Play Dates and Kroc Center

Since we only had one free week until mid July, I tried to take advantage of it by staying busy and doing the things that we couldn't do while they were in school. When the boys were in school, they went Tuesday-Thursday, and that only left us Monday and Friday, so we weren't good about meeting up for playdates and things during the school year. We're hoping to attend some more over the summer. The boys age group meets on Mondays, so we went to that last week. The boys had a blast and I'm going to try and stick to going throughout the whole summer. Of course, the only time I could get a picture is when they were all eating snack, the rest of the time, all the kids were all over the place, playing and having a ball.

We decided to go back to having the boys take naps. They just weren't ready to go everyday without a nap. I always thought if we could just make it to summer that nap time would be a little easier because they'd be playing outside and just doing more than they do in the winter. So, Monday I put the boys down for a nap and explained that even if they didn't sleep they'd have to have quiet time. Evan was having meltdowns and tantrums that just weren't normal for him except when he's tired or sick, so I knew that he was just getting too tired in the afternoons. Carter started to get more shy (in school and at soccer) and it seemed to be around the time they cut out naps, so I wanted to see if napping would help that. We went back to naps on Monday and out of 6 days since, they've only skipped nap one day and that was the day they both slept in until 8am. It's so nice because with naps, they can stay up later at night, which works really well in the summer.

The boys love watermelon and we try and buy it over the summers for them. I HATE cutting up watermelon, but it's definitely one of their favorite foods, so it's worth it.

Look how happy he is to be eating watermelon!

We've been making lots of delicious vegetables for side dishes with dinners. I was even able to use some fresh basil from my garden in a few of them. I'm going to have to post the recipes I've tried because Greg and I have liked them a lot. We especially loved this sautéed zuchinni with grape tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil. It was so simple and easy and it tasted so good.

Tuesday, my mom and I took the boys to the Kroc Center for Toddler Tuesday.It's something they started doing earlier this year but it's only on Tuesday and the boys had schools on Tuesday. They're having their summer program on Tuesday until mid-july, so I wanted to take them since we had a free Tuesday before the summer program started. It's $5.00 a kid (adults are free) since we're not members, which was fine since we will only be able to go a couple of times. It starts at 10:30 and you go to a room that has toys, blocks, puzzles, etc spread out and the kids have free play. Then there's story time and a song with dance followed by a little more free play. At 11:00, all the toddlers head to the pool and they get to play until 12:00. They normally have the splash pad on, with water spraying, but they turn that off for Toddler Hour so the little kids aren't overwhelmed. The pool at the Kroc Center is amazing, it's indoors, there's a huge toddler area with a zero entry pool, slides, etc. There's a lazy river and even a huge slide for bigger kids.  My mom heard I was going and knew that I like to have another adult with me when I go new places with the boys--especially if it's a pool, so she offered to come with me and it was so helpful!

The boys had a blast! The staff got out tons of toys for the kids to play with in the water and the boys just had such a great time.

Evan LOVED the slide. It took Carter a little while to try it, but once he did, he liked it a lot.

The boys loved laying on their backs, crawling, dunking their heads and just experimenting in the water. It was the perfect depth for them.

The toys were such a hit with all the kids. I think most of them were just simple $1.00 toys from Target, but all the kids loved being able to play in the water with something.

I knew when we were there that we weren't going to have a problem with the boys napping and I was right. They were exhausted when we got home. This place was so amazing, especially for the winter months since the whole pool is indoors. A lot of moms in my mom group are members of this place in the winter and the Ymca in the summer (because they have a great outdoor pool) I've been trying to figure out how that'd work out for us, because I think that'd be a win-win for everybody in our family. I think Greg and I have come to an agreement about it too, those last several winter months really start wearing on us and to have an indoor, heated place like this to come to just a couple months out of winter, would be so great.

This one just loves for me to take pictures of him. He's always telling me to take a picture and then let him see it.

I went to the polls on Tuesday and voted. We definitely have the cutest voter stickers. My dad happened to vote and stop by afterwards, so Evan and Carter each got a voter sticker.

This week has been all about doing fun things with the boys and taking advantage of my time with them. The menu planning, cooking, cleaning, etc. has not been a priority. I knew I only had 1 full week before the summer program started and then it'd be mid july before I'd have a full week with them again, so I said "yes" as much as I could. If the boys wanted to go to McDonald's to play--yes, if I'm about to do the dishes and Evan asked me to come do a puzzle with him, I stop what I'm doing and I go do the puzzle. It's been a great week, I can clean the house next week when they're in their summer program, but this week was all about having fun and spending time with my favorite boys, so that's exactly what I did.