Middle of Summer Fun!

We've had a fun and busy summer so far! It feels like we're constantly moving from activity to errand and back again. I can't believe we only have one more week before school starts!

One of our fun activities was a My Little Pony tea party at the mall. The boys pretended they weren't interested but they LOVE My Little Pony, so they couldn't help getting drawn more and more into the activities.

They had water and cookies as big as Brooklyn's face, story time, temporary hair coloring and tattoos!

I tried to get us to leave after the tattoos but the boys INSISTED on hair color too! They tried so hard all week not to wash their hair. Unfortunately I insisted it be washed out for Sunday. They were impressed it lasted through several trips to the splash pad, the pool and the bath.

Afterwards we headed to the splash pad with Lucinda, Anisa, and Grandma Linda. The kids had fun playing together, eating a picnic lunch and the adults had fun chatting.

On the 24th Dave ran in a 1/2 Marathon. He did great even if he is always wishing his could get his time down more. The kids were pretty good at trekking from our car to the finish line and were happy to get to beg Creamies off the missionaries (they were handing them out to those that ran in the race).

Dustin's highlight was finding a chipmunk to feed. He is convinced the same chipmunk follows him around. We saw him at Mt Rushmore. We saw him when we were camping. We see him every time we go hiking. He has been named Chippie. Dustin knows he shouldn't feed him but "he looks so hungry Mom! I just can't help it!" The kids probably spent 30 minutes feeding and chasing this guy around.

That night we went to a family BBQ at Dave's parent's house. It was fun to see family and the boys had a good time playing with their cousins.

A few weeks ago we stumbled upon a sidewalk sale that had free activities for the kids! We were going to redeem 3 free pizzas from the Pizza Studio, and out front there was a bounce house, a chalk coloring station, and a PlusPlus building station. All the kids loved the bounce house! They played in it for at least an hour strait. Usually they were the only ones in it.

The boys also had a blast building with the PlusPlus blocks and requested some for Christmas. We'll see if they're still interested in a few months but they usually love building so it will probably be a good fit. The lady running the PlusPlus station also gave them necklaces. So it was an all around fun free family date night.

My friend Tenille came down to visit me at the beginning of August! I convinced her to help me pin Brooklyn's quilt for her big girl bed! I still haven't started quilting it, but hopefully things will slow down soon so I can do so. I also have to decide HOW I'm going to quilt it. I was thinking of just doing diagonal crossing lines across the whole thing, but I would like to outline the stars too. We'll see what wins out. I love how it turned out! I was worried about the mixture of lights and darks, but am glad I didn't give up.

We also pinned a baby blanket that Tenille had completed. It was a cute blue and off white star quilt that she plans to gift to a friend soon.

We also took Tenille on a hike around Silver Lake. There was a plethora of baby ducks on the hike!!! Brooklyn especially was in heaven screeching and pointing at the babies. They were very brave ducks and if we stood still they would come right up to us. One even bit Dustin's toe but he said it didn't hurt. I must admit the duck were adorable.

Other than the duck detours we HAD to stop and climb every rock that was on the side of the trail. The boys wouldn't stop until they got to the top. And if Brooklyn couldn't keep up with them she would cry and insist on being lifted up with the big kids.

I can't believe how busy we've been this summer! We've had a lot of fun but most mornings start with the boys climbing into Brooklyn's crib when they hear her wake up. It's pretty cute to see how much they all love each other.

We also had a Lemonade Stand! Logan and Dustin have been BEGGING all summer to have one to earn some money. So we set up shop and they sold 4 pitchers of lemonade. For the first 45 minutes nobody came and they got pretty discouraged but I posted a picture of them on Facebook and we finally got some business! Friends, people from church and neighbors we've never met before all showed up for a drink.

The kids were tireless marketers running down every car that drove past waving their hands, jumping and yelling "LEMONADE! ONLY 50 CENTS!" We saw cars stop a little ways down the street, dig around in their car, and come back once they were sure they had money. We saw a big truck stop, turn around (and I'm assuming) head home, and come back for a drink. We had a family knock on our door 4 hours after we stopped selling asking if we had any left because they were going to run errands when we were out earlier and the kids insisted they come back and try to get a drink.

It made me happy we live in our neighborhood with all the great neighbors that stopped by to support the boys! They decided to spend $5 to buy us pizza for dinner that night and divided the rest up between the two of them.

The next week was a rush to get packed for our BROWN FAMILY CAMPING EXTRAVAGANZA!!! I like to pack at least a week in advance, so waiting until the day before to pack was insanity for me! But that's how busy we were. The kids were all excited to try on their life jackets to make sure they fit.

It was a really good trip! We stayed two nights and it was great to see the cousins all play together. We went on all kinds of little hikes around the camp and the kids were constantly coming up with plays and bands and all kinds of fun things. We spent Saturday canoeing, swimming, and we rented a trampoline that floated on the water and you could jump into the lake from the top.

On the trip home I looked in the back seat and all three had fallen asleep! We throughly wore them all out. They said they had a great time though and we'll have to do it again.