2nd Week of July

Cow Appreciation Day is one of our favorite days.  This year I found an easy printable mask for all of us and then we taped on the Chick-Fil-A sign.  Seth met us during his lunch break.  Millie was afraid of the cow again this year.

Millie is all about the dress ups these days.  Here she is dressed up as a Strawberry Poppy Troll with her free Chick-Fil-A balloon.

We spent some time at Nona's with Carver.  I brought along our play-doh and the kids had a blast.  I found them making pretend food and then pretending to feed it to Carver.

I also found Phin and Millie playing "exercise" as they did sit ups and counted to 10.

We also celebrated 7-11 with free Slurpee. We went to a different store than we usually do...and they were way less organized...but the kids were still thrilled with their Slurpees.

Papa was exec of the day, so we headed out to Lagoon for a few hours.  We met up with Amy, Zoey and Connor as well.  I am realizing that there may not be many of these pictures in the future...Phin seems to be growing at super speed and I don't know how much longer he will be allowed on the kiddie rides.

Silas also appears to be growing at super speed.

After Lagoon we planned to go to Build-A-Bear for their Pay your age event.  I had been away from social media all day and couldn't believe the line...which was apparently much shorter than it had been.  They closed the line down at 9:30 am.  We got there about 3:00 pm.  The people at the back of the line had been in line for over 6 hours and still had hours of waiting ahead of them.  It was stinking hot...in the high 90s at least.  The line also had very little shade.  These poor little kids had been standing in line all day for a stuffed animal...I think that fits the definition of madness.  We decided to make the best of our trip to Farmington Station and got a FIIZ drink, which the kids call a "special" drink. 

Nona and Carver met up with us and Millie was kind enough to share her drink.

Then the kids played near the fountain and made a wish by throwing in a penny,

Phin has finally learned how to pump!  

Carver loves playing with Phin and Millie and copies their every move.  They moved Nona's stools around and sat in front of the TV to watch a show.

Seth and I hired a babysitter super early on Saturday morning so we could go on a hike.  

We brought Silas along and he fell asleep.   We had told Phin and Millie that they may wake up to a babysitter.  Phin ended up sleeping through our entire date and was quite disappointed that he missed playing with our babysitter.

1st Week of July

Phin and Millie had a week break in the rec activities which gave us a little more time at home.  So on Monday we picked raspberries took a wagon ride to share them with some neighbors. 

I also let Phin and Millie paint a little sun catcher that I picked up on clearance from JoAnn's. 

I implemented quiet time in separate rooms this day.  Why have I never thought of this before?  Millie ended up falling asleep...and Silas and I got a nap as well.

Most days Millie can be found with this purse.  She carries random treasures in it that vary from day to day.

I was brave and ventured into a new festive hairstyle...it took forever and I don't think either of us have the patience for hairdos like this everyday but it was a fun 4th of July Star.

Seth took the kids to a 4th of July parade.  I stayed back at the house but as I was swiping through Facebook I noticed that Seth, Phin and Millie were sitting across the street from one of my Facebook friends...

 

They came home with loads of candy.  Seth mentioned that Millie got upset about frequently being hit with taffy.  

 

After the parade we loaded up and headed to Lagoon.  It was HOT so the kids were more than willing to play in the water fountain at the entrance.

Seth rode the Log Flume and Rattlesnake Rapids with the kids.

We also watched Collette, Emily, Jane and Aaron on Rattlesnake Rapids...Jane was all over that little boat trying to avoid the waterfall.

After lunch with cousins we spent the remainder of our time at Lagoon-A-Beach.  Millie and Silas both fell asleep on me as we floated along the lazy river.

 

I found some leftover POPS from last year and Phin and Millie were delighted to play with them.

Whenever I am laying on the ground I tend to end up with kids on top of me...

Seth and the kids went on a scooter ride as we waited for it to get dark.

We were invited to watch our neighbors set of fireworks and it was the perfect way to end the evening.

Millie was scared of the loud fireworks and had us cover her ears...Phin had no fear...Silas slept through the entire show.

July 5th was Nona's birthday and we had a big family dinner with cousins that were in town.  Before dinner we got out the slip and slide.

Silas took a little snooze on Uncle Bart.

After dinner, Uncle Jeff improved the slip and slide and the kids took more turns.

Cousin Emily was so sweet with Millie and helped her go down OVER and OVER and OVER.

Aunt Kim gave the kids some cute suckers after all the festivities.

We have loved having Jeff, Kim and Carver in town.  Phin and Millie were particularly excited when Uncle Jeff bought a couple of new skateboards.

On July 6th we went to a Bees game.  Seth had the brilliant idea to buy Phin and Millie some water bottle fans at the grocery store before the game.  It kept us all cool and entertained the kids for most of the game.

Silas got very comfortable at the game.

We ended up sharing an ice cream.

Phin may have loved the little baseball hat that the ice cream came in even more than the ice cream.

It was a fireworks night so we enjoyed another round of fireworks...and Silas slept through them again.