Although much of my summer has a certain Groundhog Day feature to it – bar study remains relentless and mostly boring – my SONS are not suffering for that fact. If you wanted to write a manual for “how to create the ideal summer experience for your preschool-aged children,” then look no further than Jack and Liam’s Summertime Extravaganza 2012. Take two little boys, mix in two sets of involved grandparents and an aunt or two, and you’ve got the makings of a fabulous summer season. Here are some pix of what we’ve been up to (I escape the clutches of barbri as often as I can, so I’m in some of these, too! The bonus of having children during bar review – they force you to take some fun time away, always a good idea.)
Some Light Farming
Getting All Retro by Going to See Pixar’s Brave at the Drive In
(subtitled – yes, there are still drive ins! This one is just outside Nashville.)
Checking out the (Prehistoric) Wildlife at the Zoo.
We walked down the leafy trail toward the first dinosaur – a friendly herbivore that blinked its eyes and turned its head. Jack saw it and – well his reaction is below. I would have paid fifty dollars all over again, just to watch that absolutely priceless reaction. He’s been learning a lot about dinosaurs, and to see a “real” one in the “flesh” blew his mind – all our prior exhortations about their fakeness went unheeded, and I was glad.
Until we meandered down the path towards dino #2 – a meat eater with some mad crazy teeth and a water-spitting feature that flipped Jack from “wildly excited” to “terrified out of his mind.” So, we carried his quivering frame the rest of the way. Liam, of course, strutted down the path without blinking an eye.
Besides rocking Jack’s world at the zoo and watching drive in movies, the boys have gone to playgrounds (indoor and out), gone on hikes, gone swimming in lakes and pools, picked tomatoes from my father’s garden, ridden on a boat, and done myriad other activities that have made this summer the best on record. Although we’re looking forward to getting permanently into our new place (spared the tropical storm, by the by), I’ll be sad to see this amazing summer end. Bar review, not so much – but that aside, summer 2012 has been just perfect.
We had the same dinosaur exhibit here for a couple of summers. All I could say was thank heaven for free-member-preview days, because both years, Pea freaked the hell out. She wouldn’t even walk past that area of the zoo for months afterward! (And this is a dino-oriented kid!) (But M and I loved it!)
Your boys are dolls. I can’t believe how big they are!