SS: Week 6

Second to last week of summer vacation! It started off a little rough with daddy getting sick. So, I tried to keep the kids out of the house pretty much that first day.

Lucky for us, Nate was already booked in a week long Lego camp each morning.

Only picture I was able to get - the kids mostly had their legos put away at the end.

Nate really seemed to enjoy the camp - they spent the week building sort of a Lego movie. I got to see the finished product the last day of class, they are suppose to send out the clip to us. Hopefully in time for next week's post I'll have it to show! Programs are so neat nowadays.

The first day of camp, I took Aaron to a coffee shop for a bit to relax and have some workbook time.

Following that, I took him to Michaels for a craft session.

He made a pinwheel and colored a frame

That afternoon, the boys got to do another craft class together.

Baking soda and vinegar

That evening we began our last week of swim lessons (for now). In August they are signed up for semi-private (meaning only 2-3 kids total) classes. I decided with school starting back up, we should take a break. Mommy is also ready to take a break from evening classes, 4x a week...especially since we have been doing so since the beginning of summer.

Lunch with friends

..followed by some frozen yogurt

Puppet show with Aaron one morning

Aaron spent time with Grandmother and Nana. We also did lunch and school shopping with Nana.

Then, last weekend we went with daddy, Nana, Pap-Pap and Aunt Kristen to see the Minion movie! The boys love the Minions now. It was a cute movie. We even had a little Minion party.

And now we're savoring our FINAL week of summer break!

SS: Week 5

Glad I have taken pictures of things we do, otherwise I probably would not remember! :) Especially since I'm trying to recall a week ago...I can barely remember what we did yesterday now. As school gets closer (10 days!) to starting, the boys are even more anxious to get things checked off.

The beginning of last week the boys were just coming back from Flagstaff, so we didn't do anything that day. The following morning, they got to do a " Everything is Awesome" Hip Hop dance/craft/sing camp together. The last few minutes of class I was able to come in and watch their performance.

Waiting in position

We visited our favorite cupcake joint for another book/cupcake exchange! We brought books to trade and left with free cupcakes. Win-win!

Boys both picked dinosaur books

We saw another summer movie and also went back to Aaron's friend, Rhys' house to play. He also had another friend from preschool, Michael, who came over. Rhys and Michael also have older brothers around Nathan's age, so everyone had their own buddy. Though two hours went by, it seemed like I had been there only ten minutes! Kids played wonderful and I (obviously) had fun chi-chatting with the moms.

The boys also spent time with their Grandmother, but otherwise daddy had the rest of the week off of work for the holiday, yay! While I spent some time steam cleaning carpet (boooo) daddy took the boys swimming.

July 4th was a low key day for us. We had a watermelon contest before we went out to lunch, swam at my best friend's house, then came back home and had over Nana, Pap-Pap, and Aunt Kristen for dinner/fireworks.

So proud of my yummy cherry/blueberry American pie

Playing with sparklers

Fireworks- first time buying those too!

Playing games too

Daddy took the boys out later that night to see fireworks, while I stayed home to visit with my sister. They were wishing everyday was July 4th, so we could watch them all the time :)

Our "10th" Anniversary!

I was due to post this a month ago, but...I was waiting on more pictures ;) Almost exactly a month ago the hubby and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary! How time flies. On the actual day (which conveniently fell on the weekend) we went out to a nice dinner.

Dressed for the occasion!

We went to a small, but fancy restaurant called Cafe Monarch - it had a French twist, and was known for having a romantic atmosphere as well as good food. The menu even changes week to week. First time we've even ordered a bottle of wine - and didn't leave a drop!

This happened to be the weekend right before we found out about Josh going to Japan, so I was really thankful we had that evening to ourselves.

Also, since we decided it was a big occasion, we ordered a cake from the cakery that does our special occasion cakes. I thought it would be nice, too, to share it among other couples we know that have June wedding anniversaries.

My parents celebrating 43 years, along with my best friend who is celebrating 2. My older sister, too, celebrates a June anniversary - 15!

Vanilla with raspberry filling - close to our vanilla with strawberry filling on our wedding day. Deee-licious!

While the kids were away, then, a week ago, we decided to do a bit more celebrating. On our anniversary the hubby surprised me with a staycation - reservations to stay at a hotel along with dinner and spa reservations!

Drinks in the pool...a few times :)

Spa! I had a nice massage. 

We had a nice month of celebrating our new double digit status.

And then...I'm sorry, this too is old news but again I was trying to get pictures...I have started going to a new gym! Uh, I know this may not sound incredibly exciting to most people but...this new gym just opened within a few months ago...and it's basically a gym with hotel-spa like amenities. In fact it does have its own spa inside. It costs 5x as much as my old gym, but once you step inside you understand why!

Other than the spa like conditions, what really sold me on the gym is all the classes (and pools!) offered. In the past I've gone to a different place to do bikram yoga, another place to do a workout called Pound, another place to practice lap swim... what's so nice is that this place has ALL of those and much more! Complete one stop shop. In past posts I've pictured the kids doing fitness classes, using a pool/splashpad they have there, etc. They even had an oatmeal bar for members the other week.

Largely because of the cost, I have been going frequently, if even just to use the pool and jacuzzi. A few mornings a week I've been getting up early (as in sunrise) to make a class before Josh leaves for work (and okay, my sister, who joined,  coming helps too!)

A few more pictures...

Doing cardio looking out to the pools, tennis courts

Yoga room- not quite the same, but this is such a relaxing room when the main light is off, and the flickering candles turn on.

So anyway....just a really, really nice "gym". Whatever motivates me to go, right? :)

SS: Week 4

With Josh barely home in time for Father's Day, we weren't sure what he would feel like doing on his special day. He decided , though, to continue with original plans so we went to both his favorite brunch spot and then over to his parents' house for swimming.

Daddy's favorite dish at his favorite restaurant!

Swim fun with cousin Autumn

The swim fun continued the following day, as we met up with one of Aaron's friends from preschool this past year.

Aaron and his buddy, Rhys

Nate loves the huge slides now!

We enjoyed our last craft box that we receive in the mail - outer space themed!

We met up with more friends from my past Mom's Club group at a splash pad - it was so nice to reunite and catch up with everyone.

Then I took the boys to the mall - where they got to ride on this motorized animal scooter. So funny!

Just cos he's cute ;)

Unfortunately for me...I got sick :p Was so relieved no one else got it (has anyone heard of the wonders of 100% grape juice?!) Not quite sure if it was the flu or related to something I ate that I knew didn't go down very well, I had everyone drinking that in case. It "supposedly" helps cancel out sick cells in your intestines to prevent them from multiplying (and making you sick). Josh had work commitments so I had to call on my mom to watch the kids a bit...I haven't felt that yuck in years. Not fun.

So very thankful was I that the kids were well because they were suppose to go on their annual summer trip/visit with their Nana and Pap Pap! Like last summer, the boys got to go to my sister's cabin in Flagstaff for a few days.

Back at the Deer Farm. A favorite. Especially with silly Pap-Pap.

They spent many hours at Bearizona!

They also visited the Lowell Observatory (unfortunately it was cloudy so they didn't get to look through the large telescope) and otherwise played a great deal outside and around the cabin.

Meanwhile, mommy enjoyed the peace and quiet, had dinner with friends, spent time with the hubby...even had a stay cation of sorts! It was sort of "part celebration for being kid-less/part celebrating our tenth anniversary" some more. A post on us coming up! ;)