Summer Game Plan, TFW Style

This week we initiated a plan to give each day of the week a fun theme. We didn’t follow the plan, but it did give us inspiration to do a few new things around town (and even beyond). The plan came from a little paper Hallie printed off a year ago, and it is about time we used it.

Make-it Monday: World Cup soccer is in full swing. Mike watched both Mexico and Argentina play their games at the same time while grading papers. Who says guys can’t multitask?

Hallie and Landon went on a hunt for a skateboard. They succeeded at finding one at Play It Again Sports. Landon spent the rest of the afternoon practicing his form. The kid just has a knack for learning how to do physical activities. 

After spending some time on a little walk around the block, we came home for FHE. 

Later on, we finally settled down to make energy bites, which taste suspiciously like peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough balls.

Trip Tuesday: We went to the Camarillo Public Library, got library cards, and checked out some books. What a beautiful building! 

Landon signing his name on the back of his very own card

According to the Wikipedia entry for the library, the children's section was designed by a company that did design work for Disneyland, and other details evoke California Mission and Malibu styles. Fancy!

If the kids read a certain amount of hours they come back to the library to obtain prizes. All day Eliza asked, "Where are my prizes?" At the rate they are reading, they will be able to collect their prizes very soon.

Later in the day, Landon and Mike went over to the park so Landon could get some practice time in on his board.

Wet Wednesday: Mike took Landon to the pool while Hallie and Eliza ran errands. Fergus has become a bit fanatical about getting out of the house. He has pushed through the loose screens in a couple of open windows. Once out, he seems content to roam around the patio.

Thinking Thursday: This is where we changed things up a bit. We had done a thinking-like activity by going to the library that instead Hallie took the kids to Coach Patty’s Gymnastics. 

The missionaries came over for dinner. Eliza snuck a picture of them.

Fun Friday: Well, every day is fun here. Hallie and Mike went on a date to Mimi’s Café and then to WinCo. Bulk foods galore!

Landon and Mike put together a microblocks Eiffel Tower. 

We had a box with the kids’ bike helmets that apparently did not make the trip with us (or at least we have not found it yet), so Sarah form next door gave Landon an old bike helmet she had. She even stenciled his name on it.

We were able to have our first pizza and a movie night since moving here, featuring Topper’s Pizza and Madagascar 3.

We bought some Wint-O-Green Life Savers to show the kids how they spark when you bite them in the dark. 

The photo doesn't show it, but it really works! Here’s why.

The summer plan we found is only for the five weekdays. However, we extended the fun into the weekend. On Saturday while Mike worked his first Saturday gig, Hallie took the kids to the SantaBarbara Zoo. As Hallie pulled up and sign a line of cars she was nervous about how full this small zoo would be. It was Saturday of course but once inside it was not full at all and most of the parking was due to a wedding and birthday parties being held later that day.

A happy girl is shown above after a bird pooped on her forehead. Hallie does not normally carry baby wipes with her since both kids use the bathroom, so she had nothing to wipe the poop off with. Thank goodness for kind strangers who did have some wipes and a little girl who did not freak out. The incident was cleaned up quickly with no further problems.

At the zoo there is a children's play area where you can slide down a hill with cardboard pieces. There are lot of pieces that people have brought and left. Landon quickly found himself a piece and was sledding away. By the end he was even surfing down the hill. Eliza tried a few times as well but found the spider rope to be much more fun.

After work, Mike took the kids down to the park and then to the pool. Landon commented that he really enjoys having both so close. While the family was away, Hallie took some much needed time to nail down the talk she had to give the next day.

On Sunday, we tried something a little different: Mike took Eliza to church on his bike, and Landon came along on his skateboard. 

Hallie spoke on provident living, and Mike taught Landon’s Primary class. The ward is already finding ways to use us. Tonight after the kids are in bed we are having a special type of hot chocolate (Crio Brü, apparently quite popular in Utah) with the neighbors, who also brought us summer squash and tomatoes from the garden.