Summertime

We've had a fun time this past month!  We had four seats to a Tigers game earlier in the month, so we took the girls for a fun night out!

Baseball!

Best friends? 

Ready for foul balls

Sadly we lost, but did their best with the rally caps

Andy's family was in town for a week, so we got to hang with them a bunch!

DCFC!

Making some music

Zoo trip!

I count three dinosaurs

I tried to teach them checkers, then quickly gave up

We had a simple barbecue and sparklers at our house for the 4th, and then continued the tradition of parking deck fireworks!

Sparklers still bring the joy

The only kid of mine that would dress patriotic

Anxious yet excited

Sassy sparkler

These are the moments

Loving the view

The kids and Jamie went to camp a couple days each week, and as usual, they loved it... well, Jamie didn't love it necessarily, but the kids were very happy!

Rain or Shine, time for camp!

Yeah, she might be from the dark side

Ben loves to help vacuum the art room after camp

The kids have an end-of-camp show where each group sing and dances.  They all did great!

Ben learned some language, singing "One Small Voice."

Evie brought the sass with "Respect."

Maggie sang "Build Me Up, Buttercup" and was very happy when it was over!


We celebrated birthdays for my Mom, Will, Jamie's Dad and Violet in the past month!

Happy birthday, Mom!

Happy birthday, double digits for Will!

Had a rousing game of kickball per the birthday boy's request

Happy birthday to Dad!

Look whose six!

We had a really fun night out at Jimmy John's field.  My mom planned an outing for St. Michael's 50th anniversary, so the family had fun getting together.  Maggie was up north with a friend for the week, so Evie got to bring a friend along for a fun night and a sleepover!

Thanks Mom!

Ready for some baseball!

Checking out the field after running the bases

Evie and her friend got every single player's autograph

Getting his mitt autographed

Playing catch with Dad

Not impressed with the sprinkles I generously got for her...

Fireworks are Ben's latest obsession - he was
beyond thrilled to watch this!

Fireworks with friends

Night swimming

Some others:

Living that pool life

Sometimes Evie lets me put her hair in a sloppy
bun, and it gives me great satisfaction

Fun with friends

Teamwork makes the dream work

Slaying at the lemonade stand

Ben loves to help "fix" our house - hammering some cracks?

Fixing our brick

Playing baseball with Grandpa

Maggie's favorite pose

Learning how to make mac n cheese with Grandma

Jamie's new favorite shirt - gets way too many
compliments on it!

Thick as thieves

Excited for the race!

Au revoir!

Gorge-eous Vacation

While Jamie explores France and Spain with a bunch of high schoolers, I opted to take the kids on a little trip to Ithaca, NY.  My best bud Erin and her son met up with us, and we rented a house for 5 days.  I was nervous about making the drive and being the only parent... turned out it was no big deal at all with Erin's help, and we had a really great time!  I love waterfalls, so we picked the area around the Finger Lakes to explore - I already want to go back!

Missing Jamie, but a great trip overall!

We went to Taughannok Falls on our first day, which was just down the road from our place.  We actually stopped there last year on our way to the east coast, but it was cool to see it again!  A pretty little hike ending in a super tall waterfall!

Pretty little falls in the beginning of the hike

Wading in the water and collecting rocks
was Ben's favorite part

Evie got the hang of skipping rocks!
(I still can't manage to do it, sigh)

Ben collecting rocks and sticks to make a fire...

Taughannok Falls

Erin and James

So sweaty...

We went kayaking in pairs on Lake Cayuga, and all the kids did awesome!  I was a little worried having Ben in the front, but he was totally into it!  The pictures didn't turn out great, but at least we have the memories!

Evie and Erin as a powerhouse team...

My crew mate

We took a boat tour of Seneca Lake, which was the perfect length of time for the kids.

Mother and Daughter

Yay boat rides!

Boat hair!

2 out of 3?

Watkins Glen State Park was by far my favorite part of the trip.  We got to see 19 waterfalls in one morning of hiking!  There were a lot of stairs and inclines, but totally worth the effort.  The kids only slightly ruined the vibe complaining half the time... would love to do this again (alone, ha ha).

Explorers

That's us up on the bridge, hard to see

Really impressed with all the paths and
stairways that were built into the landscape, can't imagine 
trying to design it all!

Lots of sprinkling areas like this

TLC was wrong - you absolutely SHOULD
go chasing waterfalls

Gotta love a waterfall you can walk under

One of the big boys

The temps were in the 90s and super humid throughout the entire trip... so naturally a bonfire was necessary.  The kids rrrrrrrrreally wanted to do one, so Erin and James made it happen!

Trying not to pass out from the heat

Worth it for the s'mores

Erin took the kids to a really cool Science Center one day while I stayed back for Ben's nap (she's my hero).  Evie and Maggie both loved it, said it was one of the best parts of the trip!

It really blew her hair back

Outdoor playground!

We went to a little park one day attempting to find open swimming... the swimmable area was actually pretty gross, so we had some unsatisfied kids.

Oh Evie

Such a sweetheart

Some other randoms from the trip:

Evie's first game of pool... I am definitely not the person
who should be teaching her

Evie bought a rubber snake, affectionately named Stacy

Erin helped her with a fashion show, creating this lovely
scarf and tube dress!

Ben is obsessed with his captain hat

Whipped cream is becoming a food group in my family...

MANY games of Jenga, Uno and Spoons
were had

The house had a hot tub... which sounded cool when we booked it,
but was less exciting in 90-degree heat.  Unsurprisingly the kids
insisted on becoming soup as soon as we arrived!