Bring on the Summer

The Summer has officially begun for the Rice Family. I worried about boredom setting in for us, but I don't think that will be a problem. We've been going and going and going and.... Between Caroline's classes, play dates, day trips and such we have had little to no time to just relax.

One day this June we got to spend a day with Michael. The boys are now beginning to play together, well next to each other. Much to Uncle Paul's dismay, they played kitchen and Princess tea set for much of that time!

Caroline, Kevin and I also went to Orlando for a couple days with Caroline's friend Mia, Danny, and their mom Dahlia. We had so much fun with them and got to visit Disney's Blizzard Beach for the first time. It was awesome. A great place for big and little kids. There were no lines, space to get chairs and the water temp. was perfect. All in all a great trip.

Caroline has started tennis lessons, a group class at MyGym, and another round of swim lessons (she is starting to swim on her own now!). Add that to her regular ballet and gymnastics classes and she is a very busy girl (and I'm a very busy driver)!

On Friday we went to the zoo with Michael and Aunt Leslie. It was a lot of fun, especially the new splash park. It opened last year, but we've never enjoyed it. The kids all had a great time. At first Kevin just walked from one drain to another, then branched out to some smaller fountains, and at the end found the perfect blend - a fountain coming out of a drain!

Some zoo educators also let us know that there was a big silverback gorilla named Lash down by the glass in "The Cave." We all went down there and got to see him up close. It was so cool. Lash has come to know the educators and was playing with them. He would watch them out of the corner of his eye, then run by hitting the glass to another window. When she would go to the other glass, he would do the same thing back to where we were. Very up close and personal. He was a 370 lb gorilla and he was the smaller one!
We've also taken several trips to the beach - some with the friends from Caroline's school, some as a family, and some with Leslie and Michael. Lots of fun. One day with Daddy, we even saw dolphins nearby. Caroline is enjoying the body surfing and is starting to get a hang of doing it on her own.