before vacations started

July was a lot of things rolled up into one. Cold and hot. Rainy and dry. Relaxing and a lot of work. Tons of time in the car and lots of walking. hiking, bike riding and stair climbing. Land and sea. Good food and junk food. Parenting highs and lows. Being with people we love. It was FULL. And also maybe the first time in 7 years that I didn't blog for an entire month. So there's lots to catch up on. . . 

At the beginning of July we got to spend some great time with friends.

Joanna and I took the kids out to Coopers Rock one morning. We hiked the Clay Furnace Trail (our goal is to do 5 trails before the end of summer).

The playground at Cooper's Rock is always a good incentive for no whining on a hike.

We also finished up baseball season in July. Because June was so darn rainy (we had 7 games rained out), we had a couple of make up games after playoffs. Sophie made friends with the coach's son and helped keep an eye on him quite a bit. That usually meant playing in the dirt which was perfectly fine with her.

The team had a great season. They lost in the semi-finals. We loved our coach and are thankful for a great season. Ted played 3rd base and catcher and did a really good job. He improved quite a bit this year.

Sophie has been my assistant in the kitchen a lot lately. Her favorite thing is to cut the (mozzarella) cheese.

We took Wyatt to Dorsey's Knob one day when he was hanging with us. That was the day he got his expander. Sophie gave him some tips on how to get things unstuck. It was hilarious and required me to apologize to Joanna for the poor manners Sophie was teaching him.

We hit the river for the 4th of July weekend.  It included a boat trip up river about 20 miles. It's a trip we can't normally do because of the river depth. It had rained so much and the river was so high we were able to do it. It was a beautiful day and Ted got to drive the boat for awhile.

We did some jet skiing. I love it so.

Ben was staying the weekend at the River with his grandparents. He and Ted totally entertained each other which was lovely.

There was lots of corn hole playing.

And approximately 37 games of bad mitten. (I'm not joking!) They couldn't beat anyone, including the senior citizens they played against.

And a girl's only boat ride. 

Everyone mixes up Sayde and Sophie which she thinks is hilarious.

It's always fun to get to play with cousins.

Great weekend at the River. The only thing missing was Mayor John's breakfast cookies!

And just before vacations we had a fun day with the Underdonk's. We got rained out at the park so we had an impromptu pre-dinner trip to Natticakes for yogurt. (I think we totally surprised the kids when we said yes to their request.)

In the meantime, our WyldLife trip and second Young Life trip left for camp which is a whole different kind of crazy collecting health forms and final payments. When the last bus pulls out is always such a relief for me. And then the fun was just beginning . . .