Busch Gardens, again, and again, and again

For some reason, we have been to Busch Gardens more this year than in the past 5 years combined!

Here are just a few photos from one of our outings.


That is Brody in the red standing where the Griffon goes by and sprays water. He stood there FOREVER while we waited for Daddy.

Can You Guess?

What movie do you think we were going to see?




And look what goof balls my kids are.




I LOVE Harbour View for having free movies for kids in the summer!

School Supplies!

Brody will be starting Kindergarten in the fall, and is so excited. We went and bought all of his school supplies the other day. Look how proud he is!

Little Water Bugs

So, after one hour of swim lessons, our kids are totally hooked!

This is how they spent the evening after their first lesson:





And after their second half hour lesson, she had them doing a kneeling dive into the pool. This week, they have learned to jump off the diving board and swim to ladder, as well as swim strokes, then breathe, then stroke again.

It is CRAZY how fast they are learning, and they LOVE IT!

The Mat is Back

I made this mat a while ago, but keep forgetting to use it. The kid LOVE to help out when we use this. Cool, huh? Cheap labor, too.

:)

Slippin' and Slidin'

Do you remember these as a kid? :) We set this up in the front yard and our neighbor came over to play with the boys. They actually got pretty good at it, as you can see from the videos.

Swim Lessons

Brody and Seth are taking private swim lessons! Yay!

My boys seem to have a fear of water, which is not good when you live near the beach, a public pool, and your cousin has a pool in his backyard...

So, we have them in private lessons.

These are some photos from their first lesson.

They started out afraid to be in the water without a swim vest on, and by the end of their lesson, they were putting their faces under completely and going down a slide and going under completely. And they loved it. Go figure!

You can see from this first photo just how scared Brody was.... and then just watch how brave he became! This woman is an awesome teacher!












:)

Coolest Purchase Ever

I love Bing Cherries. LOVE THEM. Brody (5 year old) does as well. Problem is, he can't figure out how to get the pit out. So, I spend a lot of time (messy time) pitting cherries for him.

Well, I went to Target and bought a cherry pitter. This little contraption is incredible! It REALLY works!

On a Tight Schedule

So, summer hasn't been the easiest in the Akers' household. With my trying to work every day and the kids home, it makes for much boredom, and hence, acting out. The kids have had a rough time of it.

To give them a framework of what their day will entail (which I hope, will help them to cope with these long days) I have created a picture schedule for them to see each morning when they wake up. Thanks to my friend, Theresa, for the idea!

The kids seem to enjoy it so far, and it even helped them to get ready quicker today, seeing that they had day camp and gymnastics tonight!

Here's hoping the summer gets a tad easier!


The schedule runs the entire height of our fridge, and has slits where I can swap out the daily tasks (which I created by finding clip art online, printing, then laminating).





Here is a close-up.