More Summer Fun

I am just love, love, loving this summer with the kids.  They are having so much fun.  It's flying by and I can't believe July is just around the corner. We've been having daily playdates with friends we don't usually see on a regular basis during the school year.  The other thing we've been doing lots and lots of is swimming.  Like the kids feel totally deprived if they don't get to swim each and every day.  Each time we have to drive by the pool on the way out of our neighborhood Hudson starts yelling, "Pool! Swim! Water!" and gets upset when we keep driving past.  Harper can now swim across the pool all by herself so now that both girls are completely independent in the pool I can easily keep an eye on them while catching Hudson after he jumps in 500 times.  It's easy entertainment, wears them out and all three of them are so incredibly excited to be at the pool it is just a natural choice for our summer fun.

Yesterday we had a swimming playdate with their friends Avery and Morgan, but it was rainy all morning so we changed our plans and decided to go the mall with them instead.  The girls had both gotten American Girl gift cards for their birthdays from Mimi and Dadaw so they were very excited to spend them.  Handley got a bathtub and new earrings for her dolls and Harper had decided that she wanted to spend her entire gift card on a new doll.  Her other doll is a Target knock-off (although she thinks it is real) and she knows that Handley has two so she really wanted another. It was totally fine with me because they have so many clothes and accessories already and we don't need anymore "stuff" at our house. She browsed through one of our catalogs on the way there and noticed that the Caroline doll looked just like her with blonde curls and that she was even wearing a pink dress with a floral sash that looked almost just like the one Harper was wearing that day. It was quite a coincidence and the employees were having fits of how uncanny the resemblance was. That just made Harper's day and you can tell from the pictures that she could hardly contain her excitement.  

Because it was  off and on rainy all day and the first time it really cleared up was after dinner. The girls checked outside and saw a bit of sun and begged to go to the pool.  We changed quickly and made our way there for an evening swim before bed.  We were the only ones there and they loved every second.

Today we had playdate plans with Tiara, Avery and Dylan.  It's been so long since they have been able to really play together and we had all been looking forward to this day for a long time.  We got to see their new house and it was beautiful!  We had planned to swim, but the weather wasn't great and once the kids got to playing at the house, Tiara and I got to chatting.  Next thing we knew, two hours had passed and everyone was getting hungry so we loaded up for lunch at Chick-fil-a and then made a quick stop at a nearby stable/farm before heading home.  Avery and Dylan's aunt has a horse they keep there.  It was so cool to be minutes away from the interstate, but feel so far away.  The kids loved seeing the animals (pigs, chickens, rabbits, dogs, ponies and horses) getting to pet the horses.  We were sad to pull away and the kids made it rough because they were literally begging to get to play together longer.  We promised they could see each other again very soon though!