Hard to believe our 100 days of summer project is already 3 weeks done! Have you checked out our first 14 days of summer posts? You can find Days 1-7 here, and Days 8-14 here.
Here is what we got up to during days 15-21:
Day 15 – Plant some flowers
Day 16 – Go bowling
Day 17 – Make pizza
Day 18 – Family game night
Day 19 – Build a fort
Day 20 – Conquer an escape room
Day 21 – Pajama Day
I suck at gardening. I don’t have a green thumb at all – more like the “thumb of death” when it comes to plants. So unless the plant is one that thrives on vicious cycles of drought and floods, it just isn’t going to fly.
But every summer we go out and buy some baskets and some flowers, and stick it into pots, and hope for the best. Well, actually, the only way that they stay alive is because we put it on the kids’ summer chore lists, and they don’t have screen time until chores are done, so the plants actually stand a chance.
Maybe it’s because we’re not totally invested in gardening, but when we do shopping for plants, there are mostly things happening that have nothing to do with gardening, despite Jamie’s carefully made lists.
And then the inevitable arguments about colour. Do pink and orange go together? Can we hang the red flowers next to the pink flowers? What goes to the left, and in front? It’s a wonder we ever get to a checkout!
And then we get home, and everyone has seriously lost interest in gardening. Because it’s hot. And we have to clean up the stuff from last year before we can even start this year’s. And soil is icky. And the garden rake gives blisters. And Jared doesn’t work as much as Jamie. And and and…
But somehow, we get it done (albeit after all sorts of threats and guilt trips flying around the garden). And it always puts a smile on our face.
When it comes to bowling, the competition between Rob and I dates back to when we were just dating. The amount of smack talk happening will put professional hockey players to shame. The kids roll their eyes at us and do their own thing. Jamie here has *quite* a unique bowling style, but every now and again, it somehow results in a strike, which is celebrated fiercely and loudly.
In the mean time, I try try my very best to distract Rob from his game. All is fair in love and bowling.
But he still rocks.
I can’t say this was a particularly proud game for me. So hopefully nobody zooms in on the score!
Our family loves to eat pizza. But the kids absolutely adore making their own pizza – it’s true what they say: if they make it, they will eat it. And the individual pizza crusts avoids the 30-minute discussions about which pizza we should get, and what goes on which half. Jamie was making Hawaiian, Jared chose Meat Lovers, and we had thin crust BBQ Chicken.
A few minutes on the pizza stone in the bbq … and we have some mouthwatering goodness!
We spend many nights playing board games, but since we’re a pretty geeky family, the games tend to be more on the strategic thinking side. So it was refreshing to play a game where brains are an optional extra. Speak Out is just a slobbering, spit-filled bunch of fun. There is nothing else to the game but to simply try and get your partner to guess what you’re saying while wearing a ridiculous mouthpiece reminiscent of horror dentist movies.
Yes, we had to wipe the spit from the table afterwards. But the laughter that came from playing such a simple game was refreshing.
No 100 days of summer can be complete without a fort. Whether it’s in the back yard or the living room, a fort says “no school” like very few things can. I say that because chances are you will have a horrible night’s sleep, and there will be no energy left for school (or work!) the next day! Duct tape and clothes pins, supplemented by some of the clamps I use for photography, held everything together.
And yes, we spent the night. Well, Jamie and I did. The 2 guys crept off to bed in the early morning hours, leaving the girls with the right to taunt and tease them about their lack of perseverance for many days to come!
Well, we tried at least. Jamie was off to do her own escape room with her Girl Guide friends, so we thought we’d celebrate with our own win. Not so much. We totally got our butts handed to us. The guys at Krakit Escape Rooms did an amazing job with the Zombie Apocalypse room, and so sadly, please don’t rely on our family to bail everyone out when the apocalypse happens!
One day where you just stay in pajamas and watch TV and eat takeout? Yes, please!
We got some Nando’s, Jamie set up a whole spread of snacks for us, and we put our feet up and just watched movies and TV all day. We even watched “Big”, probably one of my first ever Tom Hanks movies. It was a great, relaxing, much-needed family day.
Three weeks down, and we still have SO many more memories to make and share. I hope you will come back for more fun next week when we start heading out and about a bit more!
Rochelle Hepworth is a Vancouver lifestyle family photographer who specializes in capturing the moments of everyday life that seem ordinary today but is cherished and missed in days to come. Allow me to tell the story of your family in a candid, relaxed session in your home or at your favourite outdoor location. Contact me, and we can chat about what makes your family unique!
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