Summer, Week 2

Tyler finished the classroom portion of his driving classes last week and passed the test. I've been trying to have him drive everywhere we go that doesn't require getting on the outerbelt. (That scares me and I have decades of driving experience!) One day last week we just went driving. It was a lot of fun. We ended up taking some roads I hadn't been on before and came across this really cute little wooden bridge over a creek. We pulled into a nearby parking area and walked down a short path through the woods to the water to get a better look at the bridge. As soon as we got out of the van, we were greeted by an overwhelming smell which my son informed me was marijuana. We walked down to the water and ran across the source of the smell. The guys were quick to jump into their canoe and paddle off when we approached. Tyler and I chuckled about that for awhile. We enjoyed our time together.

We went to the zoo for a couple hours one morning. The kids wanted to ride the rides and I wanted to see the polar bear cubs and feed the giraffes. We were lucky enough to get a little show from the polar bears. The mom jumped into the water and caught a rainbow trout. The cub got all excited and jumped in, too. The mom hurried out with the fish but was quickly followed by the cub. The cub stole the fish from mom and ran away. Mom chased after her for awhile but the cub kept outrunning her. It was so cute to watch. Any mom who's chased a toddler around the house could sympathize. We didn't get quite as lucky with the giraffes. They were out but we spent too long watching the polar bears and missed the feeding time. Oh well. The kids rode some rides and then we went home. It was a fun afternoon together.

There was a lot of softball last week, too. Danielle played in a double header Tuesday night and had practice on Wednesday night. On Thursday the high school coaches held a practice with the incoming freshmen and invited the incoming 8th graders to attend, too. Danielle had a lot of fun with that. This weekend she played in a pretty big tournament, where her team finished in the top 16 out of 42 teams. She made some amazing fielding plays this weekend. It's always fun to watch her play.

We also fit in a trip to the movies and a dentist appointment. Good times. :)