SUMMER VACATION!!!

We started our summer break last week and are managing to cram all sorts of fun into it.

Once  Girl Scout promotion came it was hard to keep the girls focused on school.  Since both moved up to a new level, they felt like they had finish the former grade and they were eager to work on the new badges.  (Hopefully I'll have blogs sharing that as the summer goes on.)

Our first summer trip was to the library.  My older daughter was eager for some more books, she will be spending the summer with her nose in a book.  My younger daughter needed some incentives to keep reading.  We also signed up for the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and Barnes and Nobles summer reading.   Keeping track of both hours spent and books read is helping me to make the older take breaks and encourage the younger to sit for a while.

 At the library we enjoyed playing in the dino themed "explorers room."  The Salem library has done an amazing job developing activities for multiple ages, which is especially nice when you come with multiple ages of cousins.

 We also enjoyed some quiet reading time.

 After the library we headed to a park to get out our wiggles.  It was fun watching my kids play on the same playground equipment I had enjoyed as a child.

 We finished off our first week of vacation with a field trip to OMSI.

 Highlights of the trip included seeing a 3D printer in action, the volunteer was very friendly and interacted great with my kids.  Merry especially liked seeing all the different items they had printed.

 Both girls had a blast playing with Google Sketch Up.  Their dad had used the program during school and I was surprised how quickly they caught on, in fact since it is a free program we might be getting it for our home computer.

The chemistry lab was fun also, if for no other reason than the safety goggles.

Our summer is starting off great, I'm looking forward to more adventures!