how we survived the end of the summer

We had made a list at the beginning of the summer...

Okay, our sign got ripped down and very beat up by the end of the summer and we didn't check everything off the list, but heck, we did a lot.  In fact this list hardly tells the story of our summer.  Hopefully, these pictures will do a better job.

...

We built our most epic fort to date...

It took over two rooms...

We set up Radiator Springs on our porch again.  

I never took a picture of the town, but we added my Dad's Piston Cup Race Track this time...

It usually only got played with when swimsuits were on...

We enjoyed our Legoland presents...

(see previous post for more details)

We also did our best to get out of the house now and then.  We went to summer movies at the theatre by our house on Wednesday mornings.  Zach took the boys to five different Lowe's Build and Grow workshops to make Avengers vehicles.  We went to lots of special programs at the library.  Jimmy got to be fully embarrassed by the balloon animal guy.  Then Nora got a balloon Cinderella at Chick-fil-A one night and she was thrilled...

The Scottsdale Library had an awesome Enchanted Forest exhibit for kids...

We stopped by the LOVE sign on our way out of the library...

We went to Ikea and tested chairs that we didn't buy (but I wanted to)...

We went bowling...

And we reveled in some monsoons...

So those are a few of our activities and then there were all the fun people we got to see.

We got to meet two new family members:

Our second cousin, Daniel...

And our cousin, Martha...

We got a family member to move to Phoenix!

Aunt Nat came to work at the same school as Zach and we couldn't be happier to have her.

When I asked Jimmy what his favorite thing was this summer, he said, "Aunt Nat moving to Phoenix." What a sweet boy.  She even beat Legoland.

Nana came to help her move so we got to see her, too!

Then Mom had a birthday...

Mimi had a birthday...

Baabee had a birthday and the big kids (not Gus) got to watch Harry Potter movies at his house and drink Butterbeer...

Mom got to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday and wear her favorite color...

 We went to an annual "August Birthdays" party.  

(I snuck in the picture meant for only people with August Birthdays since July 31st almost counts)...

Then our host drove the kids around on a digger in their desert backyard and they thought he was the coolest ever.

Then we got more family visitors.  Erin brought Helen on her first trip to Phoenix.  The boys were happy to finally get to meet their new cousin...

Uncle Danny and Courtney came for a few days...

We got popsicles with them because they love popsicles...

Nora might have loved them the most though...

Popsicles really do help you get through a nice, hot summer.

We ate lots of popsicles in our backyard while we enjoyed our blow-up pool...

Basically anything Frozen helps.  We went for Culver's for frozen custard on the last day before school started.

I am always ready for summer to be done, but never really ready for school to start.