July 2013

Hey Y'all!

So these first pictures are from June, but my June post is done, so here they are in the July post.

At the beginning of the summer I made a list of over 100 things that I wanted to try to do with my kids while school was out. One of them was to have a shaving cream "fight". The kids absolutely loved it!!!  They sprayed it on each other, on the patio, on the house, all over. Their smiles and laughs from this experience made it all worth while and we'll definitely do it again in the future! Enjoy this pics. 

We went to Camas and wandered around old town and looked at all the little shops. We found the coolest place ever!!!  Check this out - how many of you out there can find a store that has both your maiden name and your married name as the store name!?!? I thought it was pretty freaking awesome. 

This fountain was made in memory of the 9/11 victims. 

The Kunz's came to town for the 4th of July! Poor Preston never has any boy cousins/friends his age to play with, but Ashleigh and Brinley and Sarah sure loved being together, and they did include Preston the whole time. Made me so happy! :) Aren't they cute!? 

Arah is so crafty and she brought shirts for all the kids to dye and to wear on independence day. the kids did so great. She also made the headbands and the skirts!!  Loved it!! Ash is incredibly deprived having a non-crafty mom and she just loved doing all these crafts. :-) 

We went to see the Felida parade and let me tell you. it was LAME!!!!  worst parade ever. Next time, I'll listen to Arah and go to the Ridgefield parade. 

Preston checking out some chickens at Arah's relative's house. Pretty cool Coop! 

Then we all went to Moulton Falls and the kids played in the water and some of the grown ups jumped off the rocks. I accidentally dropped my phone in to the stream and thought for sure it was a gonner, but after letting it air out and dry out for about an hour, it was working just fine! I was shocked, and very grateful. 

We set off some fireworks on the 3rd AND the 4th. Here are pix from both nights. There were no mishaps this year and aside from Preston getting in BIG trouble and almost not being able to set off any fireworks, we all had a really good couple of days! (no worries, P is fine and he did get to participate after all)

I took the kids bowling a few day later - so fun. We sign up for this summer program where we only have to pay for shoes, and we all get to bowl 2 games. It's a great summer fun thing to do - especially when it's really hot out!

Ashleigh always does this little pose at the end. it's so cute. She doesn't even realize she's doing it.

We took a day trip to Multnomah Falls. Last time we were there was when we were moving to Vancouver. It was pretty warm out and the kids had fun. Nick and I would have preferred it if it were about 10 degrees cooler. ;-)

I finally bought the kids a little swimming pool. It turned out to be perfect for them! $30 and it'll probably last only 1 summer, which I'm fine with. They've been swimming in it at least a few times a week since we got it. Preston is so weird...he ALWAYS wears a shirt in the pool. Long sleeves on a 90o day? Seriously? What a funny kid.

Yep...got a pic of my kid peeing. HAHA (Sorry future Preston!)

My love of Classic cars made me encourage the family to go to Cruisin' the Gut at Downtown Vancouver. Hundreds of cars drive up and down Main street and people just check them all out. There's food stands and tons of people and cars. It's heavenly. I got a TON of picture. Here are just a select few. :-)

The kids and I go to the Salmon Creek Farmers Market every Thursday. A lady there sells cups of blueberries for $1 and we always buy them from her and then we wander around the rest of the market and see what else we want to buy. We usually get some home made salsa and guacamole, some donut peaches, and apricots, and I let the kids get their faces painted, and on this day, they also got Caricatures done. Pretty cute. There's also usually crafts for them to do - like making pinecone bird feeders, and finger print leafs on tree drawings. The kids and I love our Thursday tradition. 

Ashleigh's new headphones. 

Nick borrowing them. haha. 

Emily and Patrick went on a trip together and the girls were staying at their grandparents house so we got to steal them for a few of the days and have play dates. so much fun!!!  We had planned on only 1 day together, but it ended up more like 4 days. We love these girls so much, it's always a good time when they come to play.

It was a packed and really really fun July! Only 1 more month of summer until school starts. Waaaaah!! I love this summer. My kids are so awesome. They are my best friends and I love being with them each and every day. So great.