Summer Activities, Weeks 2-4

Well, it's been a while, but we've been crazy-busy! We went on a short trip to St. Louis to visit family and show our friends around, then my mom had foot surgery immediately after. We went to help take care of her and Thomas had a nature camp up near their small town, so we were out of the house for 2 weeks straight! The kids and I have been home for a week now (Clay got home Wednesday evening, he's been helping his parents put up siding on their house) and are finally getting back into the swing of "normal" life. Some of the things from our list we've done over the last couple weeks include:


- swimming
- play in sprinkler/hose
- build a wood craft
- blow bubbles
- dress up party
- pet rocks
- zoo- toothpick/marshmallow building
- color
- play Mother May I


While in St. Louis (Big Kid Only trip, Ellie stayed with Nana - so much better to not have to work around naps and strollers!) we took the Metro train down to the Arch, took the kids up in the Arch, visited the museum in the bottom, visited the St. Louis Zoo, the "rocket park" (a major fixture in all my childhood memories, it's just a local park near my grandma's house, but close enough that we were constantly there during the summers), and visited Imo's once and Ted Drewe's twice. We were only gone Sunday through Wednesday, so it was a fast trip but we had so much fun!
Thomas had an amazing time at the Junior Nature Camp, the Crawford County Park District did a fantastic job! They caught tadpoles and turtles, held snakes, newts, frogs, and butterflies, hiked through the woods, waded in creeks, and generally did "kid stuff" we grew up doing. Thomas brought home his net at the end of the week, and has been talking constantly about the things they did there. He's even bravely caught a couple of moths for me and taken them outside and released them (I'm not the world's biggest fan of bugs, so he's been my hero!) 
The kids have gotten bored a couple times, but mostly we've been running so much they haven't had time to complain a whole lot. I'm hoping to pull out more craft stuff for them too in the next week or so, especially since it's too hot around here to spend much time outside!