Summer 2013

Summer doesn't feel much like summer around here. Alek leaves for a month, so that doesn't help me feel the happy, celebratory way I want to feel about the season. Charlie and Fitz go to summer school. And we don't usually take a vacation (see last year for the exception). However, we do grill a lot and the kids play in the sprinklers. And it's really hot. So we get some of the normal summer stuff in. This summer:

Fitz and Jane became better buddies.

We had a semi-lame Fourth of July, with super delicious food.

We took a spontaneous trip to Lake Tahoe (due to traffic towards the ocean being awful).

Day started with kids climbing into bed with Dad

Kids were mostly excited

Charlie chilling, as usual

Proof Josh was with us

Fitz being pretty patient

Beautiful scenery to entertain us on the way

I love the mountains

Finally! We see her -- Lake Tahoe!

Fitz and Katie play in the water

We spent hardly any time at the lake, had to deal with crazy crowds, weren't sure where we were going and were incredibly ill-prepared, but still had a great time. Good memories were created, and we learned a lot about what to do next time.

The Barker kids continued their love of water and mud play.

Charlie especially loves the water, which I think we were actually finally able to capture this year.

We dressed up like cows to get free chicken.

 Jane discovered her inner super hero.

My kids fell deeper in love with The Hobbit.

Charlie laughs at Gollum

Mesmerized

After what felt like forever, Alek finally came home. And we attempted to get a picture of all the kids together. Jane didn't want to have anything to do with it. So I let her go and tried to get pictures of just the oldest four.

Jane finally started to calm down.

So I decided to get a shot with all 5 of the kids.

Oh well.

We took advantage of the heat by getting sweet treats. 

Fitz and Jane's first ice cream cones.

Sugar wasted

Katie convinced me to put make-up on her.

Instantly aging her 4 years.

Jane turned two.

And the four oldest returned to school.

Pre-K Year 2

1st Grade

2nd Grade

8th Grade

Summer flew by too quickly. I had a huge list of places I want to go, things I wanted to do and sights I wanted to see. We did one thing on my list. Oh well. There's always next summer!