6 Years, 11 Months

July was a quiet month for us. Jack and Henry spent most of their time in a summer camp held at their elementary school. 

Tempura banana and chocolate ice cream with a large side of attitude (out to dinner at our favorite sushi place):

We took a local outing to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center (located near the Santa Cruz Wharf). 

Jack is not as tall as a Leatherback sea turtle (yet):

From the 2nd floor balcony of the Center, the boys watch the beach train trundle by: 

It's a modest little museum, and Henry quickly lost interest in most of the displays, but it did have their very favorite thing... a gift shop!

Jack finds a friend (which he received the following month for his birthday because his mom is a sucker for cute stuffed animals):

We also wandered over the hill to Ikea. Unfortunately, we overdosed Henry on Dramamine, so he spent most of the outing sleeping in the cart:

In the little patch of sun in our backyard, Jack and I pose next to the corn:

This year, we planted corn, green beans, watermelon and sunflowers. The watermelon is struggling along, but everything else is doing well.

Henry and Jack zone out on their game watches: 

Uncle Lee stopped in and spent some time hanging out and building Lego. 

Jack shows off his creation:

Uncle Lee taught Henry how to build pyramids: 

Jack wanted me to take a picture of his faux-hawk: 

Jack took a picture of his pile of stuffed animals:

Jack likes to have us take pictures of his creations. The following pictures are from summer camp. 

Jack is definitely a hat kid these days. He particularly likes his new tie-dye hat from a local surf-skate clothing store.

And with that, summer is over! After a little more than two months off, the first day of first grade is August 10th.