SPLASHING into Summer!

So far we have thoroughly enjoyed our summer. The majority of our activities thus far have revolved around WATER :-) After all, what is better in the summer than splashing in the sun with friends?!?!?!?!

We kicked off the summer with a fun-filled day with the Fieldens. We always have a great time with them! They bought their daughter an awesome blow-up pool with slides and invited us to spend the day playing.

Isn't this the coolest?
All three girls playing in the water...

Addie's face is priceless coming off that slide!

Lily helps herself to a drink from the water gun :-)

Zora running through an obstacle course in the pool...

The girls played in the water for at least four hours that afternoon. It was endless fun for the kids and parents alike! I think the dads had just as much fun on those slides as the kids did :-)

As if that wasn't fun enough, we ended the evening with a walk to a nearby pond for some fishing.

Joel helps Lily fish

Zora liked playing with the worms

They all caught a lot of little fish, but Trev won the biggest catch of the night!

Thanks to the Fieldens for an awesome day!

Our next big summer party was a Hawaiian Luau with the Rogers' family. They were celebrating the college graduation of their son and future daughter-in-law. It was a very hot day, but we all took refuge in the shade. Lily's cuteness suckered a sweet lady (who we had just met for the first time) into rubbing ice on her neck and face to keep her cool...

The party was a huge success despite the heat. The food was fabulous and there were fun games like softball, volleyball, and even a hula-hoop contest. I think my kids' favorite part of the day was playing in the creek in their yard and trying to catch crawdads. BOTH of my kids fell in the creek which made for an interesting afternoon, but they loved it anyhow. Mommy was a little stressed, though!

This is probably my favorite picture from the luau... the girls are taking a break between volleyball games. Those smiles just melt my heart!

Thanks to the Rogers' family for such a wonderful day!
(And for letting me use your washer and dryer to wash the mud out of my kids' clothes)
(Oh, yeah, and for letting me borrow the wrestling singlet - ha!)

A little more recently we have had the privilege of attending lots of birthday parties! My nephew, Nathan, turned 13 this year which is nearly impossible for me to believe! He was born right after I graduated high school... that makes me old :-(

I made him a shirt...
...I think it embarrassed him a little...
...but I think he liked it!

Nate's party was a pool party. I'm pretty sure that my kids would LIVE in a pool if they had the option. I just love taking pictures of my kids in the water. Here is my little brown beauty. I lovingly call her "My Little Puerto-Rican" because she is so dark! Lily asked me if she looked like a "Pork-a-Rican" too! :-)
Lily absolutely LOVES to swim and seems to never tire of it. She is wearing a floatie in this picture, but I think that's the only day she's worn one all summer. She is such a little fish she doesn't even need one!
We also celebrated my little brother's 3rd birthday. His was pool party, too, but I didn't get any water pics at that party because I was in the pool myself most of the time and didn't want to soak my camera!
We also enjoyed a swim day with our homeschool T.I.E. group. Thanks, Laurette, for hosting all of us!

And we can't forget our little buddy, Kylan, who just celebrated his 4th birthday! We had a great time at his pool party as well!

(Again, no pics at those parties either due to me being in the pool.)

Our playgroup also had a fabulous day with lots of little kiddie games. I forgot my camera that day :-( but we had so much fun with all of our friends! Thanks, Lacy for hosting such a great party and for all the yummy food that was shared!

And thanks to ALL our friends and family who have made this summer SPLASH-TASTIC so far! We are looking forward to the rest of our summer and much more fun!