VBS #2 and Nolan's camp

After we returned from Virginia Beach, the next week the kids had VBS at Nolan's school.  They went from 9-12:30 each day and it was a much welcome mid-summer break for me, and they both had a lot of fun.  I mostly tried to stay at home and get caught up on cleaning and things around the house.  Nolan seemed to enjoy this one more than the one we did at the beginning of the summer, and Karly was very happy once she finally got moved to the class with her friends Mia and Jamie for the last two days of the week.   

We went to the post VBS "show" and picnic lunch at the church on Sunday at the end of the week.

The following week, Nolan had his summer camp in the mornings at his school.  He was pretty resistant about going until Karly told him how awesome it was going to be, at which point he immediately changed his tune and got excited about it, and proceeded to do great with it all week.  I enjoyed having some rare one-on-one time with Karly.  She also got to have a couple "brother-free" playdates with Mia and Jordan.

 

In the afternoons we had Little Gym classes, piano lessons, and pool visits.  Nolan did a couple private swim lessons at our pool, which he actually enjoyed.  We probably didn't really do enough to make a huge difference though.  He is swimming pretty well now and started going off the diving board at our pool even though he still didn't attempt to pass "the test" (swimming the length of the pool and treading water for one minute).  I still get nervous if he tries to go a long distance in deep water, but he seems to do ok. 

Volleyball

Marco has been playing reverse co-ed doubles tournaments most weekends this summer.
 

 I even got out there and played in the multiple blind date co-ed tournament a couple weeks ago.  It was fun and I was happy I could at least play ok considering I haven't been working out much at all.

Virginia Beach part 2

Friday evening we went swimming in the bay.  The kids were having a great time, especially Nolan, swimming and playing in the calm warm water.  Until they both got jellyfish stings.  Not fun.  I felt so bad for them - it seemed really painful.  Luckily, a baking soda/vinegar paste worked to soothe the stinging and they recovered pretty quickly.

We braved the continued crazy heat on Saturday and went down to the oceanfront.  I was pleasantly surprised again by how much the kids were enjoying playing in the sand and waves.  Unfortunately our time was cut short when a thunderstorm rolled in and the beach was closed.  Worked out ok though because we needed to get ready and start heading home that evening anyway. 

Virginia Beach part 1

After swim lessons on Thursday we headed for Virginia Beach for a visit with Paul and Victoria. We all had a great time and Nolan seriously wanted to move in with them.  Between the elevator inside their condo and their dog Callie, he was just in heaven.

Riding the elevator.

He could not get enough of that dog!  Wherever she went, Nolan was one step behind her.

As it has been all summer, it was stinkin' hot while we were there.

That's 105 degrees on the Walgreen's sign there (plus tons of humidity).

We went to the Aquarium on Friday as it really was too hot to do anything outside, even the beach.  It was a great aquarium and we all really enjoyed it.  I liked it better than the Baltimore one.  The exhibits seemed more interesting, varied, and kid-friendly.

Swim lesson week

I started this post two weeks ago and am just getting back to it.  As I was saying, it feels like we've been going non-stop since this summer started!

When we returned from the beach/Salisbury trip, we did a week of swim lessons with Karly's friends Jordan and Lizzie at a nearby pool.  Karly's lesson was at 11:00 and Nolan's, 11:30.  After the lesson each day we stayed and swam for a couple hours and ate our lunch there.  Nolan LOVED going off the diving board here.  There were a couple guys doing some cool dives and flips one day and Nolan was completely infatuated.  He started doing his little jumps and tricks with them and they were treating him like one of the guys and giving him high 5's and whatnot.  He was loving it.

Also that week, Karly had a playdate with Lizzie, we went to see Judy Moody at the cheap movie theater, both kids had their gymnastics classes, Karly had piano lesson, and Marco took both of them to a DC United soccer game.