The VanDuyne Family Blog: There's 104 days of summer vacation

Then school comes around just to end it
So the annual problem for our generation
Is finding a good way to spend it

Our summer hasn't been quite as eventful as an episode of Phineas & Ferb yet, but we've been having fun so far. Last week was our first official week of summer vacation (ballet got extended a week because of a cancellation earlier in the year.)

On Monday, the girls helped me bake cookies. At the grocery store they decided that peanut butter chips were more fun than chocolate chips, so we made chocolate peanut butter cookies. On Tuesday we took most of them to the church for their cookie baking ministry (and I was repeatedly asked, "But we saved some for us, right? We still get some, right?" Those kids just don't trust me.) Then since we were out that way, we decided to visit a new (to us) park.

On Wednesday, since we didn't have to rush off to ballet, we stayed for storytime at the library. Abby thought that was just about the best time ever! Nora doesn't like to sit with the other kids in the middle of the circle - she usually sits on my lap and frowns at the other kids - but Abby joined right in. She sang the songs, did the dances, and shouted out answers to questions with the rest of them. It was quite a change from when we used to schedule our library visits so that there would be as few kids around as possible. Preschool has been so good for her!

Thursday was pretty exciting. Abby's friend Evie had a birthday party at iPower, a gymnastics school, and as part of the party they gave all the kids passes to come back during open gym time. So on Thursday, we headed over to play during open gym. The girls had so much fun! There were actually a couple of classes going on at the same time that we were there, so they loved watching the "big girls" and trying to follow them. One of the classes was working on balance beams, so that was something both of the girls just had to try.

Nora thoroughly enjoyed the foam block pit. She spent quite a bit of time in there, burying herself in blocks.

Abby worked on her bravery while we were at the gym. She kept climbing up on top of this big foam block and getting too scared to come down by herself. But she kept trying, and before we left she was brave enough to slide down all by herself.

Friday was National Doughnut Day, so we went to Dunkin' Donuts for a doughnut snack. Those girls sure love sprinkles!

Saturday was Abby's friend Julia's birthday party. Julia is a big fan of Fancy Nancy, so she had a Fancy Nancy themed party. It was a fabulous party, and Abby had a great time.

Looking fancy for the party - fancy dress, hair in braids, fancy pose

They were so excited to have braids!

Showing off her fanciness at the party - nails painted at the spa, earrings and flower purchased at the boutique, necklace made by herself.

Nora and Adam had a fun Dad/Nora date while Abby and I were at the party - I think Adam's already written an update about that.

In other Saturday excitement, Adam got to inaugurate his new gas grill. He's been waiting six years for a gas grill, so he's pretty excited about it. We had Saturday dinner, Sunday breakfast, and Sunday dinner all cooked on the grill.

The grill master at work!

Today was our first day of swimming lessons. We go Monday - Thursday for the next two weeks. I'm sure I'll have an update about that when we're done, but for now I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of day 1.