Summer snapshot- swimming, gardening, golfing.

So far, so good. We've settled into a routing which mostly consists of fun, with a smidgen of school work and chores worked into the mix.

Enjoy the photo overload to catch you up on summer with the Munce kids...

Moving and grooving in the flower beds this summer. 

First post quarantine patio gathering. 

Muniver family fun. 

Double date on the golf course.  

More swimming fun.

The Catalpa Tree blooms. 

One more because she is so darn majestic. 

Summer Charcuterie. 

Golf with Sully. 

Swimming mummies. 

Grandma and her latest furry friend. 

Summer cuts. 

Father's Day fun. 

"Mama, look, I'm a monster!"

Sully turns 8!

The Corona Virus has calmed down a bit in Sioux Falls, but because of the timeline, we didn't feel quire ready to host a birthday party at our house for Sully, so we filled his birthday weekend with family fun and a birthday parade. He did ask a couple of times about having his friends over, but in the end, I think everyone was happy with the change of pace.

We spent Saturday at Palisades State Park for a picnic and an adventure hike and returned for a low key afternoon and dinner out (yay! first time in months - on a patio of course) at our favorite restaurant, Bread and Circus. On Sunday morning, Sully woke up excited about being 8, Greta helped Dave make a number 8 pancake and then we went to do an escape room which was actually really fun. It was called Area 51 and was all about aliens, the girls were so freaked out. We managed to escape and in the end, everyone had a great time.

We came home for birthday presents before hosting a birthday parade. Many of Sully's classmates, family, friends, and even teachers showed up. It was really fun to see everyone, it was low key, low maintenance, and as far as I'm concerned, a great way to turn 8.

Sully makes me proud for so many reason; he is sensitive, fair, and brave. He is a good big brother and has a silly sense of humor. One of the things that currently pops out in my mind is his eagerness to hold my hand. I can't believe how big his hands feel in mine, but they always seem to find their way, and it makes my heart so full.

I love you, Sully and am SO proud of you. I hope 8 is great for you!

Sully and I at Palisades. 

Birthday morning.

Aliens and a princess/bunny/emoji. 

So much excitement for the birthday boy. 

The cake request: strawberry with no frosting.
I made it with two mini bundt pans for the #8 :).

Birthday parade, social distancing at its finest.

Look at that line of cars! :)

Memorial Day and Daddy's birthday all wrapped into one.

The kids and I had originally planned to spend Memorial Day in Coronado with the Winters family, a trip we planned months and months ago, because of COVID, we were forced to postpone the trip to another year. We were very disappointed. Because of this, we found ourselves home with no plans (par for the course in COVID season) on a holiday weekend. It didn't take us long to put something together.

A family in Sioux Falls owns a cabin near Lewis and Clark Recreational Area and happened to have availability that weekend, so we booked the cabin and went for the long weekend. The cabin was great! So much space to explore, a hot tub, games, 'forts', and more. The best part was being a 5 minute drive from the state park which was full of bike trails, beaches, and hikes. We took full advantage of all it had to offer.

Maggie and Anna came to join us for two nights of fun, my parents and Jeff and Isaac also came for a Saturday evening grill and s'mores session. We made the most of it with a bonfire on Friday evening and a long bike ride to the harbor for a sailboat ride on Saturday, when Maggie and Anna left on Sunday, we took the kids to a beach and went for a nature hike before returning to the cabin for a family night, to wrap up the fun, we celebrated Dave's birthday on Memorial Day. Our favorite restaurant had reopened that day, so we got take out and kids' choice dessert - brownies. We were exhausted from the weekend but had a nice day celebrating Dave.

Maggie and Dave ready for the bike ride. 

Family sailboat ride. 

S'mores session with the crew.  

Piper's organized.

The road near our cabin.

Greta and her sand castle. 

"Piper, don't throw sand." Piper..

Nature hike. 

Piper, getting so close! 

Grill master.

Hanging with the almost birthday boy. 

Daddy's request, family matching summer pajamas. 

Mother's Day mini session.

Maggie came over to capture our COVID-19 selves on Mother's Day. It was a cool and gray day, we had planned to spend it camping, but found ourselves home instead. Much to my delight, Dave gave me 2 (TWO) blog books, the kids made me a strawberry cake and we had a 'fancy' meal (take out) at the dining room table. It was a lovely day. I love these kids and our chaos so much. 

More homeschooling, an Okoboji getaway, and finishing up the school year.

We wrapped up the last week of homeschooling and had high hopes of keeping up with the more relaxed version, but had an opportunity to sneak away to Okoboji, so took advantage of that instead. We started to like the more low key schedule as time went on because it gave us some extra time to explore with the bikes and spend some time working in the garden. I'm getting a tase of what summer is going to feel like as all three kids are pretty capable of themselves for short periods of time giving me the opportunity to dig in the dirt, something I have missed for the last 8 years.

Okoboji was a nice diversion, we drove down on Friday morning and the kids were brave enough to get in the ice cold water. We played on the dock and they got a little boat ride before heading inside for dinner and a fire pit. Maggie and I stayed up way too late making Tik Tok videos and then Saturday was a full day with a bike ride, Dave coming for the afternoon (he was on call so could only join for a few hours) and then more food and beverages. We hit the road on Sunday with tired and worn out kids. All in all it was a success.

We officially wrapped up the school year the following week with a virtual kinder graduation for Greta and a reverse parade at school which was a really fun way to cap it off. Next up- summer! We are optimistic that we can return to school in the fall, but will adjust to whatever the plan is when we know one.

Pip and I.  

Porch photos.  

Teacher's week. 

Zoom call fun. 

Family swim at Safe Splash, a great way to get out of the house. 

Dream girl. 

Swimming sisters.

Okoboji.

Swimming with all three.

Group photo. 

Picking up school supplies. 

Homeschool hair. 

Visting Aunt Julie's grave.

Official last day of school photo. 

Kinder grad.

Working in the garden with grandma.