4th of July

Someone asked me recently, do you miss your cottage?  The answer is I miss that time in my life.  Similar to how you miss when your kids were little.  You don’t exactly want another baby, but you’d love to rewind and live a week of it again.  If we’re lucky this life is long and allows for all sorts of seasons.  The cottage was a wonderful season in my life, and being honest, most of my families best memories were made there.  I don’t wish I still had it however.  I’m enjoying not having to pack every weekend, saying yes to bonfires with neighbors and dinners out with friends.  Fourth of July was a poignant illustration of that.  It was nothing like our fourths of the past, where we hosted 20-30 people for an entire weekend of fun and food.  While that was all good, the quieter more relaxed weekends are what our life calls for right now.  We started the weekend with a bonfire in the backyard.  Mostly our regular crowd, with some neighborhood friends mixed in. 

  

These three were up way past their bedtimes!  Didn’t matter though, because we woke up with no agenda the next day.  Such a lovely feeling.  We spent a couple hours at the pool.

One of Emily and Steve’s neighbors were kind enough to include us in a celebration at their house. 

The kids started off with sparklers in the driveway. 

We had a little reminder in the distance not to play with fire.

Then the guys carefully set up the big guns.

The fireworks were practically professional! 

No 4th of July would be complete without a boat trip.  Luckily the weather cooperated and we had a glorious day!

Natalie and Sof both tubed.  I wouldn’t say they loved it,  but at least they liked it.  Compared to the other girls, they are way behind in water sports exposure.  By Sof’s age Kaitlyn was a seasoned knee boarder!  That’s okay though, they’re the babies!  At one point we had everyone out there but Adrienne!

So we added her!

Trouble one and trouble two.  They’re so lucky they’re cute!

After a long day on the lake we headed home for the last party of the weekend.  One of the teachers I work at had a pig roast(food was fabulous).

The weekend was the perfect mix of family and friends, quiet and loud, and busy and relaxed.  A satisfying mix indeed!

June

June feels like it should be two different months.  School’s in June and school’s out June.  They are so drastically different it’s hard to imagine them coexisting in the same calendar square.

The first part includes choir concerts, preschool drop offs, and last day of school pics.

This was technically Adrienne’s last day of school, but she wouldn’t let me take the traditional morning picture.  I should have followed her to school to take it.

We got a few nice bike rides in and settled into the new cheer schedule.

Sof learned how to ride a two wheeler!  She’s taken quite a few spills, but gets back up and keeps going.  She’s loving her new found freedom riding to her little buddies houses.  Her two little girlfriends both have kickstands, so naturally she wanted one too.  She asked daily for several weeks, and the night it happened was a little like Christmas. 

We celebrated Uncle Rick’s birthday on a beautiful June night.

Lexi got a haircut.  She’s been wanting to go shorter(not quite this short, but it’ll grow) and summer is perfect time for that.  I think it looks adorable on her!

We spent a fair amount of time at the pool.  Sof is even more of a fish this year!

We had a “Welcome Summer” subdivision party.  They had so much for the kids! 

We had bowling night at Barb and Jeff’s which included Bocce ball, and I had a neighborhood girls night out.

Lexi went with the cousins to spend a week split between Grandma and Papa’s house and Aunt Nette’s.  She had a fabulous time, and when I picked her up at Oma’s she was loving swimming!

Lexi and Sof bicker a lot, but they really miss each other when they’re apart.  It was a sweet reunion followed by lots playing and snuggling in the following days.

 

(We met at a graduation party for our old neighbor Alex.  I can’t believe how fast these kids are growing!) 

Lexi was happy to see Scratches too!

Adrienne mentioned she wanted to go to the One Republic concert, and Mark and Steve jumped right on it!  They bought tickets and we loaded up the white van!

I got a manicure.

Adrienne apprenticed musical theater camp at the studio.  Anna is always a favorite camper.

We went to the balloon festival for the second year.  We prepped the kids all the way there that we were just going to see the balloons.  NO RIDES.  The balloons were very cool.

 

Once the balloons took off we agreed to maybe buying a few tickets for rides.  Two unlimited wristbands and 3 hours later, they had rode everything and seen fireworks.

We ended the month with a trip to the waterpark with Kohn’s, which seems to happen at least once each summer:) 

You know how Sof loves the water…she’s not nervous or shy.  She spent a lot of time alone in the wave pool, being very bold!  Can you see the little orange life jacket in the middle of the big pool?  That’s my girl.

 

When I think back on June it seems like it was pretty rainy, but the pictures sure don’t show that!