Good bye summer!

I still can't believe that summer is over!  We all really enjoyed the quiet, laid back days at home exploring, playing and creating. 

 Avery in his ninja training, attempting to be stronger.  He decided that the best way to be stronger was to carry Alia around.  She liked this arrangement just as much as he did. 

 They spent hours building this sled from things around the house.  When it was completed he asked if he could take it down the stairs.  I calmly explained the risks involved and let him know he would most likely be a "fail" video.  He thought it over and decided he didn't want to get hurt.  Thank goodness!  For the record I never would have let him go down, but I did want him to think through the choice and make the best one because there will be times when he is with his friends and he will be dared to do crazy things. 

 The stick on the side with all of the duct tape and necklaces was his brake! 

 I bought clay from JoAnns and we made pots and dishes.  This picture shows Avery's covered dish, bowl, plate, and coral. 

 Here is the cat I made for Alia and Alia's bowl and lid.

 They played together really well this year.  I don't know if it was their age or the fact that they didn't want me to find something to do if they didn't get along because that usually involved sight words, reading or worksheets.

 Notice the dinosaurs in both of these pictures.  Avery created the teams of dinosaurs so they could fight.  Interesting that Avery has all of the big dinosaurs and Alia has all of the little ones. 

 We were making bread and I wanted to show them what happens with the yeast and how it makes carbon dioxide.  They watched the balloon grow bigger throughout the day.


 When Scott got home he decided to show them what happens when you pour that invisible carbon dioxide over candles.  It was magic!

 We made window catchers. 

 

 We were invited to water days at a friend's house. The goal here was to build a series of interconnected pipes for the water and marble to go through.  It took a few attempts but they eventually solved it.

 Water limbo!

 We woke up one morning to find our tomatoes like this!

 Scott had fun drawing faces while we all slept.  Notice the ninjas fighting and the friend's concern in the background. 

 This summer Avery collected so many bugs, spiders and snakes.  This snake is a northern brown snake.  He eats snails and worms and is harmless.  He has special teeth that allow him to extract the snail from the shell.  There is another snake here that looks almost identical in color and size but has yellow on its tail.  That snake is poisonous so we had a long lesson about the differences.  We actually found that snake today in our garden.


 Here he is with a wolf spider.  He loves watching him devour other spiders whole.  This spider is a ground spider.  He doesn't make a web, he makes a hole and covers it and then ambushes his prey.  He is fun to watch.  I love that Avery goes exploring everyday for food for his friend.

 Isn't he huge?!  

 Another craft.....I remember making these as kids.  These ones glow in the dark and light up their rooms at night.

 I loved this guy Avery created...he is a super hero. 

Happy 7th Birthday Avery!

I can't believe it's been 7 years already!  I had him answer his annual questions today and this is what he said:

1.  Favorite color:  Purple (because Jesus likes to wear purple), red, blue and yellow

2.  Favorite toy:  Maia (just kidding!) My robot Grandpa and Grandma Davis gave me.

3.  Favorite food:  Cherries

4.  Favorite animal:  Fluffy, Maia, and Venus

5.  Favorite book:  Books on how things work.

6.  Best friend:  Jaycent, Austin, and Gaven

7.  Favorite thing to do outside:  Explore nature

8.  Favorite holiday:  Christmas 

9.  When I grow up I want to be a scientist because I want to make cool experiments.

10.  Favorite subject in school:  P.E.  Least favorite:  Writing

11.  If you could  buy anything in the world what would you choose?  Chimpanzee

12.  What do you like most about yourself?  I am a really good scientist.

13.  What is your biggest accomplishment this year?  Doing math

14.  What do you want to do next year?  Go on a roller coaster.

15.  What is your favorite thing to do?  Go to water parks because I love the fun slides.

16.  I like to collect:  Spiders and animals I find.

17.  What is your favorite family tradition?  Going to water parks.

18.  What was your favorite memory this year?  Going to the water park in Daytona Beach Fl.

Avery and Banana- 7 years

Avery and Banana- 6 years

 For his birthday we got him a hamster.  He named him Fluffy and he adores him!  He gets up early each morning so he can play with Fluffy. 

