Boredom Busters, 4th of July, and Thank you, Aunt Krista!!!

It has been SOOOOO HOT this summer that Ashley and I haven't done much of our two favorite things:  going to the zoo and riding our horses.

(Not to mention that we have been to the lake, but it is too hot to fish! ... And in my opinion, even too hot to swim!)

Even worse, we are cooped up in our TINY house, and while I try to come up with fun things to do, it gets boring pretty fast.  It is too hot to bake cookies, another one of our favorite pastimes.

We play doll house for a while...

It seems to entertain Ashley and Dora Kitty, but Gracie - not so much.

The next thing was COMPLETELY Ashley's idea. 
She found her swimsuit, put it on, and asked to go "swimming" in the bathtub.

So, I said, "why not?"

Why that is more fun than taking a bath (naked) with her bathtub toys... I don't know... but, it is :-)

The more she got into it, the more I had to "fetch" her things... starting with her sunglasses.
(Cause, you know, when you are "swimming", it is usually sunny outside, and you need your sunglasses!)

Then she decided that her floatie was a "boat" and she requested oars. 

The best that I could come up with on the spot were large spoons from the kitchen.   She approved.

Another one straight into the camera..

Ashley's great-grandma "Mau" brought her some of Aunt Krista's old dance costumes.  This was the first number that she tried on... I am pretty sure that she has arm things on her legs (and maybe leg things on her arms?)... but, who cares?! She is having fun!

She even choreographed a routine with her Build-A-Bear animals and put on a "show" for Jeremy and me! (The stuffed animals are now wearing pieces from the outfit above.)

Different costume, different face :-).

She has played with these costumes every night for a week already, and I know that she will continue to enjoy them - thank you so much, Aunt Krista! You will have to come see her dance sometime ;-)

Something else to play with:  Jeremy is working in a "clean room" at work, so he brought home all kinds of booties, gloves, hair nets, and face masks.

Right away, Ashley decided that she looked like a "doctor". 

Lastly, since I haven't posted them yet, here are some pictures from the 4th of July:

We didn't spend any money on big fireworks this year (Ashley doesn't care for the "boom")... just fountains, Jeremy's favorite.

I promise not to make you look at all 300 pics that I took :-), in fact, I am deleting as I go...

Grandpa Kevin had a floating lantern for the girls...like in the movie "Tangled" :-)