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I always miss it when July is done - July is peak summer.

I do like watching the Olympics this year - my favorite part is the graphic in the lower right-hand corner that tells you exactly how many meters a swimmer has gone. I had the 1,500 meter race on this afternoon, and it is such a long race, and you need to decide when to pay attention. Here is the race with 1 meter left to go (for the winner).

 We had haircuts today after summer camp. Sent this picture to make sure we got the right length on front.

I think it was just so hot today that no one was out afterwards. He found a very small giraffe that was left out back. What I understand now is that he was finding small dirt/sand to create a natural environment for the giraffe.

He then asked for my phone so he could take this close up photo. He put small pebbles next to the giraffe, then he edited in the blue for the river.

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A few more photos today. I guess you never know when you're going to have a fun photo. Here he is getting his eyes checked - both are working well!

 

In the Dr's office, she had these fun plants with the interesting pots.

Also a fun mirror.

When we were waiting for stickers at the checkout, there is an area where you can officially sign things. He probably had the most fun of anyone today.

an epic battle of duck vs bunny

After work I was driving toward Menard's. This is probably the most amount of turkeys I've seen cross the road in front of me. When I initially saw them, I thought it would be a long wait for the group (a group is apparently called a "flock" or "rafter") to cross. Thankfully, I was only waiting for 15 seconds for them to cross. They must have a lot of practice.

Here is the picture from school today. After a bus mix up, they finally made it out to Cross Plains. There is a nice ice cream shop next to the creek where they got this treat.

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Mondays probably have the least content. I think the summer camps keep it boring to give the kids a chance to slowly work their way into the week.

On the way into work today, I noticed the Madison Citywide Diving meet was today. I took a video of this young lady diving - it's all I have today.

 I thought her dive was much better than how they scored her.

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Today we had Liina over for brunch. It was a bit rainy this morning, so indoors it was.

 After that, we watched Minions on TV and did some cleaning. No pictures of that. 

We did a little crafting though. This is Native American Quill Art. They used porcupine quills back then, we use toothpicks today.

In the afternoon, it looked like we would have some good weather. We went to Pope Farms for the first time this summer.

It was good for flying the kite.

Heidi and Kai like to have photo contests every once in a while. A lot of times Kai will take a photo and then edit it on the iPhone.

this looks like an alligator

this one is Mommy as a cheerleader

At home, it was still hot and humid. We got this new splashpad - ordered it last night and it was at our house by 10AM. The soaked me wet again.

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Today is Emma's birthday party at Go Ninja in Waunakee. Her actual birthday is July 29 (Monday). Her Mom said she had been to a place like this in Milwaukee that was much bigger. For the Madison area, this is as good as it gets. I'll drop in a bunch of pictures and put captions on them.

the ramp in the back was the favorite place

the boys had the most trouble getting up - I think it is because they are heavier

I enjoyed helping kids with my arms to get them to the 1st and 2nd tier levels

I thought I would take a video from the top to better show what it is like.

The place is kind of like American Ninja Warrior, with a lot of different obstacles. 

we had to sign a waiver form

Here are all the kids at the party - it was from 10:45 to 12:30 (sharp) - there was another party after us.  

Emma got to wear a red band around her head - since it was her party, she got to skip the line to do whatever she wanted if there was a group of kids

We had Pizza Hut and cupcakes. All seven birthday parties this summer has pizza.

After the party, he had gymnastics. I went to Woodman's - Heidi sent me this photo.

After gymnastics, we read our 50th book of the summer, which entitled us to a prize from the library.

the man is looking at our reading list

grabbing a free book

he got an "Ants" National Geographic book and free tickets to Eugster's Goat Farm

He played LEGO at the library until it closed at 5PM. 

The next stop was to Heidi's co-workers place again to take care of the cat. Kai got to go along this time. This is the last time we're taking care of LP.

For dinner we had pasta. Someone forgot to empty out the penne from the bin before they added the rotini! See the mismatch from the box?

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Today the class went to Lakeview Park. Lakeview Park is where the splash pad is in Middleton. I told Kai I would join him today. When I got there, they were just done with the splash pad, and it was time for lunch.

 Kai reserved a spot for me just on the other side of him. It's kind of fun how many of the kids I either know from his class this summer or previous summer. I think sometimes it freaks them out when I know their names, but that have no idea who I am.

After lunch, the teachers give the students a little bit of time before they head out to the playground. This is called "wicky sticks," I think. 

as you can see, there are a lot of other summer camps here

Kai made a ring. 

After this, they went out on the playground for a bit. I just let him play with his friends. Conveniently the city put up a wifi router in the park so I was able to watch a bit of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on the Peacock app.

He had the option to try fishing, but he declined and wanted to continue playing here with his friends.

I enjoyed playing frisbee and "500" with the other kids there, like CJ, Alex, Brody, Ryland and some other boy who I never met.

Dax and Kai - they are so silly together

the other friends

Not much happening tonight. He's super tired and already sleeping by 7:30...that's a good thing since we have our 7th and probably last birthday party of the summer at GO NiNjA. This is Emma's party. Emma is a friend from a few years ago who does not go to Kai's school anymore, but we're super happy to keep in touch with her. Her and Kai will go to the same middle school, but that is many years off.

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Sometimes I'm never quite sure how many pictures I'll get in a day, so I start taking pictures of stuff.

The duplex outside of our neighborhood is now two stories tall.

For today and Saturday, I'm taking care of Heidi's co-worker's cat, "LP." His apartment is really empty, and has a great view.

view from balcony - our neighborhood is not far away

LP stands for "Little Panther"

Elinor was interested in showing me her bow and arrow.

Kai is busy making a fire hydrant.

The Memorial Union has crafts from Wednesday through Saturday throughout the summer months. It was one of our favorite things to do last year, but we had not made it there before tonight. First off, we had pizza for them and bratwurst for me.

Around 7PM, a string band called "Cork 'n Carry String Band" was playing. It was nice background music.

I got a little bit of ice cream at the Daily Scoop. It was quite busy tonight.

Then to painting rocks.

the bottom one means "Summer" in Mandarin Chinese - Heidi made these

After rock painting, we went next to the shore to feed the ducks. Here are a mix of reactions.

We will try to get out here another night this summer.