More summer adventures

Summer seems to be flying by and I can't believe it is almost August. The past few weeks have been filled with some adventures , reading and lessons.
 Payton started swim lessons this week and she loves it like she did a few years ago. They made her start at level one but she is doing great and her teacher is challenging her so that is awesome. At School she got three free swimming lesson sessions so we will be doing swim lessons the rest of the summer, so I am glad she loves it. Logan was going to do it but he decided he didn't want to because he didn't know the teachers and he just wasn't sure about it. Maybe next year...
We also worked on the yard to try to make it look better since the weeds seem to take over and it looks bad. We weeded and then added some new flowers to the side yard and we will add some more soil and mulch to make it look better then the dry dirt that is there now.
Our adventures the past few weeks:
We went to the zoo to meet the new baby giraffe who was adorable. We also went to see some of our other favorites. It seemed like a lot of the animals were still sleeping so we didn't get to see as many as we would have liked.

Last weekend we went to Day out with Thomas and the kids had a lot of fun. I think this was the best year for Logan because he wanted to do everything and in years past he has shied away from some of the things.

Monday after swim lessons we went to Richmond Beach to learn about the creatures that live in the ocean. The kids had a blast and learned so much. I wanted to find tide pools or low tide times last year but just never was able to figure out when and where. This year I saw something on a parent site about exploring low tide and it lead me to the Seattle aquarium page where they had a schedule of when low tide was and what beaches to go to. They had volunteers who were there to tell you about the creatures and educate us about them. My kids want to do it again but we will have to wait until the end of August to do it.

 Sea stars

 Sea anemone

  Mr. crab hiding

I have been reading like crazy since I have had books coming in from the library. I finished the two I got a few weeks ago and I just picked up three more so lots more reading for me. I do love having so much time to read and swim lessons are a great place to get a little reading done.
Tomorrow we are going to our first Seahawks training camp and it will be fun and it will give us an idea of what it be like this year.

what we have been up too

So Summer is finally here and we can start crossing things off our summer fun list.
So here are some things I am loving right now. Easy morning with no plans and getting into our summer rhythms. Reading new books, I have a big list of to read books on the library page and big list I have placed a hold on. I can't wait to read them all.
I am also catching up with my favorite blogs like Jones Design Co.  I love Emily's style and we like the same kind of books plus she does these great post called Coffee Chats and they are fun and it feels like she talking just to you. I think I also connect with her because she is a mom and we are the same age and both Christians.  
Here is what I am working on :Getting things organized and cleaned up which is hard in a small house especially with the kids home. I am trying to find some new ways to organize some things to give us more space.
I am also working on eating better, finding new recipes to try that my whole family will eat and eating our fresh veggies we are growing. Of course working out is part of a healthy life style so I will continue to follow the blogilates calendar and maybe try Barre3 sometime.
We are listening to a lot of different music and we have more hip hop right now so the kids can practice their moves.

I am really excited about Nichole Nordeman's new music coming out the end of this month.Next month I am really excited about Jen Hatmaker's new book Of Mess and Moxie and Nichole Nordeman's book Slow Down ( it comes out the day before my birthday!)

What the kids are doing: We are making lots of outings to parks and trying out new places and old favorites. They are taking a hip hop class right now and having a blast.

They are also working keeping up with math, reading and writing and we are also working on Geography so the kids know where things are and make connections to some of those places.
This past weekend we went to the Seahawks Family Football Fest and the kids had a blast playing games, getting autographs and touring the locker room and the Toyota Fan Deck. 

Summer reading

 You know summer is coming when the Modern Mrs Darcy post her summer reading guide. It is one of my favorite things because I love reading and she always has great recommendations. A lot of the books on my list are books she has recommended on her guide or her podcast What should I read next. I also loved to get recommendations from other bloggers I follow. Emily from Jones Design Co has similar taste in books so I have read a lot of the books she has recommended. I started reading Susan Meissner , Liane Moriarty and Kate Morton and loved them so much I went back and read all of the their other books. I love finding great authors and I try read at least one book that I might not normally read. So I have added a bunch of new books to my Goodreads want to read list and  I can't wait to started reading some of these books. Here are a few that I have read this year.

                                                          Commonwealth is the book underneath

 

So many great books, What are you reading? I always love recommendations.

What I have been reading.

Here is a drsft  from last summer that didn't get posted. It has some great books. Since my last post about what I was reading I have read 10 more books. I have started checking out ebooks from the library while I wait for other books on my list to come in. I love this because it allows me to get some books read and checked off instead of having to wait for them and there are books that are easier to get in the ebook format. Here is what I have read, if I don't have a picture it is because I read it as an ebook.

The first book is The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty and I really liked it. It was different then I thought it would be but I still liked it because there was some mystery you were trying to put together and I also like the characters in it.

This book grabbed me with the cover and that yummy looking coconut cake . The recipe is in the book so you can make it because it is mention many time and every time I wished I had a piece to eat. It was a cute story from a new author for me. I liked the story about a chef who we meet and her life is quickly changed two events.

Sarah's Key is a book set mainly in Paris and you flip back a forth for the first part between Sarah a young Jewish girl in 1942 and Julia an american  journalist who lives in Paris and while writing a story for the 60th anniversary of Vel L'Hiv and finds that there is a connection to Sarah through her husbands family.

I'll see you in Paris is the second book by Michelle Gable and I really like it. It had a story where you are going back and forth between 2001 and the 70's . "Three women, born generations apart.
One mysterious book that threads their lives together.
A journey of love, discovery, and truth…" I love how the story unfolds and figuring out if they really have found the missing Duchess of Marlborough..
 Quiet is great book and a non fiction read. I have wanted to read it since I am an introvert and I really understood how introverts think and even learn some things about myself . Some of it made me think of my kids and even lead me to another book about highly sensitive kids.

Ebooks
 Maeve Bincy's  Circle of Friends and Light a Penny Candle both friendship stories. I love her books and love being transported to Ireland and the sweet people.

Orphan Train - I honestly had never heard of an Orphan train before but I loved learning about them and this sweet but sad story.
Where did you go Bernadette- I had been wanting to read this one for a while but just never got around to it and it was one that was hard to get at the library . It is the story of mom who goes missing and her daughter tries to find her , the story is a bunch of e-mails or letters so it is a different type of story.
 The Guernsey literary and Potato Peel pie society

by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

- another book told by letter back and forth between Juliet a writing and friends and man from Guernsey who writes to her and who tells her of his the Guernsey book and potato peel society. She soon is writing to them all and becomes friend with them.
I just finished All the Summer Girls about three friends and how their lives have changed since they were younger and they end up revealing secrets they have been keeping for years that have strained their friendships.

sunshine and tulips

 This year the first year that we have gone to the tulips and we didn't have to wear coats. It was so warm and sunny and normally we have rain or clouds and mud.

 The kids loved running around with the kites while we waited for my parents to arrive. When everyone was here we went to walk along the tulips and enjoy the beautiful colors.

I love how pretty they look, so many colors and types, it is fun to see what will be there every year. This is our 6th year going up to Mount Vernon to see the tulips and it is something the kids always look forward to seeing.