It's Summer Time, It's Summer Time

It was a sad day when we moved away from the Splash Park. We still managed to make the trip a few times this summer. It's only a 30 minute drive but sometimes that can seem really far away.

This year Breahna and Evelyn had no problem venturing up the steps and down the slides by themselves:

Kaleb even went down a few times and if you know Kaleb, this is a big deal:

always a fun summer day:

We also made it to the zoo at least once a week. I had to make getting a pass worth it.
The otters are always fun to watch as they are very friendly and playful:

The zoo has lots of different monkeys that can be quite noisy at times:

just chillin' at the zoo:

 Kaleb really likes penguins and always enjoyed watching feeding time:

Just one of many beautiful summer sunsets:

Jake and I try to do date night at least once a week. Sometimes we can't always make it out so we have date night at home. This night we decided to cook a special dinner after the kids went to bed:

Jake usually does meat and I usually do dessert:

Breahna did you get into the Nutella? Nooo

 Boys are silly. Apparently you need goggles and sun glasses to run through the sprinklers

Jake's parents came to visit us for a few days. Dad is an amazing handy-man that can do anything. Before they came he asked if there were any projects he could work on while they were visiting. There are several, but I knew what I really wanted was a closet turned into a mud type room. This is one of those dream projects that I figured would never actually happen because Jake is not a do-it-yourself handyman. One of the things that sold us on this house was how much storage there was. Closets everywhere. This one in the kitchen really wasn't needed since we also have a massive walk-in pantry.
Before:

 Within hours of dad showing up:

 48 hours later:

Thank you so much dad. You truly are amazing. It is several months later and we still need to paint it. We are not as quick as dad at finishing projects. The kids had nowhere for their shoes and coats so I am very excited to now have a sliver of organization in our home (if only we would finish the painting)
One of the reasons for mom and dad's visit was so Jake and I could have a weekend without kids. We ended up going to a Clint Black concert. Jake nor I really know his music but it was close by and at a nice hotel.

 It was nice being in a small venue. And the music wasn't too bad either.

 We also took mom an dad to our favorite restaurant; Lucy's.

And we'll randomly end with Breahna modeling her new birthday outfit; she even had rainbow shoes to wear with it:

 and the boys favorite activity; playing in the mud: