Summer Fun 2015

This summer has just flown by.  Between birthday parties, visitors, Grandma and Grandpa moving, classes, and camps, there was barely any time to relax!

Kara didn't have two consecutive weeks this summer without some sort of class or camp.  She did sports camp, swim lessons, Vacation Bible School, and Space Pirate Camp.  There was always something going on!

Early in June, we had a little party for Grandpa and Mommy's birthdays.  Nothing too big, but Grandpa let Emily blow out the candles on the cake, which Emily really enjoyed, especially after her candle experience for her own birthday cake...

Later in the month, we had Mimi and Papa come out to visit.  For the most part, we kept things pretty low key (except for our visit to the North Pole).

We put the girls in swim lessons during July.  Emily had been doing so well during her last swim lesson in May, so we signed her up for the next level up (without a parent in the water).  That lasted about 10 minutes or so until Emily figured out that Mommy wasn't going to get in the water with her.  She wouldn't get back in for the rest of the session.  Oh well.  Kara, on the other hand, got lucky and had a session with only one other girl (so she got a lot of personal attention).  By the end, Kara was able to jump in and swim the entire length of the pool all by herself!  Check out the video!

Early in July, Grandma and Grandpa finally closed on their new house.  They had us over one night to check out the new place.  The girls had a great time playing with bubbles in the backyard with Grandpa and Mom.

Whew, what an action-packed summer!

Pictures from Grandpa's birthday party:



Pictures from the rest of Mimi and Papa's visit:



Pictures from June:



Pictures from July



Emily playing some T-ball!

From 2015-07_1

Summer Fun 2014

This summer has just flown by!  Unfortunately, Daddy hasn't been great at keeping up with the blog, so we'll just hit some of the highlights from the first half of the summer.

The last weekend in June and the first couple of weekends of July were spent picking cherries from our sour cherry tree.  They're not great to eat right off the tree (Emily and Kara would both disagree with that statement), but they make great pies.  We collected enough cherries to make about 4 pies.  Kara got into the action for the first time this year and helped pick a lot of cherries.  Emily grabbed every one she could grab (didn't matter if it was half eaten by a bird and rotting on the ground) and stuck it in her mouth, so picking cherries was a little tricky with her around.

Kara had Vacation Bible School (VBS) the week of June 16th through June 20th.  She had an absolute blast interacting with the other kids and learning new songs.  Mommy and Kara went to the church the Sunday after the camp, so Kara could participate in the "concert" the kids had.  All the other kids stood up with their age group and sang their songs, except for Kara.  She was up there singing with every age group.  Wish we'd gotten that one on video.  Kara had Farm Camp every Tuesday, which was the highlight of every week.  She talked non-stop about the zipline and the goats. She also got to interact with pigs, horses, peacocks, cows, and chickens.  Kara also started swim lessons every Wednesday and Thursday.  She improved a little bit every class.  As if that wasn't enough, Kara took ice skating lessons at a nearby rink every Thursday.  It was mostly just learning how to fall and get back up on your skates without getting hurt, but she enjoyed it!

Emily's summer was much more mellow than Kara's.  She's been working on running (which is currently a fairly quick walk).  She's also been working on talking.  She surprised Daddy one day when he took her to get the mail and she started saying, "Happy, happy" over and over with a big grin on her face.  She's such a sweet girl!

Link to pictures