Summer Fun

During the summer we try to find many days to go to the beach!  Friends of ours go every Monday morning, and when we are able to we like to join them there!  The kids love to play in the water, and they are always nice and tired when they come home!

 

Olivia loves to match her older sister!  She picked out her swimsuit, then went into Faith's drawer and found Faith's one that matched hers and told Faith to put it on!

 

Last Sunday night we went to Padaro for dinner!  While rain is pretty unusual in California during the summer, Tropical Storm Delores came ashore and gave us some rain!  The kids loved running around and jumping in the puddles while Steve and I huddled together under a giant umbrella!  They were filthy by the time we left, but oh were they ever happy!

Wheel of Fortune

Last Friday Steve and I took the youth group kids down to a taping of the Wheel of Fortune at the Sony Studios.  Since Sony is located in Culver City, Steve was able to get us all tickets for the show.  We were able to watch the taping of three shows, which will air the beginning of October. 

 

We headed down early in the day in case we hit traffic.  That allowed us to go out for a nice lunch as a group, and we also had enough time for a private tour of the studios given by a Sony firefighter who Steve knows. 

 

He took us into a few of the sound stages.  This stage was currently empty, but one of the Batman movies was filmed in this room!  We also went on a couple current stages where The Goldbergs is filmed and also Ray Donovan.  It was so interesting to be given a glimpse into how filming is done and what a tv set actually looks like!

 

Before going into Wheel of Fortune, we popped into the stage next door which was Jeopardy, as they were not filming that day.

 

I was pretty excited to get my picture taken with the Ghostbusters car!  It was a fun day - definitely something out of the ordinary!

Happy 7th Birthday Shane!!

This past Wednesday our sweet boy Shane celebrated his 7th birthday!  It's hard to believe that he is already 7; he just seems to be growing up so fast!  We celebrated last weekend with a family superhero party, and today we had a few friends over for a superhero lunch!

 

Blowing out seven candles is quite a task!

 

Shane received many nice gifts, and many Lego sets!  Since he LOVES Legos, he was thrilled!  Grandpa Poelstra gave him a set and watched him put it together.

 

All of Shane's friends came dressed up as superheroes to his party today!  It made it fun to see all the kids in costumes! 

 

And here's the birthday boy on his actual birthday!  His one request for his big day was to share a banana split with his sisters!  How could I say no to that?!?!  As another year goes by, it is so fun to see his funny personality continue to emerge, to watch him learn and grow in his school work, and to also see what really catches his interests.  If you ever want to know how to tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile, just ask Shane!

Party at the Pool!

Today we went to a friend's birthday party at the Ventura Aquatic Center!  It has a couple pools, two big waterslides, and a kiddie area!  Steve took the kids there a couple years ago, but this was my first time going!  What a fun way to spend the afternoon, and what a great way to celebrate a summer birthday!

 

Shane was thrilled to spend the time with one of his best buddies, Titus!

 

Olivia and I spent all of our time at the kiddie area, which was very fun, and she had the best time!  Every once and awhile the big kids would come over and play with her too, which was sweet of them!

 

A shot with all three kids!  I think they are all going to sleep very well tonight!

 

I love this picture of Olivia trying to scare Faith's good friend, Rose!

 

Trying to talk Olivia into climbing the stairs and going down the mini slide!  She never mustered up the courage to do it!

 

Shane and Titus!  Two peas in a pod!

 

Ready!  Set!  Cannonball!!

 

We will be heading back to the aquatic center before the summer is over for more water fun!

Random moments from the week...

Once again this summer the kids are doing a summer reading program!  Basically I require them to read each day for a given amount of time, but since it's summer, we make it fun by including Bingo boards, fun reading scenarios, and of course rewards!!  Without going too much into detail, when the kids earn a Bingo, they receive a prize!  Last week they both earned a Bingo, and the prize was to pick up donuts!  Woohoo!!  What amazes me is the progress I see in Shane's reading level!  He still reads aloud, so I can hear him and notice the improvement in fluency!  It's really amazing what a little practice can do...!

