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On Sunday night, Callaway Gardens holds a luau to welcome everyone to the Summer Family Adventure (SFA) program. Apparently all these kids need for fun is a checkered napkin.

Per tradition, the highlight of the evening was a hula hoop contest, and our three girls were ready.

Leah opted for the minimal technique - crossed arms and no extraneous movements.

Molly was a bit more of a show off.

Emmie had hula hoop skills as well. All 3 of them made it to the finals.

All but one of the finalists lost their hoop when they had to lift one foot in the air, leaving Leah as the champion. She was officially proclaimed the Super Duper Hula Hooper for the week.

The Super Duper Hula Hooper and her prize (a cup that gets free refills all week long), with her two finalist attendants on each side.

And the eight of us, ready for camp to get started.

For some time, Molly’s been asking to try out Hibachi. So, the week after school ended, we took the girls as a celebration of a great year of school. We went to Koto Sake, and the girls loved it. They were immediately planning to have future birthday dinners there.

The girls love their American Girl dolls. Since Leah’s birthday, they’ve been asking for a triple-decker doll bunk bed. After Christmas, I told them we could build one together. They got very excited about the idea, so we embarked on a long-term project to build one.

We started by getting some graph paper and drawing up some designs. From the designs, we created a materials list. Then we headed to Home Depot to buy wood, screws, and paint (thanks to a Home Depot gift card from G’Mom and Grampa). You’ll have to wait till the end to see what color they picked.

We worked on the project over several weekends. We started work in February, but it was very cold in the garage making it hard to motivate ourselves to make too much progress. We still managed to cut several of the pieces (I was the only one to operate the miter saw, but the girls were excellent helpers). They then sanded all the pieces smooth to get them ready to assemble. I used the router to create slots for the side rails.

In May, it warmed up so we managed to pick up the pace and make some significant progress. They also finally got to use some power tools. They used the drill press to drill holes (with counter-sink).

Molly made sure to keep the screw straight up as she drove it in with the impact driver.

After a lot of work, we had 3 frames for the 3 beds.

Leah measured how long the slats needed to be so we could cut them.

And marked where I needed to cut.

And more sanding.

The impact driver works much better if you scrunch up your nose.

Nice job Molly (and nice photobomb, Leah).

Once the beds were constructed, it was time to paint them.

We each painted a bed.

Leah covered the bed well, and her face a little. We put two coats of paint on them (as well as a little touching up).

The final step in construction was to drill hole in the top/bottom of the posts and cut dowels to connect them. Here we are with out finished project.

Jen used her sewing skills to make mattresses, and the dolls were ready to snooze.

I loved working on this project, and the girls seemed to really enjoy it as well. I hope we can do it again soon.

While Jen was out of town, the girls spent a day with their friend Matilda. They had a water gun fight, and were very excited about getting their own water guns when I picked them up. I of course loved this idea, so we went to 5 Below and picked up some Super Soakers.

The girls finally got out of school on June 14. They love school, but were very excited for summer vacation.

After school, the neighborhood kids again took a picture at the circle, as we’ve done every year.

After the big picture, the 5th graders who are moving up to middle school took a picture on their own. Meanwhile, the other kids snuck off to gather water balloons. The 5th graders went from smiling to soaking in an instant.

This, of course, led to an all out water fight.

The girls then took a quick picture for me before running to a neighbor’s house for an ice cream party.

Let summer begin!

Jen likes to take the girls strawberry picking each year. This year, it was a group effort.

Stacie and Zach were making grand plans for thier fresh strawberries, including a strawberry pie.

The girls filled their buckets, then added the strawberries to Mom’s box. The picking was much slower without Dad, G’mom and Grampa this year. Thank goodness we had friends to help out.

About 10 minutes after arriving, light rain started. Molly and Matilda found a unique way to cover up in the field.

Jen and the girls made a second stop at Woodbourne Creamery at Rock Hill Orchard. It is about 15 minutes from the strawberry field and the homemade ice cream was a perfect snack.

The girls had their Field Day at school, and it was a beautiful day. I volunteered during the younger grades, and was assigned the ring toss station (new station from last year).

Jen and I swapped out at lunch time, and Jen worked the bean bag tic-tac-toe for the older kids.

And the face painters this year really did a fantastic job, as you can tell from these happy girls.

The girls and I again had fun at the Legos with Dad event at their school, as we have the past couple of years.

Mother’s Day was a busy one. It started with going to the 9:30 service at church where the girls choirs were singing.

Leah sang with the Cherub Choir for the last time on Mother's Day. When choirs resume in the fall, she'll be moving up to join Molly and the other big kids. Apologies for losing her in the shot for much of the video. It’s tough to get a good angle on these.

Next up was Molly’s choir.

Then I led kid’s worship at 11:00 before heading to East Moon Asian Bistro for a fancy sushi lunch (the girls had Salmon Teriyaki) with the four of us and Grams.

Eventually, we made it home so Jen could open her presents.

Leah continues to be a serious tennis player. And now that it’s warm, she can dress the part as well. Leah got a couple pair of high socks at Easter, and now she wants to wear them whenever she plays tennis, just like Bethany Mattek-Sands.

I posted that picture to Twitter back when I took it and was surprised to get a response for Leah from Bethany herself!

ADORABLE!! Tell Leah she is looking fabulous and I approve #HighSocks https://t.co/9MDnOhpRvI

— Bethanie MattekSands (@BMATTEK) April 30, 2017

Here are a few action shots of Leah at her lesson.