The Summer Scoop

You know that quiet, let down feeling you have after a houseful of company just left?  Well after camping with with great friends and tons of kids last week, this week has felt quiet.  We are settling in nicely into a quiet summer sorta-routine.  By sorta-routine I mean staying up really late and sleeping in! 

We gave Lexi the camera to take some pictures of the moms.  She got this good one...

...but I think this one's even better!

And I see these girls together and wonder...

...if they will grow up and have as much fun together as their mamas!

The kids tried their hand at tye dying again this year.  And since this is our second year doing this we decided that it is officially a tradition.  Callie is already planning her pattern for next years shirt.

We spent some time at World Rock this week and the girls stopped for some pictures with the old cars along the way.  We had thought we had better go for a visit to World Rock because we aren't too sure of World Rock's future as the highway construction crew gets closer and closer to our house. They are blasting away lots of rock to widen the highway and we were discussing if the girls favorite place to adventure to is going to survive.  So far it looks like we're in the clear.

And no summer can be complete without a blow up pool in the backyard. This little dish of water provides hours of entertainment.  And on a super hot day you may even see the mom and dad splashing around trying to cool off!

Every summer we do a lot of the same things but yet every summer is different.
The inside scoop on this summer with an eight year old and an almost six year old...

...these girls can stay up later than me.  But they can also sleep in until 10 am or longer.  Remember the days when they would stay up late but still get up early making it not worth letting them stay up. Now they sleep until 10 and I quietly get up and read my book and have coffee on the deck until they wake.
...whatever room I am in, there are two girls right behind me.  They do not like to be alone.  If they realize they are alone in a room they call out, "MOM", as if checking to make sure I didn't leave to go grocery shopping or something.
...my girls know that life if better with friends but they also love some quiet time.  When they wake up they ask right away if its a friends day or a home day.  Tomorrow I'm going to put them in charge. They get to make the plans.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up  with.