QuaranSummer 2020

We are in full on Fall mode, but I still want to document and remember things from this summer... so as I always say better late than never!

This was such a weird summer, but also one of my favorite summers of my adult life. Working from home full time has changed things so much for our family life. Work is no longer a huge stressor for me since I don't have to deal with commuting, meal prep, missing my kids, getting distracted by coworkers, or being inside all day long. 

We spent a lot of time outside playing soccer, running around, going on walks, and just soaking up the sun. My goal for the summer was to get Cora riding her bike. We ended up bike riding nearly every day and it quickly became Cora's favorite thing to do. Luckily, we are a couple doors down from our town's bike trail entrance so we spent a lot of time on that trail. where we enter, there is a flat section to the right and a large hill to the left. We spent the first couple weeks exclusively riding on the flat part of the trail until Cora worked up her skills and courage to try the large hill.  She did awesome on the hill and a couple days into riding down the hill she really started to love it.  One day we were riding and there was a young girl at the top of the hill working up the courage to ride down.  Cora gave her a little encouragement and we went on our way.  Later in the trail we ran into the girl and her family. Her dad said that Cora gave the little girl the courage to ride down the hill. Cora was so excited to inspire the little girl to ride down the hill and I could see Cora become that much more confident in riding her bike.

Towards the end of the summer, we got a pool pass and hit the pool every other day. The first day, Cora took her test to get the yellow band and passed. When she walked out the door with her new yellow band, she threw up both her hands and shouted "I DID IT!"  We found that we loved the earlier pool time which was mostly old people and us. Cora tested for her green band at the end of the summer and it was so sweet watching all our old people cheer her on and congratulate her. 

We got to spend lots of time as a family this summer. Over the last year, Ben started taking one day off a week and we had an intentional family day. We'd go swimming, hiking, play outside, cook big family meals, watch movies, etc. Overall, we really just enjoyed spending time together all summer long.

2019 Summer To Do List

We've never really done a seasonal bucket list before, but figured this is the time to start. My schedule is more flexible than ever and our kids are at an age where it is much easier to get out and about and enjoy activities as a family. I had a couple things around town that I wanted to try and I added some of our favorite places we like to go. It was fun to get Cora involved in making the list and seeing how many pool/sleepover combinations she could come up with. I'm looking forward to seeing if we can fit all of this in our 11 weeks of summer break. I'll be updating with links as we complete activities.

+ Pool (purchase passes)
+ Bike Riding
+ Cincinnati Art Museum (Burning Man Exhibit) Phase 1 and Phase 2
+ Ault Park and hiking
+ Highfield Discovery Center
+ Zoo Trip
+ Sharon Woods, Gorge Trail, and Root Beer Stand
+ River walk and Smale Park (carousel?)
+ Lemonade Stand
+ Taft Museum (Patrick Dougherty sculpture)
+ Cookout
+ Bike Riding
+ Sleepover with Grandparents (double sleepover)
+ Picnic
+ Parade (4th of July)
+ Louisville trip
+ Farmers Market
+ Movie in theaters (or drive in?)
+ Dye hair mermaid colors
+ Face paint
+ Play date
+ Sleepover with aunt and uncle
+ Paint inside play cottage
+ Vacation... Cottage!

Another Lemonade Stand

Cora loved running a lemonade stand last year, and she has been asking every weekend for the last month if she could have another one. This weekend, we finally got around to buying all the supplies and had two lemonade stands. We set up our front porch side table, some cute fabric, and the same sign from last year. We use the same drink dispenser be bought last year and it makes the setup so easy. Total setup takes about 10 minutes and the kids usually love spending about an hour or two selling lemonade.

Our neighbor friends came over to help out. The kids loved running around as we waited for the next customer. When a customer would come by, they would all rush to fill up the drinks and collect the money. They loved pitching in to help out and they were so excited to get a little bit of the profits.

Cora paid me back for the lemonade supplies, paid her friends, and still managed to make a good amount of money. Cora spent quite a bit of time picking out a treat at Target. She finally settled on two little stuffed animal keychains and even picked one out for her sister.

Cora had so much fun Saturday, she wanted to run another stand on Sunday. We didn't have quite as many customers, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Cora loves the social aspect of the lemonade stand, so she loved having my parents stop by and hang out for a bit.

Ida wasn't quite old enough last year to help with the stand, but she is getting there this year. She loves hanging around, waving at all of the cars, and tasting the lemonade.

We love our little lemonade stand and I love watching my girlies work hard.

Family Adventures: Sharon Woods Creek

Sharon Woods is one of those Cincinnati parks I occasionally forget about (it's not that close to our home), but whenever it comes up I love to make a quick trip to hang out for a bit. I love looking back at some of our trips there with friends and seeing how much our girls have grown. Our favorite part of Sharon Woods is definitely this little spot on the creek.

It's fun to watch as their different personalities come out. Cora loves to jump right in and splash around while Ida loves to slowly stick her toes in and get used to the water. 

Cora loved to encourage and cheer on Ida as she started to get used to the water. I love watching her be a cheerleader for her little sister... and I also love watching how confident Ida gets when she knows that her sister believes in her. 

 I love these sweet adventures with my girls!

Lightning Bugs

Our backyard has turned out to be one of the best place to hunt fireflies.  One evening, Cora and I headed downstairs to watch the sunset and we ran around catching lightning bugs for quite a while. It became one of the activities that Cora loved talking about and asking if it was time for the lightning bugs to come out.

We saved a queso jar, painted the top, and set it up so we could catch fireflies.  We drilled a couple of holes, made sure we put a damp paper towel in the jar (keep the air in the jar humid), and added some grass and flowers so there was something for them to climb around on. The first night we put bugs in our firefly jar, Cora was obsessed. She couldn't stop yelling whenever her bugs would do something. She put her arm around Ida and showed her the bugs saying "It's nature, Ida! It's nature!"

Each evening, we've gone out and released the lightning bugs that we had in the jar that day and catch new ones.  It has been fun observing the bugs, running around catching new ones, and coming up with new names for the bugs (Zemo, Mr Bugface, Eno, Neno, her cousins names, Mr Chubbyface, Xylophone, etc).

I love these sweet summer evenings of running around the backyard after those blinking lights and watching the sunset behind the trees.