Summer at its finest

For the first time in forever (okay, yes, we're watching Frozen again) I had a day to play all day just me and my boys. We started with breakfast and a quick trip to the park in town...

...followed by swim lessons and more playtime at the park by the pool...

...then we got some lunch, and back at the house did a few puzzles before everyone took naps (ok, that part wasn't the prettiest part of our day, these boys have become professionals at fighting nap time). 

After naps, we took a trip to the library for the first time this summer, and managed to check out a few books. Arjen is all fired up about having "letter" books these days, and kept going after the preteen chapter books. Fortunately the librarian was able to convince him to choose a few of the easy reader books. His older cousin Aden loves to read and has really been a big influence!  

Outside the library is the town park, so we had our third park playtime for the day...

Since we were downtown and it was dinner time, I decided to press my mom luck, and took the boys to a restaurant...

Dinner was a pleasant success! It was such a nice night, that I decided we should then take a walk to the lake. Arjen was more than happy to "get to run!"  

Just seeing the lake wasn't enough though, both boys convinced me we should go down to the beach. They were having fun playing in the sand...

...then I got to talking with another mom whose kid also convinced her to do a late evening beach run. Next thing I know, my fish had decided to go for a fully dressed swim...

My new mom friend had already left the beach, but sent her son back with some spare towels after learning that we had a bit of a walk to get back to our truck, and we hadn't come to the beach prepared for water play. Gotta love people who pay it forward!

Unfortunately, the walk wasn't without a minor bump in the road, and since I had wrapped Gus's arms inside the towel, the poor guy ended up giving the sidewalk a high five with his chinny chin chin. Sad mom. He took it like a champ though!

We eventually made it back to the house, dry clothes on, and are now sitting down for an evening showing of Frozen.  Happy boys with their library books and movie, happy mom after a special day of doing nothing particularly special, with her boys.