July

 July has been filled with all sorts of fun summer activities. It's amazing how much fun we can have just by being intentional with our time and doing things together!

Watching some baby Junco's in my hanging flower basket

Kyle and I got away for a night to Birch Bay (the girls spent the night at Esme's house!)

Kayaking on Lake Whatcom at the 'end of the school year party'

Making fresh squeezed Strawberry Lemonade!

Edaleen's!

Strawberry Picking

Our Fourth was pretty low-key. We stayed home during the day, did some yard work, repainted the front porch railing, and did a few other things around the house. In the evening, we headed out to Bender Field to play for a little while. We had heard it was a good place to watch some of the fireworks that the neighbors set off, and we thought that sounded like fun. Unfortunately, the girls really needed to use the bathroom and they were locked. So we came home before too much had gotten started. The neighbors were doing some fireworks in the street so the girls and I did walk down to their house to watch them. They weren't a big fan of all the noise so it was 'sort of fun!' 

Making G-Momma's granola...it is so tasty and the girls love eating it with yogurt for breakfast!

Annaliese went on a week-long overnight camp with a few kids from church. It was the Nazarene Youth Camp and I believe there were kids from all around western Washington there. They stayed at Miracle Ranch, which is about three hours away. There were five kids from church who went, so they all drove over together with Cristy, the children's director. She had a wonderful time and said her favorite activity was either horseback riding or the 'leap of faith.' 

In the car and ready to go!

They posted a few pictures on the facebook page...so I took a screenshot of the ones with Annaliese!

Haleigh did a gymnastics camp with a few of her friends. She had fun, but was a little disappointed that she didn't get to do more gymnastics. It sounds like they played a lot of games (like hide-and-go-seek and sharks and minnows,) had craft time, and did obstacle courses. 

She is hanging on the bar.

Other fun July activities include bowling with Malachi and Elias, a visit out to Cedar Springs Retreat Center, and a few water fights to make the hot summer weather a little more tolerable!!

Only Annaliese and Elias wanted to bowl a second game...and they did amazing!

Grandma teaching the girls how to loom-knit.

Ready for a water fight!

It started with sponge balls...and then moved to buckets and hoses!

That about sums up our July! It's been full of so many fun activities and I've really enjoyed having this time with the girls. We've added in trips to the library, made a few recipes from Annaliese's cookbook, and have had a few trips to the park as well. It's hard to believe that it's already almost August.

I found this picture on my phone...this little lady lost her two front teeth!