weekend visitors.

It was so fun to have my friend Courtney and her daughter Bria drive down from Virginia for a visit one weekend. Elsa and Bria have been friends since before they were two!

A few gems I found from their early years...

Elsa loved having Bria stay with us. We ventured out Saturday evening to Duke Gardens. Ben had actually driven up to D.C. early that morning for a quick work trip and then drove back down that afternoon and met us at the gardens.

Doing stretches. For some reason they were really into this stretch routine.

Oliver had to force every single duck and goose into the water. He got hissed at. A lot.

Simon really wanted to get into the water.

Everything had completely changed again since my visit with the boys a few weeks earlier.

Sleepover!

Fireflies!

It never quite feels like summer until we can start catching fireflies. Our yard has been filled with them which has been so much fun. I love watching our backyard woods start to twinkle every evening. Feels magical.

Third Grade Wax Museum

I don't recall doing wax museums in school when I was a kid, but apparently it's a thing now. The third graders at Amelia's school all chose a famous historical figure to research and then put together a biography for that person. Then all the kids dressed up as their chosen person and were on "display" in the library one day. Amelia chose Amelia Earhart. Aside from the obvious reason, she chose her because she did some pretty cool stuff. There were three other kids that also chose Amelia Earhart. But Amelia was definitely the best.

Amelia as Amelia.

Reading her "mini" biography. The kids had to prepare a few words to say about their person. 

I picked up these WWII goggles from an army antique shop in Switzerland many years ago. I knew I would have a use for them one day.

Marbles Kids Museum

By the beginning of June, we were all ready for summer to begin. But the girls still had a few weeks left of school. I let them skip school one day and we had a lazy morning at home and then ventured out to Marbles Kids Museum in the afternoon. A weekday afternoon is definitely the best time to avoid crowds there and the kids had so much fun. We have made good use of our membership.

Raleigh Rose Garden

I was doing some online research to find gardens in the area and came across the Raleigh Rose Garden which is behind the Raleigh Little Theatre. I took the boys there one day and it was the perfect little spot for a picnic. It smelled wonderful and there were so many varieties and colors of roses in full bloom. Ben and I returned a few days later for a date night picnic in the garden.

lazy days

The boys and I picked up lunch from La Farm one day and enjoyed a picnic at Bond Park. Oliver was immediately drawn to the geese by the lake.

When the girls got home from school, it was sidewalk chalk time. I love our driveway. (Easy for me to say since I'm not usually the one having to frequently clean all the yard debris off the driveway. We're still discovering all the different bits of nature that fall from the trees at different seasons.)

Sad that I kept taking the chalk away from him. He LOVES to eat chalk.