July

July means...the zoo. Like all the other non-winter months! There's a big construction project at our zoo. Simon loves this more than all the animals combined.

July is also growing time: Felicity's tall sunflowers and Miriam's garden tending. Sometimes Mommy would glance out the kitchen window to spy Miriam laying in the grass next to the raised beds reading. Even when she was a baby the outdoors were her favorite. How will this love of fresh air shape her future?

We manged to squeeze in so much family time during our Independence Day celebrations. Fireworks, family reunion with swimming, lake days with swimming, and a few minutes to cuddle with the Buddy. Tim just said this morning that one of his favorite things about parenting is getting to hold a baby or toddler while they have their morning bottle of milk.

~Elijah Break~
Being Simon's bff is hard work. Thank goodness God created an Elijah to fill the role so well.

~End Break~
That little boy of ours. He is getting to be quite the boy. We still have several yard-less new homes and he is so, so tempted by their mud. He'd shuffle his feet toward the edge of the pavement without making eye contact with Mommy. "Maybe if I move slowly enough, she won't notice when I'm actually playing in the mud." She noticed.

There were a few mornings he woke up early enough to workout with Mommy. Tim's not a morning person, so taking Simon out for a walk let's Tim sleep another half an hour and gives Mommy and Simon a chance to talk about the birds and the bugs and all the sounds of the morning before the rest of the world is out and about.

Plus there are all these boy-growly-vrooming-noises! Everything is a lawn mower, airplane, truck, tractor, or car. His eyes spot these favorite things from a mile away and Mommy has to acknowledge each one or he gets frantic trying to make sure she sees them, too!

All three girls did a kids triathlon - lap in the pool, 1 mile bike, .5 mile run. So proud of all their effort!

Before

After

Lots of relatives came to the lake for a week together in the middle of July. Aunt Sue from Colorado, Aunt Kim and her three kids from Arizona, Uncle Roger and Aunt Michelle from the Indy area, Nana and Papa, Aunt Shirley, and all of us.

The teenage cousins caught so many fish. But they didn't know what to do with them. So Papa taught them how to scale and filet a fish. Then the boys got to work prepping and grilling. The fish turned out pretty amazing! Our girls stayed close to watch the process.

Miriam was tall enough to join in on the annual Cedar Point trip. She was thrilled to ride EVERYTHING! She started out on the Top Thrill Dragster and never chickened out on anything. Her favorite was the Wicked Twister. Tim loved having her along. He's been training the kids since they were very little to enjoy being tossed up in the air or swung around by their ankles. All his hard work is finally paying off.

She was so incredibly tired by the end of the night and slept until almost 10 the next morning. This was a record sleep for her! 

Papa also rented a pontoon for the week at the lake and Uncle Roger got a tube for the kids - AND Nana! - to run around the lake on.

Sarah's cousin Stephanie got married in July. {Everyone dressed up = Photo Op.} 

Sarah and her sisters!

Tim had a chance to take pictures with the nice camera during a park stop between the ceremony and reception. Which made the glance back in time to select pictures for this blog post even more fun!

Caught our Buddy in sleep-denial.

He couldn't last long.

The power napper was thrilled by all the lights and fun at the wedding. He repeatedly dragged Daddy to the DJ table trying to figure out how all the electronics worked. He's just mini-Tim.

 The month ended on a high note! Cookout with family and smores.

 If that's not doing summer right, we don't know what is.