Annika's FIRST trophy, swimming & cheap fun!

We are so proud of Annika's very first trophy in gymnastics this morning!

She and one of her good friends worked so hard all year and will be moving on to the next level in the fall!

After gymnastics, we went swimming.

We've been spending a lot of time in the pool after getting the membership.  Annika made huge progress already.  At first, she had to hold on to the edge of the pool the whole time, but she is now all over the place, swimming to the deep end of the pool with her bubbles.  Ganden got goggles and is now enjoying studying everything under water.
And, I love sitting in the air conditioned building, without being all sweaty or worrying about the sunscreen lotion and sand everywhere.  If we ever get a pool, it would have to be an indoor one!!! :D

After the kids were done swimming, we found a MUSHROOM by the pool!  What joy!

And then we had a little fun with a Japanese coin bank!

Little things in life make us VERY happy!

MVI 1545 from Ksenia on Vimeo.

Want some cheap fun for yourself?  Get it right here!

And, then, before bed, Annika told me: "If Mario is walking down the path and he sees a bear, he will say to Princess Peach: "Princess Peach, give me a knife!" Then Princess Peach will give Mario a knife and Mario will give the knife to a prince and prince will fight the bear!"

I love how Mario thinks!

Mushrooms

So, G loves Super Mario.  "Angry Birds" are long forgotten....
He's been asking me to buy him some mushroom seeds so that he can grow mushrooms.  Magical Super Mario Mushrooms: green, red, yellow, blue...
Well, I did my best. On June 5th we got mushroom spawns in the mail (Amazon Frustration-Free) and on June 16th (Father's Day) we had a WONDERFUL potato and mushroom soup.  Here are some pictures from our mushroom gardening days:

June 5th - Day 1

(They just pressure washed our house before paining it, so the walls look horrible.)

Smells just like mushrooms!

June 10th - Day 5

June 11 - Day 6

Spraying the mushrooms.

June 12th - Day 7

They were growing like... well... mushrooms after the rain!

June 13th - Day 8

The mushrooms got larger than what you see in the last picture and, at some point, I felt like they began to dry up a little bit, so we made a wonderful soup on Day 11!  I added extra mushrooms from the store (baby bella) and the soup was absolutely amazing.  Here is a simple recipe that you can change to fit your tastes (For example, I didn't use noodles):

http://kartavkusa.ru/index.php/sup-gribnoi

Swim

Every day after school, I get a long sob story from G about his absolutely horrible childhood.... all because we don't have a pool.
So, this week we got a family membership at a local pool.  The membership also gives us huge discounts on swim classes, which alone is worth it, since G is always taking classes there and Annika wants to start taking classes, too.
So, since we can now go swim anytime for free (we used to pay $4 an hour and could only do it on Sunday from 11 until 12), we've been going every evening before bed.

We should have gotten the pool membership years ago! 

Strawberry field

Last Friday we went to pick strawberries with a couple of friends and their kids.

We went to a wonderful Tougas Family Farm and absolutely loved it there.  I personally LOVE nice people, and the people that work at the Tougas Farm are pretty nice!

It was just raining that morning, so there were barely any people on the field.  The strawberries were all ours!

Annika, G, V + E.

G just loved this yellow strawberry!

G is studying little bugs on the playground at the farm.

E and Annika are feeding cute goats.

It was hard to take any good pictures of Annika, because she was running with friends the whole time and refused to stop and smile.

So, I am going to post a picture of Annika from last week, when we had a play date at a mall playground.

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Happy Father's Day!

My kids are so lucky to have Joseph as their father!  He really is amazing!
G said to Joseph: "I love you the most because you were born in Texas like ME!!!"
Then Annika asked: "Was I born in Massachusepps all by myself?"

Poor lonely girl!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Joseph with the kids and his Father's Day gifts.

Scooter fun!

The kids LOVE their scooters!  They love them much more than bikes!
We went to a park a couple of days ago and had some fun (and exercise).