Summer Adventures - The Drive-In

One of my favorite memories as a kid was going to the drive-in. My mom would always buy us new pj's since we would nearly always fall in asleep in the car. I honestly don't remember any movies I saw, but the experience of sitting in the car to watch a movie was awesome.

There is a drive-in that shows new movies about an hour away from my house. We've passed it a few times over the years on the way to Charlotte, but we'd never gotten there. Finally I decided that Emily and I were going to go this summer.

A few weekends ago, the Sunset Drive-In Theater was showing Despicable Me 3 and Spider-Man: Homecoming. This kind of killed two birds for me because I had promised to take Emily to see Spider-Man once she got home from Michigan.

The gates opened at 7 pm and I got there about then. Since this was our first time, I wasn't sure how fast it would fill up. It was pretty empty when we got there so we got a great spot right by the bathrooms and concession stand.

We had a few hours to kill so we checked everything out. They had a Despicable Me 3 coloring contest so Emily sat down and colored a picture. They also had a Despicable Me 3 photo booth and one for Spider-Man too.

As the sun was setting, we got some popcorn. We got some other snacks as it got closer to movie

time. Before the movie, they gave out some prizes. Emily didn't get anything big but she got a little Despicable Me 3 poster and some Minions stickers.

To hear the movie, we had to tune into their radio station which was a bit different. But it worked well. The drive-in filled up quite a bit before the movie started. After Despicable Me 3 finished, quite a few people left. We stayed to the end.

Emily was clad in pj's but she did stay up until the end of Spider-Man. I do think she passed out as we drove away.

It was a lot of fun! Next time, I may bring my own drinks and just get popcorn there. Hopefully we'll get to go again this summer!

The End of Summer

Even though it's still very hot out, the signs that summer is coming to an end are all around. My daughter starts school on Monday and a lot of kids are already back to school. Labor Day Weekend (aka Dragon Con) is next weekend and of course, September is only a few hours away.

This summer wasn't very exciting for us. We went to a few birthday parties and went swimming several times. We watched Star Wars in the park and went camping. But a lot of our summer was inside because of the heat and the thunderstorms.

I'm not a huge fan of summer. I'm either roasting or freezing. The weather has been crazy this year with a lot more extreme storms than usual. So I'm glad to see summer going away.

Of course, that's partly because we have a lot of exciting stuff coming up in the fall. Disney World mostly, but also Emily's birthday. We are also going to go to the Eliada Corn Maze with the Girl Scouts and of course, there is Halloween.

Even though it probably won't feel like Fall for a while, I'll be decking my halls with Halloween things as soon as we get home from Dragon Con. Mostly because I love my Halloween stuff but that means I can have it up longer since we'll be at Disney the first week in October.

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and have an equally great autumn season!

Old Fashioned Summer

When I was a kid, there was not a lot of structure to our summers. I didn't go to day camp until I was in middle school and even then it was just a week, like VBS. Most of my summer involved just playing.

I remember playing in the forest behind my neighbor's house, pretending we were in Herself the Elf's kingdom. I remember riding my bike with my sister and our friends to the church (because for some reason there was a church right in the middle of our otherwise residential neighborhood). We would do races on our bikes, play cops and robbers and make up stories that the church was a castle.

There would be reading in the shade and playing with toys in the cool basement when it got too hot. We'd run through the sprinklers and just have fun. This seems to be an oddity these days.

Seemingly, a lot of kids have a lot of scheduled activities during the summer now. Camp and lessons seem to abound. But Emily is having a very old fashioned summer.

She's been spending her days playing outside with the little girl next door and other kids in the neighborhood. Usually by the time she gets in at night she smells like dirt and sweat which is actually not unpleasant - it sends me back to my own childhood.

Later in the summer she will go to our church's version of VBS. And she will be taking a week's worth swimming lessons but mostly she'll be playing outside, making up stories, getting dirty and just having fun.

A Summer of Swimming

When this summer started, I made it my goal to go to the local pool once a week. I didn't quite make that because of storms and heath issues, but we've gone quite a bit.

The last few years we haven't gone swimming much at all and when we were at Disney last year, Emily kept getting out of the pool to wipe the water off of her face. She had fun but she hated being splashed, especially in the face.

I knew the more we went to the pool, the better she'd be with water. She has loved the pool, though her swimming is still not great. I was super proud of her that she put her face in the water a few weeks ago and last Sunday, she went under. I had to hold her and go under with her, but it's progress!

I think swimming is a skill that everyone should have. I'm not a strong swimming but I know how to do it. Next summer, we'll probably get Emily into actual swimming lessons now that she's less afraid of the water.

The local pool closes for the season on August 15th - I'm hoping to get a couple more trips in before the summer is over.

Swimming!

It's June - school is out and the local pools are open! So Emily and I have been swimming several times.

Most of the parents sit on the edge of the pool or in chairs on the side. But I'm right in the pool, swimming with Emily. In part because she's only five and doesn't swim very well, and in part because I love to swim.

I never understood how people can go to the beach and just lay on the sand without going into the water. I've always loved the water and learned how to swim when I was younger. I'm not a great swimmer but I know how to do it and I've been trying to teach Emily some.

My dad always loved to swim too and he was the one who taught me, though I did take some swimming lessons when I was younger. My mom would swim too but she didn't like it as much as my dad did.

Someday, I'd love a small pool in our backyard so I can swim everyday. But until then, I'm  happy to have a local pool not far away so I can get my swim on!

Happy 4th of July!

Summer Fun!

Happy Independence Day to all my American readers!

We generally don’t do a lot for the 4th of July. Todd has off from work but I’m working a normal shift today. And honestly there is something I’m more excited about today.

99 days from today we will be heading to Disney World. We haven’t been since our honeymoon and I've been looking forward to taking Emily to my favorite place since I found out I was pregnant.

I’ll be posting more about Disney later. I hope everyone has a great holiday today!