Great Nana

Henry, Licia, and Great Nana came out to visit us in July.  They spent about a day and half with us and it was great to get to catch up and especially to see Great Nana again.  The kids played lots of base ball with Henry and Licia as well as Yatzi and battleship and I think Nana really enjoyed watching everyone together.

Swimming Lessons

This year we did swimming lessons at the Albany Tennis Club and once again the kids did really well.  I decided not to put Hazel in lessons yet as shes a bit of a loose cannon and I didn't know how willing she'd be to follow directions, but by the end of the 2 weeks Sadie was definitely feeling more confident,  Wyatt can swim and moved up to level 2 with Sadie, and Cooper will stay level 1 but really made so much progress.  He wouldn't even put his head in last year and he was bobbing under the water and jumping in this year.  Being that he's my most cautious one I consider this to be HUGE progress!

SADIE

WYATT

COOPER

Evie, Hazel, and I enjoyed snacks and watching the other's swim each day.

They don't wear goggles int he pool half of the time but they sure love to play with them at home.  Silly Kids!

We Love the Scully Family

There are no words for how happy this makes my heart!

I am so thankful for the day I got to spend with my friend Courtney and her kids this summer.  They were up visiting family and Brandon and I were able to grab dinner with them one night and then Courtney braved a trip out to our place with her crew after Jeremiah had headed home.  I can't say enough how fun it was to see our crazy bunch together.  I can remember like it was yesterday meeting Courtney and Jeremiah after a couples event at our church.  We found out that Jeremiah worked for a commercial drywall company and I feel like it was within 6 months Brandon worked there too.  Then we did a couples cruise, again with our church, started a small group, moved in across the street, and started this crazy journey of parenting.  Spending time with the Scully's always reminds me of who we were, and who we are, and sitting and catching up and laughing with them is the absolute best!  We are still in denial that we are not neighbors and hope that there are many more memories ahead with this great family.

Silly faces compliments of Uncle Robert!

Bend

Brandon and I had the chance to get away to Bend for a couple of nights in July.  This year we decided to postpone our anniversary trip to summertime just because it seemed like it might be easier for those watching our kids and I think it worked out great.  We split everyone up for the first time and they loved it.  Wyatt stayed with Brian and Amy, Sadie stayed with Andy and Kendra, Cooper stayed with Ryan and Katie, and Hazel and Evie stayed with Grammy.  We are so appreciative to everyone for watching them and for the time away to relax together.

Apparently Wyatt and Payton are quite the gamers.  They played Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, and Soccor quite a bit.  Wyatt also got to go on a bike ride and to the pool!

Silly Kids!

Wyatt, Autumn, and Payton

Sadie had a lot of fun with Kendra and Andy!  She went to a fun pool with Kendy, went miniature golfing, painted her nails, watched The Greatest Showman, and one morning Uncle Andy even brought her a smoothie

Cooper stayed with Ryan and Katie and I was a little nervous for him just because he's younger than Sadie and Wyatt and he's never really been away from them.  So, although I knew he'd have fun I didn't know if he'd have a hard time being by himself.  All that said it made me smile when I got a text the first night saying he'd moved right in.  He asked where he could put his stuff and Auntie Katie sweetly made him a spot in Carter's dresser and he just settled in.  It sounded like Carter loved having a brother for a couple of days and Cooper had a blast too.  He got to swim at Mrs. Anne's pool (Katie's Mom) and went out for ice cream and bought a puzzle with Uncle Ryan and Danny.

As far as our trip, we tried to check out the lava tubes but apparently that's a pretty popular thing to do.  We weren't able to get in but we did find a couple great spots to hike.

We found this fun theater and were able to catch a movie we'd been wanting to see.

We loved our stay at the Riverhouse.  At check-in they asked us to change rooms from a room with a sofa to one without and in exchange they comped our breakfast both mornings which was really nice.  The weather was beautiful and so was the view!

We tried kayaking before we headed home.  It was a bit of a stretch for us but fun none-the-less.