Fun and Celebration

This week was centered around fun.  

Monday night we had our summer 4H party.  A cook out and pot-luck, games and a hay ride were in store for the girls.  Ezri and Alora paired up for the egg toss and won!

 They each got a certificate for ice cream at Fantasy Twirl.

 Elam and Tierney also were along for the fun.  They had a great time on the hay ride.

 Tuesday evening, we let the kids stay up super late so that they could see Jupiter and it's moons through Daddy's telescope as it was very close and clear.  What fun!

 The kids had a blast playing with friends in our yard this week.  Neighbor kids were in our yard several days and it was a treat to have Travis and Emmett over to play on Wednesday afternoon.  With summer temps finally settling in hopefully to stay, the water and bathing suits have come out.

 We also were surprised by the very low fly over of a Chinook helicopter - twice!

We enjoyed a quieter night at home on Friday, but the kids were up late.  Saturday morning, I left to pick strawberries a little before 8 and they were all still fast asleep.  Thankfully, the berries were big and juicy and the picking was quick.  In 45 minutes, I had 29 pounds of strawberries and was on my way!

That afternoon, we headed to Sandy Pines to catch the car show.  Grandpa was driving his Model T in the parade before the show and the kids were excited to wave and cheer for him when he and Grandma passed by.

 Later, we found them at the car show and Tierney got to sit in the car.

 That evening, we celebrated Mommy's birthday with some surprise fun thanks to a very thoughtful Daddy- a pinata!  Each of the kids took their turn and had a great time.

 Once the candy was freed, we ate some and then moved on to cake.  This year, it was an ice cream cake - yum!

 We had another late night for the kids before heading home.  Sunday morning was this Mommy's birthday and we spent it being lazy for the morning.  I got to open some fun Lego's and new gardening tools as well as a bench.  After some lunch, we headed to Sandy Pines to play at the water park with Aubrey and Wesley.  After some supper, we went to see a ventriloquist at the Sandy Pines Chapel and we all had so much fun laughing!

For my birthday, there was also a different sort of surprise - a "birthday twin" as Alora would call it.  Aunt Becky had her baby , little Francesca, Sunday evening and suddenly the girls have a new cousin, their first on Daddy's side of the family.  There was a lot of excitement as they saw pictures and chatted about how to say her name and when they might meet her.

It sure was a fun week!

Fun with Family

We had another exciting week here.  On Tuesday, we got to spend an exciting day with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Katie, Drew, Luke and Annie, who were in town for the week as they pass from Georgia to Kansas.  It was so nice to be able to play and spend time with all of them, we miss them so much being so far away.  The kids played great together and there were lots of giggles and fun.  Alora and Luke buddied up much of the day, and they were just too adorable. 

We spent our day together at Grandpa & Grandma's new place in Sandy Pines.  There, we rode around on the golf cart...

 Took kids to the splash pad for a few hours...

 where Tierney and Luke got chilled after a while and were soon cuddled up together!

 We enjoyed lunch and dinner together and squeezed in a few photos too.

The night ended with a boat ride for myself and my kids along with Grandpa, Aunt Katie, Luke, Annie and Aubrey.  It was our family's first time on Grandpa's boat.

 They loved going fast!

 and it was a great way for Elam to take a nap after a long, exhausting day without a nap.

 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we had Gunner with us as well.  The girls have been enjoying having a baby around to help care for, though Elam is less impressed with someone else stealing his mom's attention.

 There were some nice days as well.  We got the girls signed up for the Summer Reading Program at the library, so they spent some time excitedly adding up minutes to fill in their charts.  They've each got their eye on a special prize they hope to win at the library.

 Friday evening, we headed back to Sandy Pines for an evening of friends, food and fire.  We also celebrated Kathy's birthday.  I was excited to give her a gift of roller derby paper dolls that I made for her.

Then we enjoyed a super chocolatey cake - yum!

 Our Friday night visit to Sandy Pines turned in to a sleep over at Grandpa and Grandma's place that night and Saturday night as well, which was a lot of fun.  We had a great weekend being lazy.  It wasn't super warm, so there was no swimming, but the kids had a great time playing together. 

We spent part of Saturday going to garage sales within the park and each of the kids bought something with the money they had earned. Saturday evening, we all split to either get stuff for another night of stay or  take care of tasks at the respective cabins.  The kids and I went for a cart ride for a bit while Daddy went home to take care of animals and get more clothes.

 This ended with some sleepy passengers beside me.

 Later Saturday evening, we took the kids to the high ropes course.  Daddy went up too (Tierney stayed behind as she was sleeping).

 Sunday morning, we went to church in Sandy Pines and had a wonderful time there!  We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon lazily sitting around before it was time to pack up and head home to get ready for another week.  As it was Father's Day, the kids had some things for him...

 At home, the girls were excited for Daddy to open the gift we had made for him.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!