Our Campbell Clan: Summer Summary

August - the last month of summer break.

Our whole family went to the Ohio State Fair on August 1. We didn’t enter one building or see any animals! The day was all about riding the rides this year. Being a Monday, it wasn’t too crowded and we got to ride all that we wanted to. Parker really liked the big slide and rode it several times.

Parker found his friends Derrick and James

You may recall that Parker took swimming lessons in July, but didn't make much progress. Well, Parker really improved his swimming skills in August! We bought him a pair of his own goggles. He loved them, and started going under water with them right away, and even swam a bit on his own with his head under water! Who knew that the secret to getting him better at swimming was buying goggles??

Parker playing in the water:

In preparation for Kindergarten, the school district held and event for kids and parents to learn about the school buses and to help them feel more comfortable riding them to school for the first time. Parker learned how to sit properly and we all took a short bus ride around the area. Good news about our bus stop – one has been added right at the corner by our house! This means we won’t have to walk or drive down the street to get the kids to and from the bus anymore!

Each summer, the kids and I like to take a trip down to the Cincinnati area to spend some time with our friends Shannon, Brady and Savannah. This year, we spent a few hours at the pool in their neighborhood. The weather cooperated and it was a good, fun day!

Seth, Brady and Isabelle

Parker and Savannah

We checked out a "new to us" pool - the Groveport Aquatic Center. This place was so neat because it had a large shallow area, a deep end with diving boards, a lazy river, two water slides and a splash pad.

These are two slides - one curvy (left) and one almost straight down (right)

Overview of the pool

Seth jumped really high off the diving board

Lazy river

Shane and Seth planned to see Tecumseh, The Outdoor Drama in Chillicothe near the end of August. They planned a whole weekend of camping at Tar Hollow State Park and seeing the show. While the camping trip was a success despite some rainy weather, the show was cancelled after everyone had already arrived, due to rain. Fortunately, they were given rain tickets and are planning to see the show at a later date, and still really enjoyed camping.

They took some games camping

One of the lakes

Swimming in the lake

The campsite

Mini golf at the campground

Throughout the summer, Isabelle babysat Callan, who lives down the street from us and is 11 years old. It was an easy summer job for her and a great way to earn money. In August, she attended cheer camp and show choir camp. She was very busy!

The boys spent a lot of time putting together various train tracks all summer.

Isabelle learned how to blow bubbles with gum.

We attended open houses for each of the three (yes, three this year!) schools. As of this posting, Isabelle's school had not yet had their open house (so no photo).