We all love summer so much. It's been a really great one this year. It was really great having Juliet on her little softball team. It was so low pressure and it made it so she knew a bunch of kids at all the kindergarten back to school events.
We did some adventures with neighbor friends over to the school playground where Callie was the star of the show until a turtle turned up.
Callie was desperately excited about the turtle and still looks for it whenever we take her to the playground.
Juliet is going to have a blast at kindergarten, she's so ready.
Cozy kitties!
Despite nearby puppy cuddles.
Juliet's rough go at getting her second cavity filled. I asked her after this if she was going to brush more carefully after this and she said no, she would just have the good hygienist and dentist take care of any future cavities. Great great, that's the moral we wanted to take away from this situation.
Juliet and I went and joined my mom at her church story time after the procedure. Grandma time makes everything better.
Katie and Ethan were visiting and Ethan was happy to show off his big muscles with Patrick after they went swimming.
And he learned how to kiss muscles
Some NBA Jam time with Daddy
Juliet and Katie played dress up and Katie picked out a very festive outfit so Juliet insisted that they change clothes and then Juliet ran around in the fancy outfit for the rest of the afternoon. And they also "rode" Callie when I told them she was our pony.
Patrick is officially the coolest dude ever and he's doing an exemplary job training up Juliet in his cool ways.
It rained a ton on the night before the 4th of July which seemed at first like great news for 4th of July firework safety. I took Callie out for our standard walk in the morning and Blue River was higher than I had ever seen it before, usually you can barely see it back in the distance at this spot.
However, because of the rain all the local fireworks shows got cancelled. So everyone ran out and bought a bunch of fireworks and did their own personal shows in their driveways.
We had a few friends come over for a pool party during the day, which was relaxed and fun, and then the Watts hung out with us for evening sparklers and little fireworks in our driveway.
Some of Juliet's favorite neighbor buddies, Jacob and Erin, came by as well.
Juliet's eyes were a little ouchie from an afternoon in the pool. We've been trying to impress upon her the importance of wearing goggles in a salt water pool.
But then the show started - and wow. We think at least six driveways in close proximity to us were shooting off fireworks and they were all pretty serious ones. Ours were cute.
Nathan did save one big one for the end. If you look at this photo you can see which kids hadn't been wearing goggles in the pool and had had it with bright lights.
I read to the sweet burning eye children and we thought that maybe they learned a lesson but it's still a constant debate with Juliet to wear goggles in the pool.
Bonus fireworks the next night. It's so funny that we didn't see any of these when we lived a mile and a half north.
Then it was time to head out to Branson for our big family reunion! The villas we stayed in were very fancy.
Begging to go swimming the first night even though it was already sort of close to bedtime.
Success!
The hidden room under the waterfall was a nice touch. This place was fantastic.
The infinity pool edge from the upper pool section looked out across the lake. It was swanky times.
And even a hot tub! Here are all the grandkids except Ethan, who wasn't allowed in the hot tub because he's too little.
The media room was used a lot more than I thought it would be. Lots of good gaming.
But the real highlight of Watermill Cove was the pickleball court. That's all the older boys wanted to do.
They had a cute playground which got used a little bit.
Uncle Thomas helped coach Ethan through a round of mini golf.
Go Juliet go!
The arcade room was popular and a nice place to escape from the heat.
Underneath the waterfall! We did a lot of swimming on this trip.
Juliet has this thing now where she likes to kiss me on the mouth because she knows I don't like it. She is very naughty cute.
My parents got Katie a Best Day Ever shirt to match the ones we got for our family trip to Disney. She was wearing it one day so I put Juliet in hers and tried to get a nice picture of the two of them. This is the best I got.
Then they went to Silver Dollar City with grandparents. It's super great to have Katie around for these family events, the older kids all want to go on different rides now so Juliet has someone who will do all the stuff she wants to do.
They got a little wet on the Huck Finn ride.
Meanwhile, we took a few kids out kayaking. I ended up with Emmett. He was so-so on staying in the boat.