He is working on taming Fluffy. The bathtub is the perfect place because he can't get away! 

Fluffy is a long haired teddy bear hamster.  I had the same kind of hamster growing up.

 

We headed to Platteville this weekend to celebrate Avery's birthday and to go to the annual Wunderlin Christmas in July.  We decided since we didn't have a true ice cream cake in Florida that we would make up for it in Platteville. 

 
 Papa and Bama

 
 Kay and Cassie


 We found Bama's Charlie Chaplin doll in the basement and Alia fell in love!  Avery stole the hat and made a mustache and became a spy.

Since we don't get together for the holidays anymore we started doing Christmas in July.  We had a wonderful picnic at Smith Park this year complete with Christmas decorations!  It was nice to see everyone.


 Grandpa Wunderlin and his kids.  Left to Right: Danny, Cletus, Cheryl
Larry, Judy, Sue and Linda

 

 The Huehne Family and Grandpa Wunderlin.  Corissa, Duane, Cheryl and Patrick

Dad and Mom with my family

 Mark and Sue Droessler and family.  Left to Right Sara, Riley, Joy, Jake
Josh, Mark, Sue and Kylee

 Linda Hardyman and Family.  Left to Right Alexis, Sarah, Peyton, Charlie, Linda and Stacie

 

 Mike and Shaun Hardy and Cassie

 Larry Wunderlin and Family.  Left to Right:  Ruby, Maggie, Pollyanna, Marcus, Larry and Parker

 

Judy VanNatta Family.  Judy sent me this photo since they were not all there the day of the picnic. 

4th of July Florida Style

 We decided to spend the 4th with the Vannatta family this year.  We had so much fun spending time with them all!

 Happy 4th!

 Ormond Beach threw an amazing party!  We enjoyed magicians, jugglers, music, inflatables and lots of crafts all for free.  I was impressed with all the city did to celebrate the 4th.  Scott even got to join in on the fun when the juggler pulled him on stage!

 Playing on one of the inflatables.  You take turns in each of the windows trying to knock the person off the center and then you get a turn in the center. Jaycee did a great job staying on the platform.

 Alia had a lot of fun on the slide.

 Balloon animals!  Avery asked for a sword, Jaycee a monkey, Austin a parrot and Alia a snake.

 We spent a day at Ponce Inlet just south of Daytona Beach.  It was a beautiful area with very clear water.  We all had fun playing in the waves.   Jaycee is always so full of life and ready for anything.  

 Gaven took Scott out for a few rounds of surfing.  It was fun watching Gaven, Joel and Scott surf.


Perfect photo bomb opportunity!

 After the beach they would continue to swim in the pool. They would swim and run around this pool until they had the water spinning really fast!


 When we asked Avery what he wanted to do for his birthday he said, "celebrate with my cousins and go to a water park!"  We spent a whole day at the Daytona Lagoon.  It was a great little water park with a lot of fun slides and a lazy river.  Alia went down all of the big, scary slides.  At one point she and Scott went down a huge tube slide. The slide was fully enclosed and pitch black. They were on a partially flat tube and half way down they flipped off. Alia hung on to the tube and Scott hung on to Alia. She came out a little wide eyed but decided that it was still tons of fun.  It didn't stop her from going down again and again!

 
See the purple, curly tube slide in the back behind the bucket?  That's the one Alia and Scott flipped on!


There was an arcade at the water park as well.

 Happy 15th and 7th birthday Gaven and Avery!
The boys asked for an ice cream cake so we found one at a Publix.  We were quite surprised when we cut into the cake and it was a literal vanilla cake with ice cream under it!  There wasn't even an oreo crust. 

 Playing around with the frosting.

 It was impossible to get a good shot of them all.  Gaven never did take his shirt down and each shot has one of the kids looking at him. This was our best picture.

 Happy Birthday Avery!!!!

 My silly, sweet Austin

We went to Daytona Beach in the evening to enjoy the the festivities.  We enjoyed quite a few performers.  The guy that got out of the straight jacket and chains in under 2 minutes was impressive.  Scott and the kids enjoyed a ride in the ferris wheel overlooking the ocean and park.


 Gaven at his best!


Amanda painted her nails!  Thanks for the fun trip, we love you : )