Summer catch up

We're back in town, but before I blog all our Minnesota adventures (and there are many Minnesota posts coming!), I wanted to catch up on the rest of our summer (school starts next week).

Elitch Gardens
When Brian and I did Savannah's Race, we won a family 4 pack of tickets to Elitch Gardens Theme Park, a parking voucher, and 4 meal vouchers. Our good friend Judi volunteered to take Lucas for the day, as we didn't want to risk Lucas getting tired, grumpy and having a meltdown, which is so very possible at the age of 2. We had a fabulous - free - day! It ended up being one of the hottest days of the summer, which was great for the water park portion of the park. We spent the morning doing rides (mainly kiddie rides), had lunch, and then hit the water park for the afternoon. The kids loved every minute of it. Here are some pics from the day; I didn't take the camera into the water park.
Last Club SOS
For our final Club SOS, we did a birthday party for needy children. This consisted of bringing cake mixes, frosting, candles and toys, which the children placed in birthday bags; these were then brought to children at a local women's shelter for children who have a birthday while at the shelter. We did 4 boy bags and 4 girl bags.
Then we had a cupcakes to celebrate our Summer of Service. We have LOVED every minute of Club SOS, and I know my children learned some valuable lessons about the importance of service; I have seen an increase in random acts of service around here. I still owe some of you a list of our SOS ideas - I haven't forgotten, just delayed.

End of T-Ball
Connor had a great T-ball season, we are so proud of him. It was great fun to watch the games, and he enjoyed playing. At his last practice he received a medal and a certificate, of which he is most proud.

Words and bikes
When my parents were here in July, we played some Scrabble (have I mentioned that they are SERIOUS Scrabble players? I'm talking cutthroat action here). Once day Connor wanted to play Scrabble on his own, and this is one of the words he spelled out:
I asked him why he spelled "obedience" (in his own way), and he said because he likes that word. I asked him why doesn't he do it more???

My parents bought Connor a big boy bike when they were visiting; he was SO excited. We left for MN the next day, so he hasn't had a chance to try riding it, but we are ready to get working on that!