Oh to be five again, and as my Dad used to say “oh to be Grace.”  Meaning what a life this girl has.  She has had an exciting summer already and it’s only half over with!  We started the summer with an end of school party at her school.  It was quite a production.  Her class combined parties with the class next door and had a huge water party outside in the soccer fields next to the parking lot of the school, including sprinklers, slip-n-slides, baby pools, water guns, you name it.  They also had a parent bring huge bull frogs and the kids got a kick out of chasing after them or using them to chase after each other.  Grace was not a fan of the frogs (in fact she spent a lot of the time after they were released from the cooler mid-way through the party wrapped around my leg or screaming and running from them).  To top it all off, a parent organized an ice cream truck to come at the end of the party and hand out ice creams to the kids.  They loved it.

The first of June, Grace tried a nature camp at a bird sanctuary near our house.  It was only a few hours a day, but she seemed to love it.  They did “hikes,” looked at turtles, frogs, snakes, tadpoles and insects, did arts and crafts and had more than one popsicle, which I am sure what boosted the camp’s rating up in Grace’s book.

Also going on the first of June, we had swim team practice and swim meets for our neighborhood swim team.  Grace was considered a “half lapper” meaning she couldn’t swim the length of the pool by herself and had to have a middle schooler or high schooler help her.  We had practices everyday for a few weeks and then had 5 meets against other neighborhood swim teams.  Grace had a blast and was convinced that she had won every race she swam in.  She got to pick out whatever color ribbon she wanted (she chose pink of course) and was not deterred that the 4th place number of it meant that she had actually come in 4th in the race.

To round out the last part of June and July, Grace and Ginny have been going to camp at the church where they went to school this past year.  Grace is old enough now to go to the formal church camp part of it and gets to be with “big” kids (Kindergartners through 4th graders) and Ginny is going to the school part.  Grace loves the camp and has made some friends, while Ginny still cries everyday when I drop her off, even though she does tell me all about the actives and her friends on the drive home.

All in all, we have had a great summer so far.  Let’s see what the next half brings!

Here are some photos to go along with the post…

Grace at the school party… pre-frogs.  🙂

The ice cream truck at the party – definitely a big hit.

Ginny at Noah’s Ark.

Grace and Maddie at the neighborhood pool.  I thought it was a pretty creative way to carry the pool noodle and their bag.

Grace’s birthday party (PJs and a movie) watching the Lion King.

Happy 5th Birthday sweet girl!

Grace at the swim meet.

Another pink ribbon.  🙂