June: Canada to Camping

June started with a girls' trip to Canada! 

Well, girls + 2 baby boys.

Aunt Annette let the girls help plant beans in her garden. For the rest of the summer, she sent them picture updates of how quickly the plants grew, how many beans they picked, etc. So fun for our girls to long-distance garden!

After taxing themselves with all that gardening...they needed ice cream.

At Aunt Annette and Uncle Tom's, we got to play with Catherine, take walks to the park, and twirl ribbons in the backyard.

Upon our return stateside, Mommy made cupcakes for Nana's birthday. Nana requested chocolate...for the record these were some delicious cupcakes. Tim looked at them and immediately said, "Um...these look like...someone...pooped on them!?!" Sarah brushed off his comment and served them to the family.

Vivian took one look at them and stated matter-of-factly, "These cupcakes look like they have poop on them." Tim was laughing so hard he had to leave the table.

Nana's birthday was a great day at the lake together even if her cupcakes looked like pooh.

Our girls find all KINDS of ways to have fun at the lake. On that particular day, they found dried hydrangeas floating in the water. They gathered them all and played "Dead". You know, like "House" only it's a funeral home. Oh, you've never played that?

Well Tim's aunt and uncle who purchased the property for the family were funeral directors so this does have some context in their lives.

June was lost teeth...the two older girls were tied in the race to get rid of their baby teeth!

In between all the high moments were the normal ones. Eating blackberries,

taking babies on stroller rides to get them to nap, 

watching Simon grow, drool, practice self-feeding,

(Was that Simon overload? Sorry.)

afternoons on Grandma and Grandpa's trampoline with a sprinkler, 

a few hours at the zoo,

summer storytime and a picnic on the library lawn.

AND Vacation Bible School happened. Sarah is the co-director of VBS for our church and it's just a BIG job. A job we do because we love our parish kids and we want them to know Jesus loves them.

Catherine and Aunt Annette came down for a bit of VBS...isn't she the cutest!?!?

One of our favorite summertime traditions has become Strawberries in the Park. It's just an hour or two of our family meeting in the middle of a workday downtown to sit in the sun and eat the biggest strawberry shortcakes piled high with ice cream and whipped cream. Just some sweet, wholesome fun.

And the tail end of June was covered in camping. First the more conventional camping with Sarah's side of the family. S'mores, hours outdoors, hiking, paddle boating, riding bikes, singing camp songs...

...babies bathing.

And the less conventional Zoo Camp. Miriam and Vivian go full day for a week.

Four-year-old Felicity went three mornings with Mom or Dad. Next year she will be in the full day program!

She can hardly wait to get bigger like her sisters, but we'll be a little sad not to get to watch her explore the ins-and-outs of the zoo.

At least one of them will stay tiny for a bit longer!