Culley's Corner: July

Between our travels we were able to sneak a playdate in. We met Sof’s friend Alivia and her mom at Skyzone. Her mom was pregnant and due in a week. When I ran into her later in the summer she told me she went into labor the day after we were at Skyzone!

Summer morning snuggles.

Adrienne with some dance friends.

Grandma Jackie hasn’t traveled up to our house in a couple years. She hasn’t been up to it, and we didn’t want to push it. This summer she’s been doing really well and we mentioned maybe she’d like to try a day trip. She was thrilled and did so well we’re going to try another day in August!

They’re weird.

I gave Grandma a few different dinner choices and let her choose. She didn’t hesitate to pick her favorite…hotdogs!! We did hamburgers as well because even our kids don’t eat hotdogs, LOL. Grandma loves them though and never gets them!

We also took this opportunity to celebrate a very belated Father’s Day!

Good byes are always full of lots of hugs and kisses. The kids often come back a second time!

Everyone loves Grandma Jackie and hates to see her go!

More signs of summer…

Can’t beat free Slurpee Day! You’re bound to run into some friends too!

Mark’s 46th bday was pretty uneventful. It was a busy day, but we managed to get 4 of us in the same room for his present! We got him a special towel for his yoga mat. These are words I never thought I’d say, but he loves it and I love that he does it!

We’ve had the hardest time connecting with John and Jill this summer. It seems our schedules are the exact opposite! When we do get a chance to hang out for an evening we let the kids go wild! Poor Colin…I fear this is just one of many embarrassing pictures they will be able to hold over his head!

While we were in Myrtle Beach we woke up one morning to news that a teen from our area had drown. A couple hours later we found out it was one of Adrienne’s close friends. It was devastating. Just a terrible, sad, tragic accident. We were home in time for Adrienne to attend all the services which was a blessing. Her friends all rallied and handled it beautifully.

Consequently, she was only able to join her pom team at camp for one night. They were all very understanding, as was her coach.

My work crew has playdates every Tuesday all summer. Lucky for me my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year!

Sof loves playing with the babies that are there! She also loved helping me with my cupcakes! In fact, all the kids were pretty happy to help!

My sweet Jesi sent me this birthday wish! She remembers everyone’s birthday!

Some days you just need a donut.

Lexi went to cheer camp for a weekend, and Em and I decided to take the other kids back to Grand Haven so we could get a couple days enjoyment too!

It was not the best weather, but honestly it didn’t matter! We did all the things we wanted to!

We walked around downtown the first afternoon, and had a girl’s night out that evening. Wish we had more of these times with Nan!

The next morning was the Children’s parade. Which translates to “collecting a crapload of candy we don’t need”.

While we were waiting for it to start, someone was walking around giving noisemakers to *literally* EVERY child. How thoughtful.

Emily and I spent most of the parade talking about which contact sport she should sign Natty up for. If you put a tootsie roll in the end zone, dude, she is getting it.

We managed to sneak in a couple(not ideal) hours at the beach. It wasn’t the worst day ever, but a little more sun would have been just fine.

I got my salted caramel ice cream that night(the best ice cream in the world!) before heading home. It was a short trip but perfect nonetheless!

Adrienne managed to fit in two concerts that weekend. She’s like a professional concert goer.

I picked Lexi up at camp and got my first look at her new High school team. It’s a different style of cheer for her, but she’s adjusting just fine! In fact, they won the longest extension competition(which means they held this stunt longer than any other group there)! Go Lexi!

I’m so happy she had a positive experience at camp. The older girls have been very nice and accepting of her as a freshman on the varsity team. Looking forward to a great year!