go until I bind off. I’m going to have a lot of ends to sew in. I know I could carry the yarn between stripes, but I think this will be a floppy front cardigan and it would really bother me to see the carried yarn. So I will just deal with ends.

After days in the 90s we are down to the 70s. It feels wonderful. The kids and I spent as much time outside as we could today. We walked with friends to a park and stopped for lunch on a patio on our way home. It is perfect out. I hope this weather sticks around.

 

Greenwood Park

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This morning we checked out a new to us sprayground at Greenwood Park. The kids were big fans – there are lots of things to climb on and several fountains to splash through. I like that there are flushing toilets and soap to wash hands. I did not like the lack of shade. I think when we go again I’ll bring a blanket and find a shady tree instead of relying on the benches they have set up.

Spraygrounds are open later in the year than splash pads and wading pools, so we will probably be back on hot days in September. We will probably pack a picnic next time.

 

Wading Pool

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We’ve been spending a lot of time in our backyard pool this week. We added a water slide, and now we play outside for hours. Today Elliot added a lawnmower so he could do some yard work in the pool.

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Before we went out this afternoon Audrey insisted on wearing a swim diaper as a swim hat. She was so proud of herself for discovering a new hat. She only looks serious because I made her stop playing so I could get a picture of her fancy hat.20180803_1617482792739342712226780.jpg

Elliot has been stealing Audrey’s giraffe floaty and loving summer. It is hard to take a picture of him where he isn’t smiling or laughing. 20180803_163620(0)3617318727375776346.jpgPeople are thinking about going back to school and summer ending. We are pretending fall isn’t heading our way. We have at least a month of swimming in our yard ahead of us. We intend to soak up every minute.

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