Late Summer Fun Into School Days

A look at how the kids spent their last weeks of summer before school started again.  I love that they still play in the sandbox and on their swing set.

Olivia at Girl Scout Space Camp's final day skit.

A Springfield event called "Paint the Streets" was rained out, so the next day we had our own "Chalk the Driveway" event.

We went to a Springfield Sliders game this summer and the kids met Speedie.

During the Sliders' game, Ethan was selected to go on the field to play a game.  He won a McDonald's duffel bag and is so proud of it.  The Sliders' players were yelling at him to pick the small box, but typical Ethan picked the largest box (we do not know what was in the small box).

Ethan and his friend Cale running the bases at Busch Stadium.

A fantastic photo of Ethan at a Vacation Bible Study camp.

Pool fun.  Dare I say that Olivia and Ethan are getting along in this picture?

One summer Monday, Joe had a rare day off and the weather was a high of 80*, so we decided to go to the St. Louis zoo (along with all of St. Louis!).

Ethan was ecstatic to see that there was a rhino (his absolute favorite animal) on the carousel.

Never too old to ride the carousel!

Ethan and I (with a photo-bombing Olivia) on the zoo train.

Olivia has posed with this penguin every year since she was 11 months old.  I hope with the new polar bear/penguin renovations that they keep this statue!

Due to the zoo parking lots being full, we had to park by Turtle Park (which wasn't so bad since we got some great photos there).

We spent the Friday before the first day of school visiting Lincoln's New Salem State Park for the very first time.  I had no idea it was so large!  The kids met with friends Caden and Cole, and more friends Dominic and Michael (with mom Kara) were actually historical interpreters on this day.  We had a picnic after the park, and Olivia unexpectedly lost a pre-molar during dessert (just don't ask me about losing the tooth between the picnic table boards!).

Olivia and Caden were in charge of the maps and acted as tour guides for our group.

Olivia and Caden playing the game "Graces".  You have two sticks with a hoop (if you look closely you can see the hoop in mid-air) and you toss the hoop into the air and catch it on the sticks.  They each loved this game so much that they bought it in the gift shop!

Ethan and Cole - best buddies.

The family at the Marsh ice cream social and meet the teacher day. 

And the end of summer.  Here is Ethan on the first day of school.  He is 7 years old and in 2nd grade!

And Olivia, age 10, on the first day of 5th grade.  This is her very last year at Marsh Elementary.  She moves on to middle school next year.  

I am wishing both of them a very productive and fun year at school!