Reading, diving boards, and Noodlympics...

I had really good intentions of blogging regularly this summer...well...It's been a fantastic one anyway.  Little Miss won third place in the library's summer reading program for her age group.   I was impressed with the quality (and value) of all the prizes, not to mention impressed with Little Miss!  And the third place prize couldn't have been more perfect for her for this summer.  It was all pool stuff.  A gigantic beach ball (that only Loverboy has enough hot air to get it blown up), sunscreen, mask and snorkle, a beach towel, stuff I'm probably forgetting, AND 10 passes to the Dana Vollmer (yes, the gold medal winning, world record setting Dana Vollmer--she's from here) aquatic center (also known less glamorously as "city pool").  Little Miss went there during Girl Scout camp and loooooved it, especially the twisty slide, the likes of which none of the pools in our community have.  Loverboy's balking at going for some reason, and Little Miss figured out she'd have to waste use up one of those precious vouchers to get him in, so...it looks like I'll get to cavort in my swim skivvies with the greater population of the city pool.  Which I've so loved doing in more sparsely populated country club/activity center pools...yea.  The sacrifices of motherhood (insert martyred sigh).

Here's Little Miss combining reading club goodies with swim outing.  Those two activities defined our June and July. 

Also in the summer achievement category for Little Miss...she  took her first leap from the diving board at the club pool.  We thought it was down for repairs for the whole summer, much to her disappointment--this was gonna be her year to do it!!  We were surprised to find it was replaced already when we went there last week on the day the activity center/lap pool (which we usually go to since it's closer) was closed for maintenance.  She saw it, looked at me, said "I'm doing it," tossed down her towel, walked over to it, paused for just a second at the end of the board, let out her signature screech, and DID IT!!

And did it some more.

And some more.

The McKinney Bandy sisters have been visiting for the last few days, and frankly, the pool wears them out, so we were there every day.  The elder Miss Bandy watched her cousin leap a few times, and then took to the board herself.

And continued to repeat the process over and over and over....

Little sister Lolo was not to be left out of the jumping fun. 

Note the ginormous beach ball.  I believe 48" of pool fun it said on the package.

When not in the pool themselves, they've been watching a lot of Olympics coverage.  I think I've found a kindred Olympics lover in Lolly.  Annie would find something else to do occassionally, Lolo was always darting in and out from the family room to the playroom, but Lolly was usually happy for long stretches of time to be sitting with me on the couch watching volleyball, swimming, water polo (who knew?) or whatever, and chanting "U-S-A!"

We recreated a little of the excitement at home yesterday with the first annual "Noodlympics."   Get it?  Everything is made from pool noodles.  Noodle Olympics.  It sounds a lot like "nude olympics" when you say it out loud.  And while the ancient Greeks may have played that way...we're not. 

There was noodle ring toss.

A noodle agility race.

And a variety of noodle net games.

There was also a noodle wicket game that involved kicking balls through them, but Lolo turned it into a noodle limbo game.

Annie took gold in "swinging until your head is literally up in the pecan tree branches."  I told Loverboy that he put that too close to the tree back there!  And in the part of the yard that get no shade in the afternoon...sheesh.

After about fifteen minutes in the 106 degree Texas summer heat, Lolo looked at me and said "I gone inside" and promptly turned and did so.  Maybe we'll hold off on the final rounds of the Noodle Games until October or so...

A little bit of the summer fun so far...

It's been a busy summer of fun for the Nockinbirds.  We took in a Fort Worth Cats baseball game.  It was Little Miss's first, but given her enthusiasm (especially for Dodger, the mascot) it won't be the last.  Also, with all tickets for Sunday games being $5, it's pretty easy on the pocketbook.

Little Miss was verrry alert for foul balls.  So alert she insisted on staying for most of the second game of the double header, hoping to catch a ball.  I was amazed at how closely she was following the game until I realized it was steely concentration trying to will a foul ball to come our way.  Most them went out into the parking lot...luckily NOT on our car.

It was fun that Dodger, as well as the players between the games, were very accessible.

And there were snowcones!  And pretzels....and hotdogs...and Cracker Jacks...and...

lots and lots of fun.

The next week was Girl Scout Twilight Camp.  Here Little Miss and cousin Lolly sit upon their "sit-upons" which they decorated with duct tape. 

They learned a lot of fun songs, which they sang over and over and over and over again.  Here, I think, was their favorite, "Penguins, attention!" 

An evening snowcone after I picked them up for camp was refreshing.  And a last sugar rush just before bedtime.

Lest you think Lolo was left out of the fun, she seemed to have had a pretty good time being the only child for a few hours every evening.

She went through the mini-door into this restaurant about twenty times...then refused to do it again once I got my camera out.

I channeled my inner handyman and took both of them by myself to a Build and Grow.  They made monkey-powered planes ala the Madagasgar movie.  Frankly, it was one of the more difficult projects lately, but we all left with fingers intact, so I say it was a success.

We went to the library's reading club during the week and got to meet a search and rescue dog..but I don't know how to get pictures off my iphone and onto my blog yet...they thoroughly enjoyed that, as did Molly.  Saturday, after the Build and Grow, we went back to the library to see a magician.  They both were really into his show.  I prefered his accordian playing before the magic act, myself.

We had some pool time with Uncle Trey, though Lolo refused to leave the baby pool.  She reminds me a lot of..me.  Water in my ears?  NO, thank you very much.  The older two and I stayed in the lap pool, which I love since it's deepest part is 4'6".  No water in the ears.

We've continued to spend a good deal of time at our library, often leaving with a LOT of loot.  Little Miss even got to hug Smokey Bear (again, the iphone picture transfer thingy.  I'll get Loverboy to help out with my technophobia and get those pics up eventually)

Back at the Nockinbird orchard, we have  had so many peaches, they were breaking the branches.  Little Miss harvested the few she could reach.

And juggled the wormy one.

Which Emily enjoyed after it hit the ground.

Loving the lazy days of summer!