Summer fun

July is almost in the books but we are still having fun this summer! We are making the most of our time together - with each other and friends!

Brenner, Nola, and I headed to the pool one evening while Matt made dinner - what a perfect night!

Nola had a friend over and they decided to shoot bows.

Love the concentration! Wonder where she gets it?

That's where she gets it!

My boys!

Our garden - we are still getting squash, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, blackberries, basil and kale. Thank goodness we finally got a little rain!

Notice anything missing? Our playset! A neighbor asked if we wanted to sell it. We decided that if we waited until we were ready to sell it that no one would want it! So off it went. The kids didn't mind a bit which was good!

Brenner fixed his hair and asked me to take his picture.

On Friday, Nola came to work with me. She did great while I was on calls, etc. We toured the lab so she could see all the fish, inverts, ponds, etc. My boss gave her a STAR award for helping me out :)

Annual checkup with Dr. Swofford. They are doing get - Nola is going to get allergy tested. Both were 50th percentile on height. Weight was a little lower (30th percentile for Brenner and 40th percentile for Nola). Nola wasn't really smiling because she found out she has to sit in a booster for two more months (when she turns eight).

Nola and I showing off some new clothes from our Saturday shopping trip that we wore to church. Brenner wanting to be tall :)

Nola can't get enough of me - wanting to do things with me constantly (hence coming to work with me). I will take it while I can get it! Sunday afternoon we baked cookies together.

Andes mint chip - everyone loved them! She did peter out on me when it came to baking but she was right back for the tasting!

Bike rides and fish fry

I have been a real slacker at taking pictures lately - perhaps because we have been pretty laid back with the heat and just trying to let it be summer! Overall, we are doing great. Matt has been taking the kids to work to get his classroom/shop together. Brenner also had soccer camp at the high school this week (Nola didn't want to go).

The kids insisted on a bike ride along the Katy trail. It was 104. We tried to tell them that but they persisted.

Brenner had a chain issue. Lucky for him, Dad is a good bike fixer :)

Family photo! After about 1.75 miles Brenner said (Nola had already stopped with Matt) - you know 104 is a little hot for a bike ride don't you think. I concurred and we headed back home! So - we spent more time getting bike in and out of the guzzler than on the trail!

Grammy and PawPaw Floyd hosted their annual fish fry. It was hot but fun. The kids loved the lake.

The boys - Gene, PawPaw Floyd, Matt, Brenner, and David.

Nola and Vivian.

 

Matt, Aunt Theresa, Grammy, Nola, and Brenner. Wonder if Nola had sweaty armpits?!

A friend hosted a Christian girls faith day at her house - I think there were over 25 girls. Nola had a ball and made some new friends!

Happy Fourth of July!

We hope that everyone had a great (and safe) Independence Day! It remained hot in Missouri but that didn't stop us from getting outside and playing!

Matt and his buddy Shawn dusted off their bikes and rode some trails. These two used to do mountain bike races back in the the day (this ride made Matt catch the fever once again)!

While the boys hit the trails, the kids and I hit Wal-Mart and got a slip-n-slide!

Woohoo!

On the fourth, the kids got dropped off with the Vogans and the Greskos and we headed to Weston for a few days. The fireworks were held over main street and were fantastic!

The next day we hit some wineries and some trails at Weston Bend State Park.

We saw some wildlife including this copperhead - yikes! It was only about 12 inches long.

But this black snake was about 4 feet long.

Nola held some wildlife (hahaha aka Gracie) at the Gresko's!

Aunt Theresa found this cool pool for the kids!

What?!?!?! Snacks too?!

Brenner loved going down the slides in the tubes. Nola preferred to play mermaids with a new friend.

We made it back home and I guess they hadn't had enough of each other yet!

Take me to the river and SPLAT

Wow - it remains H-O-T! So what better way to cool off than in some water and/or mud? Matt and the kids when down to Hermitage to do some cleaning up and visit with the neighbors (while I worked). Then this weekend was SPLAT - the kids mud run/obstacle course. Lots of outside time - just what summer should be!

Brian and Matt went to high school together. Brian and his wife Kris now own some property next to ours down at Hermitage. They offered to let the kids use their kayaks. Do you think the kids were enjoying themselves?!

Saturday morning at SPLAT. It was like a 100 degrees - yes that is me "glistening"! We tried to stay in the shade before the kids waves.

Nola with her wave group. Let's go, Nolie Banolie!

Down the slide and onto the course!

Let's get muddy!

This one was no problem.

This dodgeball station was new this year. On the previous obstacle, Nola forgot the rule about shutting your mouth while in the mud. I love the splatters on her face!

Concentration on the balance beam.

Down the wall!

Nola conquering the three little pigs!

Look at that concentration!

Over the spools (guess I should have used the action mode on the camera!).

She did this bear crawl so fast - it was impressive!

Slippery spot causing her to fall!

Final hill to the finish line!

Way to go, Nola!

Yes- you deserve a cool down!

Brenner waiting for his wave.

Here you can see the start (yellow slide) and finish (blue arch). Brenner's course was 1.25 miles with 22 obstacles (Nola's was 1 mile with 19 obstacles).

Brenner completely cleared this one with little effort!

Through the mud he goes!

It looks like he was mad at one of the dodgeballs :)

Brenner was a little harder for me to keep up with - hence a lot of booty shots! He had a pretty consistent strategy though - walking between obstacles unless someone came up beside him and then his competitive nature kicked in (from where I don't know haha) and then he would take off. This mama got behind at some stations!

Like this one. Not 20 seconds before he was laying on the ground saying he couldn't breath - then off he went!

Over the logs.

On the logs!

Concentrating!

Another wall. The other kid in the picture what pretty much with him the second half of the race...

Entering the three little pigs!

The pigs are conquered! But.....

.....they cost him a shoe. Notice the black sock....

Brenner got ahead of me again!

Through the tubes....

....the final mud pit.

Up the hill to the finish line with no shoes at this point! Note the other kid so Brenner kicked it into high gear....

....to finish the race before him.

He worked super hard! Good job, buddy!

What better way to celebrate than to have some Kona Ice?!

 

Later that night we headed to the neighbors for a 4th of July party. They had a huge inflatable water slide (it was literally taller than their house!) that the kids must have gone up and down 100 times! Us adults found some shade!

The fireworks show was awesome and it ended with the kids doing some sparklers!

Happy 4th of July!

All that fun on Saturday resulted in some tired kids (and parents). But we still had to make it to church because Nola was was reading scripture in front of the entire church. Look up these versus - there were some challenging words but both girls did great!