Summer 2017, so far

The Fourth of July has come and gone, and we are officially in the thick of summer!! I've had lots of sweet emails asking about my absence from the blog, so I thought I'd take some time to share how our summer has been going so far.

We've been watching Leila play TONS of softball! She got recruited to travel ball this summer, and after three years of saying no we finally said yes. It's been such a great experience! She's made lots of new friends (as have we) and she's definitely grown as a pitcher.

Swim lessons. Everyday. Both girls have been in swim lessons every summer since they were babies. Leila took right to it, Coco, not at all. Every year she's started at square one, and hated every single second of it. However living in California, where so many people have pools, and we have beaches and lakes everywhere, we knew we had to make swimming something that she was (at least) proficient at. I am SO happy to say that something finally clicked, and she's become a little fish this summer! She's impressed her teachers, myself and Tony and herself! I've signed her up for every session that we are in town for, and she's become such an awesome little swimmer!!

Lots of time at the Farmer's Market. Summer fruit is so perfect and delicious, how could we not!?!

Barbecues and hangouts with friends. We do this as much as possible!

Beach time. Last week we were in Half Moon Bay and saw SO many humpback whales, pretty darn close. It was so incredible, and I love being constantly reminded of how blessed we are to live where we do, and raise our girls in such an awesome place!

Lots of basic stay home things like baking cakes. Such a simple little pleasure, but they love it!

CHORE STICKS!! Once a day the girls have to pick a chore stick. If they complain about the chore they chose, they have to choose a second. Each girl complained once (and got stuck with their original chore, and a second,) and once was all it took for them to not complain anymore ;)

We have also spent lots of time at the library - all three of us are doing the summer reading programs and having fun with it! I've also said countless times "EMBRACE THE BOREDOM!" I really feel like they don't need to be constantly entertained, and being bored is ok. It encourages creativity. They've been having fun watching TV and movies too, creating books and art, and playing games like Monopoly and Candyland.

Our summer has been wonderful so far, and I hope yours has too! What have you been up to?!