Bring on Summer!

On the first Saturday of summer, we shortsightedly decided to go to the Denver Zoo. And so did everyone else. After driving around looking for parking spots (we were meeting Nana there) and finding none within two miles of the zoo, we decided to give up. As a consolation prize, we decided to get Little Man ice cream! Yum.

Aubrey, ever the art lover, asked for a photo of her and Carter in front of this weird mural.

And then the kids took turns going down the slide they have there. I had never noticed it before!

When I asked the kids to pose for a photo together, they got a little silly...

I took a bunch of pictures, so I got this great little animation from them.

After ice cream, we went back to Nana and Papa's house to play for awhile. The kids had lots of fun playing in the playhouse, but they had the most fun walking through the gutter splashing in the runoff from a neighbor's yard (they had been watering it).

And while the kids really enjoyed the warmer weather and all of the outdoor activity, I started to wilt. I never wanted to be pregnant during summer, but... yeah. This is where we're at.

So in attempts to stay cool as it got hotter, I did things like sit in the shade while the kids played at the splash pad.

And since it was summer, Daniel got to join us when we went places! You can see him there in the background as Carter steals his seat. (Carter was very proud of himself for doing that.)

And here is Daniel helping the kids climb down into the little creek bed near the splash pad. I stayed up at the top because of my sore hips. And after just a few minutes, it started pouring rain and we had to run back to the car!

The kids have also spent a lot of time in the back yard this summer, which was exactly what we wanted them to do!

And, of course, there has been regular hiking. I'm sad I've missed out on all of the hikes because of being pregnant, but I just can't do it with my hip/pelvic pain. *sigh* I definitely never want to be pregnant again!

But Daniel has taken the kids hiking regularly, and he's been good about taking photos, thankfully.

One of the common occurrences during the summer here is the afternoon thunderstorm. Usually we just get rain and lightning, but one afternoon we got crazy hail.

It was nearly the size of a mandarin orange!

And afterward, we got a beautiful rainbow! I love all the hail in the foreground of this photo with the rainbow in the back.

Anyway, we took lots of trips to Nana and Papa's house once Daniel was done with school, and one of the times we took family photos with the whole Jibson clan. It was kind of awful, thanks to Carter. He threw a fit and refused to cooperate. Yet somehow, we managed to get one good group shot. I'm just sad we didn't get any shots of just the four of us. :(

After the photos were done, Carter got a lot happier (of course). He even played catch with Daddy, which was so cute. D'awwww. These cute moments are why I don't drop-kick him when he's a jerk.

Though they fight like they hate each other sometimes, Aubrey and Carter also play so cutely together. I try to get photos/videos of them being sweet whenever I can in order to preserve the moment and remind myself that they aren't always fighting. Here are some favorite shots from the first few weeks of summer.

In this one, they're pretending to ride motorcycles.

And here they randomly sat down together at the farmer's market while they waited for us to buy something.

But sadly for Carter, Aubrey had adventure camp in June, where she ended up spending eight hours a day for five days. He missed her; it was cute. I tried to keep him entertained while she was gone. We went to play dates at the park, and one time he rolled down the hill.

We also went to the splash pad together, and he met a police officer who gave him a police badge sticker. Carter actually chased the guy down to say hi but then ran away scared when the officer tried to talk to him, haha.

On one of the afternoons after adventure camp, we took the kids to the mall for a pay-your-age event at Build-a-Bear. It was Carter's first time there, and I think he definitely had fun.

Her particularly liked stuffing his Bowser.

And here is Aubrey stuffing her mermaid bear, with Carter hugging Bowser in the background. Cute!

Carter gave his new friend a cursory bath...

... but Aubrey got really into it (of course).

After adventure camp was all over, and before we left on our big road trip, we decided to take one last drive up to Nana and Papa's house. We went to a big splash pad nearby, where Aubrey was very much in her element.

Carter was a little more hesitant but got into it eventually.

And then he played his favorite game--running around with wet feet on dry pavement to see his footprints.

On our way back home, we were treated to a long-lasting double rainbow. It was hard to photograph, but you can kind of see it here.

And finally, the day before we left on our trip, I had an ultrasound to check baby girl's growth. I was happily surprised to get to see some 3D images of her! Look at that nose! Those pouty lips! I can't wait to meet her.