Friday Foto Frenzy summer photo share ... week 7

Getting this up a little late.
Our word of the week was Re-lax.
We tried to stay home as much as possible.
Enjoyed the house, the yard, just being in our space. Needed it.

 The girl making some handmade cards for friend's birthday parties.

 

Spending lots of time chilling watching the Olympics.

Women's soccer has been our absolute favorite to watch.

 Enjoying the Citronella Torches we put up all around the pool area.

 The boy just loves anything having to do with fire.

Since hanging around with the nephew at the race tracks, the boy has his heart set on a dirt bike. (We owe this all to my brother. Thank you D.)

Making waffles for brunch ... 'cause we can wake when we want. ;)

Family movie nights. 

Loving swims at sunset.

Loving swims in the dark.

And loving swims with friends.

Loving pups. We have a pet store near our house that lets you touch and pick up the little loves. We have a bad habit of going in there (a lot) to cuddle the poor things. We fall in love quickly and leave in tears often. 

Loving this ...  fun at soccer practice.

Our summer project this year is planting the slope on the side of the pool. Lots of nice trees, shrubs and grasses going in ...

A little sibling rivalry with a game of volleyball.

Not loving this! Remember that saying "Talk to the hand" ? Well I feel like these days it's "talk to the iphone". I see more of the back of their iphones than I do their faces some days. 

Now that's a face I could look at all day. She's kinda got that "talk to the hand (or ... err... paw)" thing going too.

And loving cool beams of light at sunset.

-xoxo jenn

Friday Foto Frenzy summer photo share ... week 6

Yeah, so camps finished up last week, but we've been non-stop since last Friday. I think I have sun-overload, if there is such a thing. My body, my skin, just want to snuggle up on the couch with a good book and a soft blanket and hide from sun exposure for at least a day. I take that as a sign that we we are having a good summer! ;)

So ... here's what we've been up to this week!

 We hit our local water park with some friends ... twice.

Tubes, slides and water = FUN!

 

Gotta love the lazy river.

The girl had an orthodontist appointment. She kept busy waiting for the Dr to come in by singing along with the classical music.

We also had a dentist appointment, same day. She kept busy waiting for her turn, by dancing in the middle of waiting room to the music. I don't know when she became such a character. The boy pretended he didn't know his sister.

Despite a good bit of rain during the week, we managed to have plenty of bright blue skies and fluffy clouds when we were out and about. Gotta love considerate weather. 

 We headed down to NJ again for a long weekend. The 4 yr old nephew now races MotoCross. 4 years is the youngest they let kids race. His class had 4, 5 and 6 year olds ... so some of these kids had been racing for 2 years. That didn't stop him from getting noticed. During one race the announcer must of said his name at least 4 times. He called him "one to watch out for in the future".

 In between races, he'd go from one set of wheels to another. True motocross boy.

I'm told he usually races on hard packed surfaces, not the loose, soft dirt of this track. That didn't stop him from tearing up the track. Just look at him! 

 

We all got really into it, and had such a fun day cheering him on. 

This boy came in 2nd overall in his class. He went home with a huge trophy and even received a medal for his efforts racing in the older class! Ah-mazing!

It started raining right as the races ended. It was a heavy but quick rain. We headed back to the parents house for a BBQ that evening.  And by the time we were ready to husk corn, the sun was shining. Again, love the considerate weather.

We spent the evenings watching the Olympics. And eating popcorn. Oh, and eating fresh berry pies from the local farm market. Melt in your mouth yummy. 

 

(Sorry no pic for the pies, trust me, you'd be drooling all over your keyboard anyway. )

The next day we went to a small local zoo that we had never been to before. You can buy a basket filled with popcorn, pretzels, animal crackers, nuts and some fruitloops. (??? not sure why fruitloops, but the animals loved it.)

They had spotted hyenas! These animals are so not pretty. Sorry, they just aren't. But very intersting to watch how they behave and walk around with their hunched backs and short back legs. Fierce!

We nicknamed this zoo, Monkey Zoo, because I have never seen so many species of monkeys in one place, ever!  They were so friendly, playful and fun to watch. 

 

The animals would come right up to us, waiting to be fed .... hoping for Fruitloops no doubt!

Even the sly fox came up to check out our loot and see what we had to feed him.

 It was a fun, relaxing way to spend a few hours, together.

Just don't feed the animals your fingers!

By the time we were ready to leave, it was so hot and sunny. We cooled off with some ice coffees and oreo coolattas. And stopped in for some pickin' at a local Flea Market and Antique Fair.

It was a fun day. None of it was really planned. We just drove around and went to where ever inspiration hit. We had a lot of laughs. Sometimes those are some of the best days.

The next day we hit the beach. 

 

For more sun. And surf and sand. Lots of sting rays spotted in the warm waters. 

Shore birds hoping to steal a snack. 

Back home for our second trip to the water park.  Love seeing them smiling and having fun. 

And then we enjoyed a day at the lake with friends. Once again the rain held out for us, until we were all ready to leave. 

They took turns burying each other in the sand.

Snuggling with pup after a long day. Very necessary after a busy week on the go!

That's it for this week. xoxo -jenn

Friday Foto Frenzy summer photo share ... week 5

hello. it's the last week of camps for the kids and i am grateful that they had some wonderful experiences, but i honestly am really, i mean REALLY, looking forward to the summer pace slowing waaaayyyyyy down. no more alarm clocks and rushing out the door in the am. no more lengthy drives shuffling kids back and forth to camps. just us, relaxing, chilling, just being a family ... yeah, that sounds so good right now!

anyway ... here's what we've been up to this week:

picking up the girl at basketball camp. gum? seriously???

from basketball camp to athletic training ... and she's still smiling. you go girl!

time for puppy love and relaxing a bit before dinner.

he's not loving this, is he?

still at the mermaid thing ...

 snuggling.

fresh cooked pasta side dishes ... still steaming.

shopping for more grasses for around the pool.

and more time in the pool. he's into diving.

and she just likes jumping.

friends playing with the pup in the pool.

the pup is now 8 months old. cutie!

we went to watch the girl's soccer coach's U23 team play but got caught in a severe storm/ tornado warning. not a fun drive home.

after dodging downed trees and barely being able to see out my window ... we came home to this.

 and this....

but eventually things calmed and we were greeted with this...

and this. sigh. the magic of summer.

have a great weekend. xoxo - jenn