Just summer things

We finished out July by simply enjoying the summer.

I took the kids to the splash pad one day before dinner. We had the place almost to ourselves. It was perfect.

These kids were more interested in the swings than the water.

My five babies: 

I discovered both Lily and Cole can do monkey bars! I was thoroughly impressed!

Lance spent a good portion of the month with his Dad and Abbey in Vienna where he attended a couple neat camps:

I believe this was a robotics camp where he built and programed his own robot!

These girls are becoming good friends. I love watching their relationship develop.

These are the moments that moms live for: 

I know they fight a lot, but every once in a while I'll get a golden glimpse into the friendships they are forming together. Its a nice reminder that they really do love each other and enjoy being together.

Happy Birthday, Grandmom and George!

Living so close to the Bay has many perks, not the least of which is access to fresh crab. We've been making it a tradition to celebrate Grandmom and George's birthdays each year by coming to Ashburn, getting a bushel of blue crab and eating it with George's family. It's a huge hit with the kids--the one time they actually get to play with their food before eating it.

Lexi wasn't too sure what to make of the crabs...

Lily, on the other hand, insisted on shelling her crab all by herself.

This may have been Lance's first experience with whole crab. One of my favorite parts of this tradition is listening to Grandmom and Pop Pop teaching the kids all the tricks of recovering the chunks of meat.

Crab-eating expert right here! He can take apart a crab in seconds and manages to extract huge chunks easily while the rest of us fumble and crack away. 

Cole just liked stabbing the crab. He wasn't too into actually eating the meat.

Love this group of people!

Happy, happy Birthday, George and Grandmom!

Watermelon Park river tubing

July 7th our family drove up to Northern Virginia to go river tubing with the Allreds and Calderwoods. It was a perfect day and even better because of the company.

On the bus to the start point up river:

We had quite the group!

Getting everyone into their tubes and coordinated was the hardest part, especially since the kids wanted to jump right in.

Lily insisted on swimming most of the way!

  

This was the first time George has been able to come! It was so nice having Daddy here.

Lance trying out Uncle Tyler's water straw:

Lance was a good sport and spent a lot of his time rescuing the little ones that were floating just a little too far away.

Thank goodness for Grandma! She held Lexi for most of the trip so I could enjoy swimming with the other kids.

Always fun to be with family!