4th of July

4th of July weekend was four long days of fun.  Brian had that Friday off from work which was nice.  I was able to get up and go for a run and bike that morning.  The he got to come with me to pick up the big kids from summer school.  Angela had spent the past two weeks with art as one of her three classes.  She therefore was part of an art fair showcaseing all of her wonderful projects.  

Connor's class had spent some time learning about the U.S.A. and the reason we celebrate the 4th of July.  They all wore red, white and blue clothing and made necklaces or bracelets and firecracker hats.  They then got to go on a parade around the school which finished by the flag pole.  There we all said the Pledge of Allegance and the kids sang a few songs including Happy Birthday to the U.S.A.

Saturday we spent the day at Kohler-Andrea State Park near Sheboygan.  We love the beach there and have been yearly since we moved here.  It reminds us of being on the ocean.  There is a lot of sand to share with all the other beach goers and water as far as the eye can see.  Last year we remembered lots of sea gulls flying all around.  The kids really enjoyed chasing them.  This year was weird, all we had was a lot of dead smelt like fish.  There was a line along the top of the beach that spaned either side of us, I imagine, for the length of the beach.  It was rather gross and mildly smelly.  Brian drew a big square with his foot and the kids all got shovels and had to start scooping fish out of our spot. 



We would often find Emeric picking them up and we'd have to tell him to put them down.  Connor would fill his dump truck with water and put the fish in there.  We wondered if he was trying to rehydrate them?



 (I am so lucky to have such a handsome husband!)

(Posing during lunch)

 (His goofy new pose for most of his photos.)

 (The "bulk" always seems to be eating.)

Sunday was a fairly relaxing day with church and hanging out at home.  Monday morning I got up and went for a swim and then a run.  Once the rest of the family woke up, we relaxed during the morning and then had some friends over for a little BBQing that afternoon/evening.  We ended it all up with some at home fireworks but on by Brian and the neighbor.  The kids really enjoyed them!

Some other little fun things from the weekend was a different breakfast each morning.  Eggs benedict on Friday, banana pancakes on Saturday, biscuits and gravy with fried eggs on Sunday and red (strawberries), white (whipped cream) and blue (blueberries) waffles on Monday.  The topper for Brian and I was out drink a day menu!  We planned out a different alcoholic drink for us to enjoy each day of the weekend (no wonder our liquor store bill was more than our grocery store bill this week).  Friday we enjoyed mai tais.  Saturday we had sangria on the beach ~ YUMMY!  Sunday was champagne day with champagne with breakfast, a margarita/champagne punch that afternoon and then we changed it up and had mudslides for dessert.  Monday we introduced the neighbors to flat on your beaks and old drink from Red Robins.  Such a great way to spend a weekend.  Hope yours was as great of a weekend as ours.

Apron Swap

I am starting a new swap from Hot Mama's Apron Swap that should be a lot of fun.  My partner and I will exchange an apron plus three fun drink related items.  All things will be shipped by August 6th so I've got just a little over a month to get my special package in the mail.  I'll need to get started quickly figuring out what I will send to my partner.  Like I said, it should be fun!

June - Photos of Kids

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!  We sure did.

Angela:

She is growing up so beautiful.

Getting an award for Outstanding Attendance (first row, left side, orange shirt and blue skirt)

Connor:

Swimming from the shallow end to the deep in of the pool.

Getting ready to jump off the diving board by himself (mom had to throw him off the first time.)

Emeric:

This is what we found at the end of our family bike ride. 

Swimming lessons with Mommy.  He was a wild child, always jumping in and sometimes going under.

Softball

Angela has been playing fast pitch softball this summer.  She liked the novelty of signing up.  She sort of liked practices.  She liked buying the gear.  But she does not like the games.  "They are no fun!  All you do it bat and run and catch the ball."  Oh well, she'll finish out the season and we will see what happens next year.

Here are some photos of her in her first game.  She struck out, hit with the coach but got out at first and didn't get any out field action but it is the only time we remembered to use the camera.

In other games she has gotten a few hits and has even made it home once.  She really liked that.  Their team has won three or four games and has lost once.  Tonight we will be at the ball field again.  Only about three more weeks left.

Connor's Do

I guess we can tell it is really summer time around here.  We chopped all of Connor's hair off and gave him a boy cut.

Maybe Emeric will be due for his first hair cut soon?