Treasure the Doing

I was right, this is our summer. Our summer of freedom and fun. I wake up every morning thinking how I can wear the boys out. The only time we are indoors is when we are eating or sleeping and I could not be more happy about that.

I know I've quoted her before, but I just love this reminder:

I am trying my best to focus on the doing this summer. I can't ignore every distraction, but we certainly have been doing a lot of doing. 

We are barreling through our summer bucket list.

This is what I look like on a day to day basis:

Children, double stroller, water, snacks, sunscreen, and camera in tow.

All to invoke the most sincere fascination over things like paper train tickets.

Near the beginning of our summer festivities was a Disney festival downtown. We were under the impression that Mickey Mouse was going to be there, which thrilled Blake beyond belief. He thought that Mickey was flying in from Disneyland. Mickey Mouse did not end up being there, and Blake was not as excited about the substitution; a cardboard cutout of Woody.

He got over it when he came to the conclusion that Mickey Mouse must be taking a nap. And a train ride helped to ease his disappointment.

Nash and I crammed in the little train too, resulting in some serious hair tickling (whoops).

We love friends.

Even if it means piling on top of each other in our very tiny backyard pool.

We especially love friends that are twin girls. There are two sets in our neighborhood and our boys sure dote over them.

We have played at 14 different parks so far. Our list is constantly growing and I have no doubt that we will far surpass our summer goal of 20 parks. I love how visiting so many parks is expanding our horizons. One of our favorite parks had a splash pad and a foot deep pond to wade in.

Nash was all for consuming the pond water.

We paid another visit to the children's museum.

Nash knows all about my mantra:

There was a new exhibit that featured life size game pieces. Blake is head over heels about anything with the number 3 since he is 3 years old. His sandwiches have to be cut into thirds. He asks for three pieces of candy when given the option. He moves on to the next task only after three more minutes. The list goes on. So, naturally, he was ecstatic when he found a pool ball that matched his shirt and had the number 3. 

We like to be in water whenever possible. We stopped at the shooting fountains in a shopping center downtown.

Once again, Nash tried to slurp up any standing water.

My prediction was that Nash would run right into the sporadically shooting streams of water.

And that Blake would run away from them as fast as possible. My predictions were spot on.

Blake was much happier sitting by the waterfall on the sidelines.

We also made our way to our annual neighborhood carnival. It doesn't get much better than a bounce house obstacle course.

Sweet Brooklyn, the same friend that showed Blake the ropes last year at the carnival, stayed by our side all morning and helped Nash through the obstacle course several times. 

There was some shooting of rockets involved.

And a carnival wouldn't be a carnival without some cotton candy.

I cannot believe this summer is already half way over.

Time is spilling away so much more quickly than I can seem to bottle it up.