.crazy dog days of summer.

it's hard to believe that we are already half way through our summer.  where has the time gone? with scout camps, trying to finish a large order of signs on top of the celebrating Independence Day and Pioneer day it has left little time for anything else.  But for the sake of the kids we have tried to get out and enjoy as much as we can.

for summer solstice we splashed at a splash pad,

 squeezed into tiny bathing suits,

 indulged in ice cold snow cones (take note of Finn's brain freeze agony),

 swung on tire swings,

  enjoyed a summer picnic for dinner,

  and stayed up until dark to light sparklers and basically run around crazy because we could.

 We wanted to spend as much time together before Roy left for his week long scout trip so we took the train down town the weekend before and just did whatever we felt like.  The church history museum had a fun children's exhibit that the kids spent lots of time playing in.

 we ended the trip with dinner in city creek, playing in the water fountains, and eating caramel apples.  It was one of those times that I just kept thinking how perfect the day was...everyone happy and together.

Roy's campsite was closer then usual this year, so he invited us up to have dinner one night.  It started raining when we got there, but the kids were not thwarted by it and happily ate their watermelon and hotdogs.

The 4th of July was as exciting as ever.  We have discovered a sweet spot for the Riverton parade that is  right at the beginning, and in the shade...it's well worth showing up an hour before hand just to see the littles in total rapture of it all.  E was particularly stoked this year!

 Among other delights of our summer was the sandpit episode where Meg and E both ended up with copious amounts of mud dumped on them.  I'm sure it all started out as fun, but ended up with sad soiled girls.

Meg has been doing tumbling this summer, and if you know her at all, you know she is in total bliss. She often asks if she can get her "tard" (leotard)  on and go to tumbling.

 Finn welcomed our first case of strep...of course at the most inopportune time.  thank the heavens he is an easy sick kid.

 most of the last two weeks have been spent cranking out signs, 18 to be exact.  Between friends and family we have managed to pull it off with the kids not being too neglected.  It's definitely not a pace I can keep up all the time, but glad I had the chance to hone my skills.

being so busy, everything else has taken a back seat, including my yard and garden.  The weeds are growing aplenty, and when I finally spent 5 minutes and walked through it, I found three GIANT zucchinis nestled under the giant leaves of the squash plant and two decent sized cukes.  E gladly took one from me and ate it straight up.  Sadly this past week we were told by city officials not to eat our garden produce because our secondary water has been contaminated by a toxic algae bloom...yeah... we totally missed the boat on that one.