Hello June

 It's hard to believe that it's already June and school is now out for the summer.  That means I officially have a 2nd grader and her summer is just as busy as the school year.  In fact, this week may just be her busiest.  VBS already started last night and will continue every night this week.  On Tuesday, she starts swim lessons for the city swim team.  This is her first year for this activity and we're all looking forward to this.  She's not a strong swimmer, so I'm anxious to see how much she improves this year since these lessons are Tuesday-Friday every week.  However, the first swim meet is actually next week already, so I'm curious to see how this all works.  To top off this week, this weekend is her dance recital.  Of course, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year, but it does consume the whole weekend.  I can't wait.  Before I get carried away further, let's recap.

May Update

May was an exciting month with normal activities.  Our community officially dropped the mask mandate and with school ending, we hardly have to wear them at all now.  As a  family, we gathered with the extended family for the first time in over a year, when we threw a big party for my grandpa's 90th birthday.  It was planned as an outside event, but it ended up being a little chilly that day so we ended up moving it to an open pole barn.

We also obliged my grandma with having the girls crown her Virgin Mary for a little May Day ceremony.

LittleCJC had a little excitement when her earring fell through the bottom of her earlobe.

Thankfully, she said it didn't hurt and she doesn't really seem too concerned about this.  I don't know if it will ever be prepared or if she will always have this split, but I love that she doesn't care.

The girls have loved playing with the hose lately, which all started with Patrick trying to wash his car.

We've also reintroduced the girls to shaved ice and they love it.

Of course, no May recap could be complete without a first vs. last day of school comparison.

My little girls grew up so much this year.

Hello Holiday World

We plan on spending a lot of time at our local amusement park this summer.  We've already been several times through May and we are loving it.  We hadn't been in several years and I hadn't realized just how much this place has grown over those years.  We've already been 4 times and every time we find new rides and shows that we haven't done before and we still haven't done everything yet.

This girl rocked all the big kid roller coasters on her first visit.

She was a little unsure about this Liberty Launch the first time, but of course, she loved it.

The water park here is huge with 3 water coasters.

Grandma got a season pass this year too, so she's able to join in on the fun.

This is their newest water coaster, and it was so cold the first time we rode, in case you couldn't guess from my face.

On our last trip, we saw two shows, and LittleCJC chose to sit in the front row for both of them.  She also wanted her picture with the performers afterwards.

As usual, LittleCGC has to do everything big sis does.

In case you couldn't tell, we're loving it.

Hello Books

May was not a strong reading month for me.  My best read was Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.  Staying with the fantasy theme, I also started the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.  In fact, I read the first three of the series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, and A Court of Wings and Fury.  There's still one more in this series, but I unfortunately am still waiting to get my hands on it.  In complete contrast, I also read None Like Him: 10 Ways God is Different from Us (and Why that's a Good Thing) by Jen Wilken.  I also read one more from the Virgin River series, Harvest Moon.  I felt like I was in a reading slump so I branched out to YouTube for some new title suggestions.  I ended up putting a hold on several titles from the library, but the only new title I got in the month of May was a new to me genre, a graphic novel.  Someone listed it as one of their favorite series so I checked it out.  It was a very short book called The Tea Dragon Society.  Personally, it didn't really do anything for me.  I'm not sure if it's the story itself or simply the style.  There was one other graphic novel series that appeared on a few of the booktubers lists that I was looking at that night, so I might give it one more try.  We'll see.

I know this is more of a May update post than a hello June post, but it's got to be better than nothing right?

Happy June, everyone!