Summertime Phone Pics

So since May I haven't quite been as diligent at packing my camera to record the little bits of fun and silliness that define our otherwise busy and somewhat chaotic life.  As a result, much of the last couple of months have been recorded on my phone.  If I really thought about it, I could have posted many of these shots on Facebook. This would have probably concealed the graininess and obviously poorer quality of my phone camera, but oh well.  

I had intended on taking Simon to the Arizona Museum for Youth all school year long, because it is right at his age level, but it took me until May to actually do it.

He had so much fun with random kids--as he is highly gregarious--and one such random friend is pictured here.

The giant light bright wall...we stayed here for quite some time

We built this pipe sculpture together and then Simon wanted to see if he could pick it up...

And could it sustain his weight?

(These were all very scientific experiments.)

Memorial Day was spent at Saguaro Lake with our brother-in-law Bryan and his four kids.  My sister Deb stayed home to get some grading done.*

*This is the life of an English teacher. I remember those days all too well.

  

The only kid not pictured was Jacob, somehow.  I am guessing that he was in the water, because that is where he spent much of the day.

Simon took swimming lessons with Grandma Phillis for the second time in June of this year. She worked her magic once again and he is turning into a little fish. 

Simon is much bolder than Amelia and Dylan ever were, which is cool and frightening simultaneously.  I have to stand right by him as he's jumping into the pool over and over again, just to make sure he figures out where to come back up and find a wall, a step or me.

We spent a week in Newport with my sister and her family in mid-July.  I put my camera out to pack and then it disappeared. I figured that I must have absent-mindedly packed it, but then I could never seem to figure out where I packed it when we were in California.  It turned out that my solicitous husband had packed it in his bag and didn't realize that I was missing it until the last day of vacation. 

So, I had more phone pictures of the trip.

Simon chose powdered doughnut holes when we made a pit stop at the grocery store while in Newport.

 And he took a bite out of nearly every doughnut in the box in a matter of seconds, so that all that remained for his siblings were bits of half-chewed, powered chunks.  

They were not happy, but they ate them anyway.

Amelia's budding sand castle at Huntington Beach...

Simon couldn't go on a few rides at Legoland so here he is, not so happy by a giant Bioncle-now-dubbed-Hero-Factory figure.

Abby was not so ecstatic here. This ride dropped suddenly and made her sick.

It rained while we were at the water park and it was colder out of the water than in it.  Hence, Dylan floated endlessly in the lazy river.  

Bryan managed to snap this one.

Simon would not leave the kiddy pool.  I missed it all because I was helping the older two get dressed again in their clothes.  But apparently, he wouldn't get out of the water.  Evan asked him more than once and the life guards all sort of surrounded him and were very kind in their attempts to coax him out of the pool.  Finally, Evan just picked him up screaming with giant Legos in hand and carried him to the dressing rooms.  That's vintage Simon for you.

 
Here are Amelia and Dylan in Legoland's version of Disney's Tea Cups.
Alas, Simon was too small to ride this as well.

Waiting for the Chima 4-D show...I sat in a primo spot and got the full effect of that last "D".  I emerged with frizzy hair from the "rain" inside the theater and my shorts were soaked in all the wrong places.

And the giant Star Wars Cruiser made of tiny Legos...this thing was awesome. 

These crazy kids went on this ride at least four times--maybe more-- at the end of the day.  They had the picture flash timed exactly and made crazy faces at just the right spot.

We had some relaxation time in the hotel.  We were out of cucumbers so the kids opted for crackers.  I don't think they had quite the same effect.

We spent the last day at Newport Beach with the softest, sandiest sand.  It is great for building sand castles.  And it sticks to everything. 

I am still discovering sand in bags, suits, pockets, shoes...

My sister actually had her camera, so we did get some great pictures taken. I just have to get them from her, which I will do...eventually. 

Dylan and his cousins boogie boarded (Amelia got in the ocean up to her knees) and Evan and Bryan and Jake and Abby surfed.  I could have surfed--er attempted to surf--, but opted out this time as I wasn't feeling particularly well and didn't feel like fighting with a wet suit or the waves.*  

*We are not all one, the waves, wet suit and I, not yet anyway.  (Maybe not ever, but I am okay with that.)