Summer ‘11 ~~ Weeks 4 & 5

Ahhhhh summer. Busy, fun, summer. Summer means my poor little blog gets neglected … but I can’t feel guilty because we’ve been having so much fun! And so I’m catching up again, this time with the past 2 weeks of summer fun.

Saturday, July 9th ~ Our local area does a HUGE fireworks display the weekend after July 4th, so we took the girls to it and had a fabulous time … below you can see my cute little Red, White and Blue girls!

Sunday, July 10th ~ We went to church, then planned to just relax at home. We ended up inviting our friends over at the last minute and just had a relaxing BBQ and pool day with them. They brought one of their dogs to play with Gracie and they were so cute together having their puppy playdate!

Monday, July 11th ~ We went to one of our favorite beaches in Rhode Island, where the waves are much bigger than our local beaches. We had SO.MUCH.FUN boogie boarding in the waves. I literally stayed IN the water about 90% of the day! So far, it was one of the most fun days I’ve had all summer.

Tuesday, July 12th ~ a steamy hot day so we went bowling with our friends, then back to their house for the evening so the kids could play and the Moms could scrapbook. No picture.

Wednesday, July 13th ~ We had an ‘at home day’ where we just caught up on stuff like housework and laundry. We began our new ‘Marble Jar’ system {which I will detail in another post}. The girls were very helpful around the house that day! In the evening our friends came over for dinner and we were supposed to go see the Wed. night fireworks but got rained out.

Thursday, July 14th ~ Went to the beach with some friends. It was a GORGEOUS day, there was a nice little breeze and we had such a great time. Then we came home, showered, changed and headed back out to a different beach that holds a concert every Thursday night. We brought chairs and blankets and pizza for dinner and hung out with our friends. The concert was fun and there were a TON of people there. After the concert we went back to our friend’s house for awhile to have a campfire. Is it any wonder why I’m so exhausted??? I mean, how many things can we possibly squeeze into ONE day?! 

Friday, July 15th ~ We had a quiet day at home. Got some things done and swam in the pool. Then in the evening we went to a park that has outdoor concerts all summer on Friday nights {isn’t it cool all the great, FREE things we can do around here in the summer?!}. The band was FANTASTIC, they played mostly country music and it was all songs we know and love. The girls and their friends spent the WHOLE night right up in front of the stage dancing their little hearts out all night long. We brought a picnic for supper and the adults hung out and talked and just had a great time.

Saturday, July 16 ~ Joy has been taking a Jazz/Hip Hop dance class this whole year and Saturday was her dress rehearsal. We were there for about 3 hours {outside, in the heat!} but the girls all did SO well! I took lots of photos and a couple videos that day because I knew it would be easier to take them then instead of at the actual recital. She is the one right in front! I love how she’s concentrating so hard!

Sunday, July 17th ~ We went to church, then home to change quickly, then it was off to Joy’s dance recital! One of her best friends was in dance with her this year and they did amazing! It was a very cute little recital and we are so proud of Joy! They both got flowers from their families at the end and I got this cute picture of the two girls.

Later that afternoon my in laws, brother in laws, sister in law and nephews came over. We had a BBQ and a little b-day party for my nephew and of course the kids swam for hours. That night the adults had a campfire and just hung out and talked. I love my sis in law and bro in laws and it’s always so nice to just catch up with them whenever we can.

Monday, July 18th ~ My bro in law, sis in law and nephews spent the night, then on Monday we all went out with my in laws on their boat {some friends of ours came too}. We had to take a couple trips with the boat cause there were 9 adults and 7 kids! We always take the boat to our fave beach where there are hardly any people and you can explore and find crabs and snails and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a great place for kids to explore and swim and have fun. So there were 7 kids all together and they had a BLAST all hanging out together! There is this HUGE tree that washed up on shore so I had all the 7 kids stand on it to snap this picture. I love it! That night we grilled out with my bro in laws, sis in law and nephews and the kids swam some more.

   

Tuesday, July 19th ~ another catch up at home day. But the girls and I did go to the library later in the day. No picture.

Wednesday, July 20th ~ We went to our friend’s house to swim and play. There were 6 Moms and FIFTEEN kids! I love these get togethers though because even though it gets a little crazy it’s still fun. The kids swim and play and the Moms get to talk and hang out.

We went home, changed, showered and then had to head out again. Since it was such a busy day and I had a VBS meeting at church that evening we just went to Chili’s for dinner. After Chili’s we went to church where I hosted a meeting for my team for VBS. We only have a little over a week before our VBS starts! {VBS = Vacation Bible School … Me = the department head for the primary kids}. {no picture again this day} Since the girls behaved well during our meeting I took them to one of our fave farm fresh ice cream places on the way home. It is OH SO YUMMY!

Thursday, July 21st ~ our friends came over for lunch and swimming. Then in the evening we went to my friend’s house for a ‘31’ party – it was so nice to get out for a girl’s night {even if I did bring my kids along!}. The girls were going to sleep over at their friend’s house, but at midnight my friend called saying Joy was crying for me … so I drove back out there to pick her up – poor thing! She’s still very much a Mama’s girl! Hope still slept over though.

Friday, July 22nd ~ We went and picked up Hope in the morning, then ran a couple errands, then came home to get some stuff done around the house. It was BLAZING hot so we tried to stay inside in the A/C. We re-organized Joy’s room and switched the furniture all around. It was so good to get it all cleaned out and organized again. I feel like I have to do this with the girl’s rooms about every other month because they collect so much junk! That evening the girls went to a birthday party, hubby went out fishing with his buddies and I went to my friend’s house to swim and hang out.

{why have I been so terrible about taking pictures this week??!!}

Anyhow … that is our busy, fun life for the past two weeks! We’re cramming all kinds of stuff in each and every day and having a great, great summer so far!