Heads in the Clouds

This week we spent a day with our heads in the clouds! Blake and I have both flown on planes, but we have never just been to watch the planes take off and land. Thankfully our airport has a really awesome Observation Deck. We spent the morning there exploring!

Blake loved watching the planes take off. There were small  planes and even a few big planes!

There was also a little play area where plane got some energy out!

Today just made my heart happy. Exploring something new with Blake was the best. Spread your wings, little one. You will go so many places!

Little Fish

Pool days have been the high light of our summer and I have a little fish in the making! Between swim lessons and friends, Blake is really starting to love having fun in the water!

We put Blake in private swim lessons at the YMCA. He was more than hesitant about this to begin with. He was nervous that they were going to just put his head under and let him sink. Thankfully Ms. Stephanie proved him wrong and showed him that water can be fun! He is learning great swimming skills with her. Still no head under the water... but we are working on it.

In addition to Ms. Stephanie, Hunter has encouraged Blake to be a little more daring in the water. These two jumped into the water about a million times together! Then they would swim to the steps on their own. They were exhausted after that! Haha!

We still have half the summer left! We will see how much more swimming we can do!

Sunflowers

There is a really awesome place off of the Greenway in Raleigh that has Sunflower fields. It is honestly amazing to see. Just endless yellow sunflowers! They are so beautiful. This year Blake and I got to go see them. We had to walk/ride a bike about a mile down the Greenway Trail until we found them. :) It was a great adventure!

HorseBack Riding

Both sides of my family were raised on farm land... so I like to share those moments and adventures with Blake! This week we went horse back riding! He has pet a horse before, but this was his first time actually riding it.

Blake amazes me sometimes. As a parent, I always think of the different ways I think he will act. For example, I was betting that he would get really nervous and scared when he saw how big the horse was. Nope! He usually surprises me and acts very confidently. He and I were riding buddy on the same horse. He looked at me get on that horse and then he just jumped right up there himself. No fear! In fact, when we started riding on the trail, he wanted our horse to go faster! He wanted to gallop! Haha! Maybe next time, kiddo!

We rode at a place called Happy Trails. I especially love this place because they rescue a lot of their horses. Our horse's name was Toba because she is from Toba, Canada. She was basically abandoned and left for dead in a field when she was 8 years old. Now she is happy and healthy and 28 years old! There are so many great stories like this!

We had so much fun!

4th of July

This Summer is flying by. I can't believe that it is July already.

One of my favorite holidays is July 4th! I love the excitement and the "summer feel" that it has. We took full advantage of the day. I tried explaining the meaning of the 4th of July to Blake. I went with the approach that it was America's birthday. Not sure that worked because Blake quickly corrected me that there was no birthday party and gifts and cake. Hmm.. maybe he had a point?! In my parenting I am in the phase where I am sometimes struggling how to connect the communication gap between adult and 5 year old. HAHA!

So, we just decided to move past the history lesson and have some fun! We did marble painting to look like fireworks. Blake had a lot of fun with the paint. I think art class might be one of his favorite specials in Kindergarten.

We also had pizza and watched the Rolesville fireworks with my dad. It is starting to be somewhat of a tradition for us. I love it! Blake really enjoyed the sparklers and little pop it's. He also liked looking at the fireworks but wasn't too thrilled about the sound. He has never been a fan of loud noises.

Finally... not really 4th of July related, but we are still loving our "normal" moments of Summer fun! We are enjoying our pool days with friends and we are even going to see the new Despicable Me 3 movie today! Yay, Summer. Forever grateful for this time to relax and recharge.