4th of July at the Cabin

We made our annual trip up to the cabin the weekend before the 4th (who lets the 4th fall on a Wednesday, anyway?).  It was HOT.  It's never been that hot up there before.  But, it was great to spend so much time swimming!  Jocelyn's at that age where she could stay in the lake all day.  It was a smaller group this year - Morgan, Nicole and Henry couldn't make it up since it was in the middle of the week.  Hopefully they'll get to come up next year! 

Bumpa and Jocey trying out the new tube

 Elliot loved splashing and watching all the action

 I wasn't sure how'd she do in the water - we haven't done swimming lessons since last summer.  She was a little cautious at first, but quickly got used to it and by the end of the week was swimming and jumping off the raft all by herself!

 This was the extent of Kailee's swimming, but at least she got out of the house for a bit.

Jocelyn had fun playing with Elliot and chasing him around.  He's not walking yet, but man is he a fast crawler!  And he's not a traditional crawler, he hops along on his butt and one leg.  It's the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Ama and Jocey sporting their "feathers" in their hair

Calvin and Kailee did a lot of fishing, and Jocey helped a few times too.  She mostly just wanted to play with the worms though.

Kailee was really missing Cory this year because she loves fireworks.  And no one else really does.  But they did some sparklers, and Bumpa did some other bigger ones for the little kids.

 The dogs HATE fireworks and go hide inside - it's the only time they're allowed in the cabin all week.  Ellie knows to just head to the bathroom.

It was so hot that we only did a fire one night, and I sweated the whole time.  Plus there were a million mosquitos, so that was awful too.  But man, were those s'mores awesome!

 Despite the heat, we headed into town for the parade.  Jocelyn did like it, but I think we'll be eating the candy for the next 6 months!  The crowd was quite small this year, I'm sure because of the heat.

We always have such a relaxing time at the cabin.  I read a book and a half, got a tan, and ate a whole bunch of great food!  We're so thankful that Deda's are so generous and let us come to visit every summer.  It's a great tradition!

Kailee's softball summer

This summer, like last summer, Kailee played on 2 softball teams.  Which meant she pretty much was scheduled every weekend thru July!  I know it's good for her, but man, that's a big time committment! 

Here she is ducking for a ball

 Got a hit - made it all the way to 3rd!  She's really getting to be a good player, and each year gets a little more interesting to watch.

However, her softball summer was cut short the last week in June.  She was sliding into 2nd, and sprained her ankle.  We were at the game, so went to urgent care with her and her mom to see what she had done.  She was in a boot and on crutches for 2 weeks, then in the boot for another 2 weeks, and now just has a little fabric brace thing.  She says it still hurts, all the way up her calf.  I think she'll go back to the dr. in a few weeks if it's still hurting her - maybe they missed something on the

x-ray.  Unfortunately she did it right before our annual trip up to the cabin for the 4th.  So it was a bit of a bummer trip for her.  And it was the hottest it's ever been up there, and she couldn't even go swimming.

Memorial Day Weekend

Brian, Katie and Ella came down for a visit over Memorial Day weekend.  It was already hot out, so we got a pool for the girls to play in.  They had a blast and Ella loves to splash!  Ella was a little unsure at first, so I got in too - it felt great!  We had a great time playing - Ella was just starting to crawl, so we had fun watching her try to figure it out.  Mom and Dad watched the girls one night and the four of us went out to a movie and drinks afterwards.  I'm so thankful both Calvin and I have siblings and their spouses that we enjoy spending time with and would be people we'd hang out with even if we didn't have to. :) 

I know, I know

Yes, it's been 2 months since I last posted some pictures and updates.  I didn't think we had a busy summer, but I guess we have!  I'm so glad it's finally cooling down a bit - I'm so sick of air conditioning!  We've been having a fun summer, lots of playing outside, swimming and staying out of the heat.  I hope to still get in a camping trip before the end of the summer, but besides that not too many big plans.  Here are some random pictures from our summer so far....

Sniffing the lillies

She loves her robe I found at a garage sale!

Helping to plant the garden

Still loves to dress up

Playing dance teacher and writing on her clipboard

This was a big bad owie.  Note to self - don't leave aerator shoes spike side up for little girls to step on.  It actually made 3 holes in her foot, but didn't really bleed that bad.  It was a rough few days afterwards because she didn't want to walk on it.  Luckily she went to daycare and they had a field trip to the circus.  So she had to toughen up and walk on it because she really wanted to go! 

She clearly didn't want her picture taken, but come on, I had to capture this outfit!

Helping Daddy paint the basement.  And yes, she does have tattoos on her tummy.

We got out Kailee's old big girl bike and she does so great with it!  We took a bike ride to the video store the other day, which is probably 10 blocks or so, and she rode the whole time.  She complained once that her butt hurt, but she pushed thru it.  I love to ride bikes, so I'm excited for next summer when we can go together!