Evening Stroll

We had a very hot and humid June, which prevented us from going on evening neighborhood walks that we enjoy so much.

The weather finally gave us a break today. The humidity was gone, and the high was 80 degrees. Evelyn busted out her scooter, and Julia was itching to get on her tricycle. Troy and I helped the girls with their helmets, and we were off on an evening stroll.

It's a good thing Julia's tricycle has a long push-handle. She's nowhere near pedaling on her own, but she does keep her feet on the pedals most of the time. Her favorite part of the trike? The bell.
Evelyn scoots really well on her pink "Razor." Practice makes perfect when it comes to balancing on one of these.

Change of Pace

Last week, Evelyn went to a ballet day camp. Evelyn's hair needed to be up in a bun, and she had to wear a ballet leotard, pink tights and pink ballet shoes. The theme was princesses, so the crafts consisted of making tutus, tiaras and wands. Did Evelyn enjoy herself? Absolutely!

This week, Evelyn is going to a nature day camp. It doesn't matter how Evelyn does her hair as long as she can wear a hat. Why a hat? Because during the nature hikes, she needs to keep ticks out of her hair. She also needs to get lathered up in sunscreen and bug spray every morning. Evelyn is learning about various habitats by observing them first-hand: a meadow, a forest and the water/lake. Does Evelyn like this week's day camp? Again, absolutely!

Two completely different day camps that are right up Evelyn's alley.

Another Train Lover

Evelyn has passed down her love of trains to Julia. This is apparent almost every day, when she makes up new stories with the trains.

In today's episode, all the trains were buffered up to each other, on their way to get ice cream and Julia's spoon (on the Island of Sodor, naturally). Henry had some problems puffing smoke, but Gordon helped him out. Once the trains all had their ice cream, they parked at Tidmouth Sheds.

That really, truly is the story Julia told while pushing the trains around the living room and kitchen. She has quite the imagination!

Summer Days

We seem to have fallen into a summer routine.

Evelyn has morning day camps both this week and next week. What this means for Evelyn is she gets to dance ballet and do princess-y stuff this week and hike around nature and learn about habitats at a state park next week. What this means for Julia is she gets to have me all to herself in the mornings, just like when Evelyn has school.

After eating lunch and putting Julia down for her afternoon nap, Evelyn and I work on schoolwork. I know, I know, we didn't have that when we were growing up, but times have changed. Quite honestly, I'm glad I have something educational and productive to do with Evelyn while Julia naps. I've come up with a theme for each day of the week:
Math Monday
Thomas Tuesday
Wright Brothers Wednesday
Reading Thursday
Fun-Writing Friday
Thomas Tuesday translates into doing activities in old Thomas the Tank Engine magazines. Wright Brothers Wednesday means reading about Orville and Wilbur and doing various flying experiments. Today we made a pencil-propeller that actually flew, and then Evelyn journaled about all of our hits and misses.

After naptime, weather permitting, we girls head to the community pool for a couple of hours. Both Julia and Evelyn continue to enjoy playing in the water, and we usually run into neighborhood friends, too.

Gymnastics Show Day

Evelyn's gymnastics class has been working on skills and routines for the floor, the balance beam and the bars all semester, and today was the day for the girls to show what they've been learning. Evelyn did really well, demonstrating a variety of skills. In the pictures below, Evelyn is doing a handstand (with assistance) on the vault, an arabesque on the balance beam, a handstand on the floor and goofy swing on the uneven bars. Evelyn is looking forward to more gymnastics classes this summer.

Berry Picking

We girls went berry picking at Larriland Farm in Woodbine, Maryland this morning. It was quite a ways north of where we live, but well worth the drive. After Julia and Evelyn were each given a small basket, we all headed off into the strawberry patch. Julia didn't know quite what to think of the whole situation, so she mostly looked around for the first 10-15 minutes.

Evelyn, on the other hand, knew exactly what to do, and she dove right in. She did an excellent job of choosing ripe, red strawberries. After filling up her little basket, she would dump her berry collection into my cardboard box.

Julia had a different system. She "picked" the strawberries out of my box and then put them into her basket. Silly girl!

Overall, we had a great time berry picking. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we came home with enough strawberries for two or three different desserts. Who's ready for apple-strawberry pie?

Perfect!

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words:
Evelyn never missed a single day of Kindergarten, thus earning the perfect attendance award. Somehow she avoided germs and the sickies all year. There were a couple of times where we could have taken Evelyn out of school for "extracurricular" activities, but we didn't. Perfect attendance is quite an accomplishment, and we are incredibly proud of our Kindergarten graduate upon attaining this award.