After really doing school it has been our first summer to fully appreciate and celebrate being out of school! We have taken on different classrooms than the dining room or the kitchen table and been able to head out of doors. One of the great things about Ohio is the change in the seasons - they are so different from each other. I have always loved the summertime but here I marvel everyday during the summer that we can be outside in bare feet, that it is warm.
There is a metro park here that has a great lake for swimming in the summer. We have been there quite alot this year already. All three of the big kids swim out to the dock and spend hours jumping off. Pati jumps off too, just not without me. We pack a sparse kind of lunch (who cares about food when you can swim?) and towels and stay out for hours.
Grandpa and Grandma Carne came out for several days and we had such fun getting to spend time with them. We were sad to see them go.
Jan received a gift from some friends of horseback riding lessons at a western sort of farm. She has had two lessons so far and thinks it is the best thing that has ever happened to her.
When David had a vacation the first week of June we took a quick car trip to Washington DC. We were really only there for a day and a half, but it was a great time for us as a family. Because we were driving and staying one night at a hotel the kids were a little disappointed when we did not get into the hotel swimming pool right away when we arrived, but instead headed to the National Mall to see a few things before it got dark. They really did think that we had driven 8 hours to swim in the hotel pool.
Riding the subway helped make up for putting off the swimming. I do think that the subway was Alec's favorite part.
This was us outside of the National Museum of Art ...where we couldn't stay very long because "Mom, they aren't wearing any clothes!" "And neither are they!" "Why is everybody naked?" We had escaped into the Art Museum on our way to the Museum of American History. It had been a long walk and it was really hot outside. The Art Museum looked so air conditioned.
Eating lunch on the National Mall. We got to watch a pick up soccer game out on the grass while we ate.
Now that we are back home it is hard to believe we were really there. Tomorrow is the fourth of July and we have things to decorate for our neighborhood parade. The kids decided that they would rather ride their stick horses than their bikes in the parade this year. The best part is that David gets to be home tomorrow for all of the excitement.