 

Olivia was able to get a donut too, even though she didn't do any reading!  She mainly ate the frosting off the top; she told me after every bite that it was very delicious!

 

Here was Shane completing the "reading while wearing a bathing suit" Bingo square!

 

Olivia at soccer camp!  She's having fun! 

 

Little sister in action!  Olivia was so thrilled to get away with taking Faith's American Girl Doll's lunch set and play with it without Faith realizing it!  It was really cute, and Olivia was so happy!

Dance Camp

Last week Faith spent most of her day at Cassie's Dance Camp!  This is now the fourth year in a row she has attended the camp, and I think she enjoyed this year even more than the past years!  She had the loads of fun, made some fun crafts, met some new friends, spent time with "old" friends, and of course learned a new dance routine!  Each day when she arrived home she would tell me how excited she was to go back again the following day! 

 

On Friday the girls put on a show to demonstrate to the parents all they had learned in the past week!  While these are the greatest pictures, I love the smile on Faith's face in the above picture!  She wore it most of the dance!  To me it showed the genuine joy she carried last week while being at dance camp!  The director, Cassie, does an amazing job encouraging the girls to be kind, make new friends, help others, and grow in the Lord.  What a wonderfully positive environment for these girls!!

 

On Thursday I surprised the kids by stopping at Foster Freeze for ice cream on the way home!  Olivia wanted her ice cream in a cone, so we opted for a compromise!  I would scoop the ice cream from the dish to the cone and she would eat it out of the cone!  All were happy (and not too messy)!!

 

My dancer!  We also received her ballet evaluation last week stating that Faith promoted up to level two in ballet, which means two classes a week!  She is very excited!!

4th of July Fun!

Happy late 4th of July!  We had a fun day, enjoying some of our favorite traditions, and even starting some new ones!  The morning began with the annual Push 'em Pull 'em Parade down Main St. Ventura.  This is the 5th year in a row in which the kids and I have marched (or rode or been pulled!) in the parade.  Each year we walk with our friends the Fortunati's, and each year Julie and I look at each other and wonder who all these people are and from where did they come?!  It is a sea of red, white, and blue walking down the street!  I love how Julie's husband captured this picture of the parade of people, and also us in our sun hats!

Not the best picture, but I had to include one of Minnie Mouse (aka Livvy!) riding her bike in the parade!  I don't know how or why it started, but our kids love to wear costumes in the parade!

 

Faith dressed as Minnie too!  And Shane's friend Miles dressed as Batman. 

 

A family shot at the end of the parade!  Now for the walk back up the hill to our car!

 

We had a few families from church over in the evening for a BBQ!  Olivia insisted on wearing the Minnie costume!  Faith went to her friend Rose's house in the afternoon to make some pies that they would then bring to the BBQ! 

 

Following dinner and pie, we were able to see the local fireworks from our backyard.  Then the kids did sparklers and Steve built a fire!  As a kid I loved doing sparklers with all the neighborhood friends, and I remember my dad having to go inside because it worried him too much to watch us running around in the dark with those things!  Now that I'm the parent, I felt like running inside like my dad did as I worried at the safety and sanity of doing such things!  But, thankfully we had a dad take charge and lead the kids in a very organized, safe, fun, sparkler experience!  Of course the kids can't wait to do it all again next year! 

Olivia goes to the Dentist!

Olivia had her first check up at the dentist last week Monday.  I had no idea how this was going to go as it is a nightly battle at our house to get her to brush her teeth!  Actually, it's a battle for her to let me brush her teeth.  Being the youngest in the house and watching everyone else brush their own teeth, Olivia cannot understand why she would need mommy to help her!  Thankfully, she did really well - opening and closing at all the right times, and allowing the hygienist and dentist to do whatever they needed to do! 

Being that it's a pediatric dental office, the kids can watch movies while their teeth are being cleaned, so that is what she is doing in the picture!  And the sunglasses are to protect her eyes from the light and from any errant water or tools!

 

In spite of all our struggles at home, Dr. Sunny gave Olivia a thumbs up in taking care of her teeth!  The big kids did great too!  She thought it was fun to go to the dentist, so maybe brushing at home will be less of a struggle now too!