What we did on our Summer Vacation.

Last week we attended Back to School night and met the new teachers. When Sage's teacher asked her what she did over Summer Vacation, she replied "nothing".

Nothing?!?

Here is a little recap of what we did over summer vacation.




On the very last day of school (half day) we headed to NC to take the kids out to lunch/dinner to celebrate their good grades and behavior over the school year. After our meal we headed to Riverside park and hiked along the Ararat River Greenway.

That very night my boy came down with what we thought was the flu, a couple days later he developed a weird bulls-eye rash on his chest and after a call to the doctor was immediately treated for Lyme's Disease. :(


The kids painted a sign for their garden and finished planting it. They grew potatoes, purple beans, lettuce, carrots, onions, corn, zucchini and cherry tomatoes.


The kids both participated in Summer enrichment programs. These were the first two weeks that we were out of school. My girl took an Adventures with Nature class, and my boy took a class on building Super Structures. They both had a great time!



We went hiking at Mountain lake and Hahn Horticultural Garden. Then had a picnic lunch in downtown Blacksburg.




We made lots of bubbles!! Using our homemade wand and a dish soap water mix.



We went to the North Carolina Zoo . It was a very long day, but we had a great time.



Nana and Pap came to visit for Sage's Birthday and we went to Chuck E Cheese.



The kids spent a lot of the summer hanging out at the tree fort/swingset/kid's area. This little shop window was a bakery, a pizza parlor, a flower shop and a lego store. We added a huge pirate flag to the top of the fort, turning it into a pirate's hideout.



We spent many days playing down at the creek. We swam, caught/released fish and crawdads with a net and bucket, found salamanders under rocks, identified animal tracks and wildflowers, climbed the Rhododendrons and skipped rocks.



We raised tadpoles, then released them in the creek.

We raised a Black Swallowtail Butterfly and watched it fly away, stopping a few times to take a sip of nectar from our flower garden.


And we raised (and are still raising) Monarch caterpillars.



We had several bonfires and camped out in the yard. We watched the Perseid meteor shower, and saw two nice meteors before the cloud took over.



We found two bird nests (Brown Thrasher and Vireo) full of eggs, and peeked in each day to watch them grow.



We built fairy houses and expanded our fairy hotel. My boy build a fairy magic university and library. :)


Nana came to visit again and we hunted Fairy Stones and swam at Fairy Stone State park.



Aunt Tabitha and Uncle James came to visit and we went to Lakeridge RV resort.

Then we went to panther creek and had a pizza picnic next to the water. We hiked up the creek a bit and found a small waterfall.



We made lots of fun signs to hang in our woods. :)



These are just a few of the highlights from our summer. :) My boy also created 5 different LOTR lego scenes and entered them in the lego building contest. He finished reading Half Blood Prince and is 3/4 of the way done with Deathly Hallows. He took a trip to Michigan and flew on a plane for the first time with Daddy. He had a great time hanging out family.
We took advantage of the free kids movies offered by Twin County Cinemas in Galax on the days that were rainy, or too hot/humid to be outside. We attended some of the free Lowes Build and Grow workshops.

We really spent a lot of time just playing outside, working in the garden, dressing up in costumes and using our imaginations, hiking up the road, chasing chicken and butterflies.

Like Miss Sagie said, we did a whole lot of 'nothing'.

i wouldn't have it any other way. :)