Sunny and Sweaty in the Sand :)

Just before leaving for Utah we went to the park- because the kids really wanted to use Claire's new sand toys she got for her birthday.  We went around 9am to catch some "cooler" air - it was around 88 or so - not horrible, but getting close - and the longer we stayed the hotter and sweatier the kids got.  They were oh so relieved to get to Utah later that week and actually play at parks comfortably! haha.

Claire's job was to fill buckets with water and bring them back and forth to the kids, so they could get the sand wet for molding...

This is about as far as the kids got with their "castle" project.  They wanted to add more to it... but they were too hot and ready to go home.  oh well!  They had the start to a decent moat going on there...

Well, we'll see you again park, when the days are cooler... probably not till November :)

Staying Cool...

So, guess what - it's HOT outside!  We have to make a conscious effort to stay cool in the summertime- At the beginning of May the kids all took a 2 week session of swim lessons.  Jake wasn't very cooperative the first 2 lessons, including a sit-out, absolutely refusing to get in the water.  But by the third lesson he was brave and fun!  

Emma took a lesson as a refresher course to get her prepped for swim team for the summer - she's becoming an awesome swimmer!

Becca is finally full of confidence in the water and starting to really swim!

Summer movies are on Thursdays... the kids love to eat treats during movies :)

We're trying a new thing this summer and it's been very popular with my girls!  Summer journals - We've been trying to write in them daily...

And the Water park is always a summertime hit!

Mmmm... Shave ice!

McDonald's ice cream- note to self: don't give Claire her own ice cream cone while in the car...

Otterpops, of course...

This video was from a while back- at Becca's birthday dinner at Oreganos, but I just found this video and wanted to include it.  My kids are zoned in while eating pizookie  :)  haha...

Friends!

Here's some photos from the month that I grouped together as pics with friends :)

OtterPops on the front porch with Kennedy...

Playing at the park with some old friends who recently moved back to Arizona after completing residency - We had them over while their mommy worked on unpacking...

A full table of friends!

Jake loves to be silly with his friend Preston...

The day after school got out we got together with Taya and her kids - wonderful friends from medical school!  They were in town from Vegas and we loved swimming and hanging out...

Becca, Ezra, and Jake...

Tucson for Memorial Day

We planned a short trip to Tucson for Memorial Day weekend with Ben's family.  Our trip got off to a sluggish start when we ended up with a flat tire before even getting to the freeway.  So, we ended up waiting around and killing time for a couple hours while our car was fixed up - and while Ben's family was livin it up at a Cheesecake Factory eating lunch, we were stuck at the Del Taco on our end of town.  haha...

Finally on the road!

 Our first Tucson adventure was touring the Biosphere.  This place is crazy!  The tour was long and our kids got antsy, but it was cool!  Definitely worth a visit, if you've never been - it is HUGE and full of many different climates - sometimes we were cold and other times hot and humid - I really did feel like I was on some other planet...

We spent most of our Tucson weekend at our hotel - the grounds were lovely and we swam a lot!

Eating food pool side is so fun...  It always tastes extra good after swimming...

We played a little bit of tennis - I told the kids to make an "I'm cool with my tennis racket" look...

Gorgeous desert sunset...

On our last day, we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  This was my first time here and I was very impressed!  It was more like a zoo than a museum - lots of animals to see and beautiful surroundings...

Lookin' good Claire!

It was an awesome trip to kick off our summer!