The Nelson Narrative

The week started out pretty boring, with bad weather and the girls unmotivated to ever go anywhere (except maybe the bouncy house or McDonald's).  Things started turning around by Thursday, though, and it's been a really fun weekend. Monday - Nothing.  Played at home all day and after I left to go to the gym once Paul got home they finally got to play with their friends who were out of town last week. Tuesday - Home all morning, trip to Target and Fred Meyer in the afternoon.  Friends came over for awhile until dinner, then we watched part of Monsters, Inc. (finished it the next night) in preparation for seeing Monsters University in the theater soon, hopefully. Thursday - Farmer's market/outdoor concert. Friday - The girls went to their first slumber party!  I was a little worried how they'd do but they did just fine.  I think it definitely helped that they had each other.  It was a hot day, so when we first dropped them off, th...

It was in the low 90s today so we definitely wanted to do something with water involved.  So after church we took the girls to Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island.  Paul had never been and we had to head out that way anyway to use a Living Social voucher for frozen yogurt before it expired. The girls had a blast shooting each other (and us) with their new squirter thingies from my dad and stepmom and digging in the sand. This is what I get when I ask her to look at the camera and smile pretty.

I took the girls to the North Bend farmers market/outdoor concert last night (Paul was hiking with a friend but they met up with us later).  The park where this event is held has a brand new playground so the girls mostly wanted to just play on that but since the stage was right next to it, I was able to just sit and listen to the music while they played.  It worked out well. Climbing the rock wall No fear Having a shaved ice Technically I could cross farmer's market off my bucket list also, but there is another bigger and better one in Issaquah on Saturdays so that's the one I really want to go to.

I've never really decorated for the 4th before but I was really loving these printables on Pintrest.      So I printed a few, framed them and here they are on my mantel (I actually meant to print the "O Say" one but wasn't paying attention, but the pledge one is cool, too.) We'll be going to Crescent Bar the weekend right after the 4th and celebrating that Saturday with Paul's parents.  The community always has a parade that Saturday and a fantastic fireworks show that night.  We'll have a BBQ and I'm thinking of making this for dessert: And I think the girls would have fun making some of these: Or maybe we'll just break out the cake pop maker instead...

This week was the first week in a long time where we had absolutely no where to be at a certain time.  No school, swim lessons, classes or activities of any kind.  We did drive up to Mount Vernon on Wednesday and had to be up there by a certain time, but the trip itself was voluntary.  Also, both of the neighbor girls that the girls play with all the time were out of town all week, so we had no one over to play, no one showing up out of the blue or knocking on our door at random times during the day.  It was kind of nice.  The girls still got to play with a few other neighbors here and there but it was nice just being able to go about my day and not worry about if there's going to be a knock on the door any minute. Monday - Still in Portland, went to the Oregon Zoo. Tuesday - Catch up on laundry and housework, girls played.  Daddy took them to the park after work while I went grocery shopping. Wednesday - Trip to MV to vi...

We went to Portland last weekend to visit Paul's sister.  His parents came, too (drove separately).  Her apartment complex has a suite that they rent out to friends/family of the residents.  I'd never heard of an apartment complex doing that but this one does. We got there late Saturday afternoon and just hung out by the pool for awhile, then had dinner in the suite.  After dinner we walked to a park to let the girls play, then they had a sleepover with their aunt in her apartment while Paul and I and his parents (her parents, too, obviously) stayed in the suite.  On Sunday we all went to church with her and then barbequed some steaks at her apartment, then drove to Multnomah Falls and hiked to the top. At the top, small falls before the big one View of the Columbia River and I-84   She had to work on Monday so we were all on our own.  The parents just went to Costco and then home, while we went to the Oregon Zoo and headed hom...

Paul's parents gave the girls swim lessons for their birthday.  They started in mid-April and it was a 5-week session (twice a week).  The preschool classes go from P1 to P5 and they both started in P1, but we immediately realized they should probably be in P2.  They assessed them and agreed about Kayley being in P2, but said Olivia should stay in P1 because she wasn't very comfortable on her back.  She had a really hard time at first with her sister getting to move up without her, especially since one of their best friends was in the same P2 class, but she got over it after a few lessons.  At the end of the 5 weeks they assess everyone and recommend what level to go to next.  They recommended P2 again for Kayley and still P1 for Olivia.  But we weren't about to pay for another session of P1 because for the most part it was way too easy for her, so we talked to the staff and they let us to go ahead and put her in P2 for the next ses...

So, we all know how fast the summer flies by.  I thought it would be fun to be able to look back and see what all we did throughout the summer (I have tons planned but of course probably won't get to a lot of it), especially since this is the last summer before the girls start "real" school.  So, here's a brief re-cap of our first week of summer break. Monday - Did some learning activities during/after breakfast then played with friends from 10:30ish until 7:30ish (breaking for dinner). Tuesday - Played at home all morning, then swim lessons and new zip-line park.  Home around 3:00, played with A & E for an hour or so, then dinner.  Out for frozen yogurt and to the library.  Daddy was working late so didn't come. Wednesday - Up late, at 9:00.  Breakfast, played while I got ready, lunch at mall, art museum, park. Thursday - Played at home all morning, then last swim lesson.  Played at park after, then trip to Target.  Friday - Played ...

One of our summer bucket list items was to visit a museum (hopefully more than one).  I was able to get free passes to the Bellevue Art Museum through the library so we went today.  I was worried that the girls would be really bored and not the least bit interested but they were really good and actually kind of into it.  They had a fun area with these big magnet boards (like bulletin boards, only magnetized) with all different types of magnets to make different designs or scenes.  They enjoyed playing with that.     The museum is across the street from the mall, so first we had lunch at the mall and then had to walk past the Disney Store to get to the museum, so we went in to browse and the girls were enthralled with this castle with a talking mirror (big video screen).       After leaving the museum, we stopped at a nearby park and played for awhile.   Watching ducks Cool waterfall in background ...

Today was the last day of preschool and the girls had a little graduation ceremony and potluck lunch. They walked up on stage to receive their "diplomas", sang 2 songs, and then we had lunch.  I can't believe preschool is over!  I have really enjoyed having that little over 2 hours 3 days a week to run errands or do things around the house or just relax with a book (I think I did that maybe once ) or browse some stores.  I'll miss that, but I'll have even more time for that stuff come September, and in the mean time we have tons of fun stuff planned.  I can't believe my babies are off to Kindergarten in 94 days!   Kayley Olivia Lined up waiting to go up on the stage to get diplomas.  Oops, kinda blurry.