Summer Nights With Our Nieces

Skylee and Anna Holly stayed with us for the past week while their parents were in Hawaii. We were determined to make it a fantastic week full of fun summertime activities. 

Kristin and Dan dropped the kids off on Sunday morning. The weather was terrible this day so we had to find some fun indoor activities for the kiddos. We made sourdough pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast, we made sourdough bread we took one loaf to Blake for Father's day and one loaf to Aleene (grandma-great). The kids love visiting their grandparents. We ended the day with a movie and a big bowl of popcorn. 

On Monday I had work off for Juneteenth so the girls got to spend the day hanging out with me. Skylee is out of school and we let Anna Holly play hooky. I took the girls (and Tex) to their favorite park - affectionately known as the fun park. This park has a zipline, some slides, some swings, and lots of places to climb. This is their favorite park in Daybreak. 

A picture Skylee took of her sister

On Tuesday we took the girls to a baseball game. We used to take Skylee all the time when she was little, but we haven't taken Anna Holly to many baseball games. We took Trax, the light rail, from our house to the stadium. The girls loved getting to ride on the train. As soon as we walked in we saw the Salt Lake Bee's mascot - Bumble. Anna Holly was so thrilled. From there it was all uphill. We sat on the grass behind the outfield and watched the game. Anna Holly and Skylee rode the safety train (Alison and I were pretty stoked Skylee is old enough to ride with her sister so we don't have to.) The kids also played at the fun zone (a little jungle gym at the back of the ballpark) and ate lots of treats. Our big treat tonight was a couple of Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches from Macs a la Mode. The owner of Macs a la Mode is married to one of my buddies from the San Jose Mission so we like to support their business. The ice cream sandwiches are pretty amazing. We shared a cookies and cream sandwich and a fruity pebble sandwich. Other highlights of the game included watching the produce race (or as Anna Holly calls it - the food race) where people dressed as produce race around the warning track of the ballpark. Skylee danced her heart out and made an appearance on the scoreboard. She was thrilled. We also enjoyed singing a rousing chorus of "Take Me Out of the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. A grand time was had by all on this night at the ballpark. The Bees won the game 4-2. 

On Wednesday both girls had a dance class in the evening so we took a break from our fun summer activities. It was a typical day. Anna Holly went to her school/daycare and Skylee stayed at our house. She read books, did some learning activities, and watched a show on her tablet while we worked. She was showing signs of boredom so I jokingly suggested that she paint our fence. She thought that sounded fun, especially when we told her we would give her $100 for painting our fence. We recently received a notice from our HOA that our fence needed to be restained (it really did) and we wanted to knock it out this week. So this was a win for everyone. 

One of the things we did with Skylee while she was here was count plant points. She would get a plant point for each plant she incorporated into her meals. We started counting plant points when we watched the girls in May. Back in May, we told Skylee that when she got 50 plant points we would buy her a stuffed narwhal. She hit 50 plant points this week so we bought her the stuffie. We also started her on the next challenge. We told her that if she could get to 180 plant points by the time we go with them to Disneyland in October that we would buy her a spider bot and if she got to 250 by that time we would buy her armor for the spider bot. 

Skylee cutting up some strawberries so that she can get a plant point

On Thursday Anna Holly was super excited to go to school because it was Disney day and she got to dress up as Minnie Mouse. She is pretty adorable. Alison started calling her baby gorgeous. When we would put her to bed Alison would say, "goodnight baby gorgeous." I would usually say, "goodnight little rascal" and she would respond, "I am not a rascal, I am baby gorgeous!" It is so cute. 

Today Skylee also started painting the fence. I helped her get set up and talked through a game plan with her. Then I let her loose on the fence. Alison and I would check on her when we had breaks on our work day. I would also go out and help her for a bit, if I had some free time, or if I was listening to a training that I could take on my phone. Skylee would paint for a couple of hours and then take a break to eat some food and relax. After her breaks, she would put in another couple of hours of work. She made really great progress today. 

Tonight we were going to have a picnic by the lake and go paddleboarding. However, it was fairly windy and we were debating back and forth on whether we should load the paddle boards onto our car and take them to the lake. After going back and forth a couple of times we decided not to bring them. It was the right decision because we would end up getting chased away from the lake by a fast-moving thunderstorm. 

Before the thunderstorm came we met up with Jake and Meg by the lake and went to the food trucks for dinner. On Thursday nights food trucks come to Daybreak. Anna Holly was very confused about what a food truck was, but once we got there she figured it out and was pretty excited to have choices for dinner. We bought dinner and found a grassy spot to eat and for dessert, we hit up the churro truck - we even went back a few times. The storm rolled in while we were waiting for our last batch of churros and we all got a little wet waiting, but it was worth it for a fresh batch. 

On Friday Skylee finished painting the fence. I helped her out, but she worked so hard to get it done. It looks great! Skylee even had fun with this project and it kept her busy most of Thursday and Friday. She told us she felt a little bit like Tom Sawyer painting away all day. 

On Friday night we went to another Bee's game. These kids love going to the ballpark. We took Trax again and the kids loved it. They did most of the same things at the game - rolled around on the grass, rode the safety train, watched the produce race, and ate lots of treats. This time around Skylee and Alison got ice cream scoops in a mini baseball helmet. Those helmets turned out to be the girl's favorite souvenirs. We had a great time at the ballpark, even though the Bees lost 2-1. 

On Saturday we woke up and ate sourdough pancakes. Alison and I are really perfecting sourdough pancakes and the girls love them. Then we headed to the bank to get Skylee's cash. I kind of wanted to pay her with a $100 bill, but she wanted small bills so she could buy things more easily. After the bank, we headed to the Daybreak farmers market so Skylee could spend some of her hard-earned cash. She bought some fancy pants lotion. We found a booth at the farmers market selling alfajores (Argentinian cookies) so we bought some to share with the girls. They loved them. 

In the afternoon we went paddleboarding on Daybreak Lake. This is a favorite summertime activity. It was a little windy, which made the paddleboarding challenging, but we all had fun. Anna Holly sat on the front of my board. Her favorite parts were chasing ducks around the lake (she thought we would catch one for sure), looking out for crocodiles (they aren't really any at the lake, but she thinks there is one), and playing with the echo under the bridge. 

Saturday night we took the girls to Cowabunga Bay. One of my friends from my mission, Joey Parker, is a realtor, and his agency rented out the waterpark for the night. He invited me to come to hang out. Since we had the girls we took him up on his offer. The girls love Cowabunga Bay. Skylee and I went and rode on all of the water slides while Alison hung out with Anna Holly in the kiddie area. Then we all went and rode around the lazy river. I think the girls would have stayed there all night if we would have let them. 

We came home from the waterpark and got everyone bathed and ready for bed. Then we ate the last of our alfajores and watched the third episode of Ms. Marvel. We have been watching this show with the girls all week. Skylee especially loves it. Then it was time for their last sleep before their parents came home. 

On Sunday morning we woke up and had another round of sourdough pancakes. Then we got the girls dressed and packed and we headed to my cousin Ryan's missionary farewell. After the farewell, we took the girls home to their parents. They were so excited to be home with their folks. 

We had a great week enjoying summertime and making memories with our nieces. We sure do love them.