Another puffy cloud day...

It is official -- she is now a swimmer and bike rider

Fun day at the Lake

Collecting rocks from shore

"Dad, guess what I have in my hand!" she shouted as she swam back to the boat... "I caught a frog!" I wasn't sure, but if there was a frog involved, she was carrying it underwater for quite some time, so I let her know that they do need to breath. She made it to the boat after holding one hand up to pretend to let the frog breath, and plopped a 5 pound pink rock on the ski deck of the boat. She had hauled it all the way from shore. Pretty crazy. Then she went back for more, and brought up quite a collection of interesting rocks that she dug out of the clay banks on the shore. Cal then followed her in, and got his rock most of the way back before dropping it.

Cousins

We had a fun weekend at the Iowa State Fair and at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Cousins had a chance to get more connected, and seemed to really enjoy playing with each other.

Choose the caption

I can't remember what inspired this pose, but the nightgown+glasses+Hello Kitty rain boots = priceless

Swimming

While this is a picture from a month ago, we are proud to announce that as of yesterday, little A is now swimming without a life jacket!

Learning to swim

Our little man is learning to swim, having conquered his fear of swimming by himself

, he does great with a life jacket, and will jump in the pool over and over.

On the way-back machine to 4th of July

Mom photographing oyster boats with me last Friday night

July

Wow, where did July go?!?!? It flew by in a flash! One of my friends has given up 'family scrapbooking' and is making photo books from her blog. I am pondering the same thing, so here is my best effort at summarizing this month and hopefully I will get better about posting!!

Highlights included:
*Super FUN visit from Gpa, Barbara, and Liane's family to celebrate the 4th and C's 5th birthday
*Big neighborhood 4th of July celebration, the likes of which no one has ever seen:)
*C's extra special golden birthday
*Doug's travels-whew, I'm glad July is over, he was gone A LOT!
*Grandma's week w/ us-what a big help she is!
*Tennis starting for M
*Gymnastics camp for M
*Full month of marathon training
*Camping in the backyard (kids LOVED this!)
*Botanical gardens
*Several fun times on the boat at Smithville Lake

Hard to believe August is upon us. This mama is not ready for school to start, can we just have 1 more full month of summer?:(

On a sadder note, our beloved Papo lost his battle with lung cancer on July 6. We were able to spend a week in Tallahassee with family celebrating his life. He is and will be very, very missed. We love you Papo! (http://www.rememberingrandyrill.blogspot.com/)

The 4th!