The view from our balcony at our villa.
Patrick joined me for some cool kid pictures.
Patrick does his best smolder with a view of the pool in the background.
Uncle Thomas is quite popular.
More pickleball!
And this has been the summer of the Rubik's cube for Patrick. I think his current record is solving a cube in 1 minute and 7 seconds.
Family outing to Silver Dollar City.
Matching shorts picture for the girls! We stopped by Bucc-ees on our drive to Branson and we invested in some fashion while we were there.
Fancy drinks for the kids
Juliet was a good sport about shopping with me while big kids rode a roller coaster
My least favorite store was also the kids' favorite store.
We made a point of going to a show and we had an amazing time at the Stunt Dog show. Patrick got to be an audience volunteer!
Then a storm blew in and all the rides closed so we had to leave but we went through a wonky house of mirrors on our way out. And found Katie with grandparents, much to Juliet's delight.
Diana and Bill were on the trip too! Emmett could barely contain his joy.
Facebook has ruined my life by adding TikTok videos you can watch and so I would hang out in the room and watch cute cat videos sometimes. The kids figured it out and were eager to join in on the fun.
We made it to Hurts Donuts while we were there, because they are no longer in KC. The big drama of the trip was that Bradley forgot to bring his Hurts Donuts t-shirt even though he wears it all the time at home. He would have gotten us a free donut!
We suffered a bit but we persevered. Nathan is very nice about hanging out even though he can't eat anything here.
Then we spent the day at Fritz's. I sat and read a book and took pictures/bravely watched over everyone's stuff while all the kids ran around. And Nathan. He felt bad about not doing zipline activities with kids last time we were there a couple years ago so he made up for it this time. He did it all and the kids were so happy.
All the other cousins came too. We were impressed Ethan hung in there, especially for the laser maze.
We really like their photo booth setup there. They have some on the high ropes course and down below on the main level.
Grandpa is a special special man.
The videos were where the kids had the most fun
Fritz's was absolutely packed but we always have a great time there.
Then the resort had its weekly pool party. There was a water balloon tossing competition, hula hooping competition, and a limboo. We also got a bunch of free pizza. So fancy, so nice.
If only there had been a fort building competition.
We were pretty happy about the free treats at the end as well!
A lot of the nicest time was just hanging out around the condo.
And we played plenty of games!
On Riley's birthday Patrick accompanied Laura's boys on a Silver Dollar City outing.
Meanwhile we hung out and Bradley played a bunch of Beasts of Balance, a board game with a digital interface.
Patrick had a great time with the boys until Finn got mad and ran off.
Fortunately by that point Nathan and I had showed up at the theme park with just Bradley and Eleanor. My parents had gotten us super fancy line skipper annual passes to Silver Dollar City so we came and went as we pleased. I walked around with Laura and we found some of the boys but not Finn, so she left to take the other tired kids home. We were both quite sure no one wanted to steal Finn so I said we would keep an eye out as we took the kids to ride one last roller coaster before heading home. And then we ran into him walking the other direction! We took him on the roller coaster and everyone was very excited about the day's adventures.
Would someone steal Juliet? Perhaps, until they realized she has quite the list of demands. More games! More candy!
Riley's official birthday celebration.
A lovely picture of Patrick that Laura took.
Eleanor and Juliet love fest in the pool.
Evening pickleball for Patrick.
My parents rented a jet ski for a couple hours one afternoon. It was a blast!
Mom and Dad kayaked a bit while the jet ski crew came and went.
I dropped off a couple extra passengers for their kayaks so they wouldn't be lonely. They were so grateful for the help.
On the dock the uncles started throwing kids in the water in order to provide entertainment.
Juliet was a little tuckered out and fell asleep in the car on our way to see Dolly Parton's Stampede Round-Up that evening.
We bought the family pics at the show!
This is our official professional group shot of the trip.
Then we went to the gift shop and checked out the merch.
We got Juliet a fancy hat! And we made the right call on bringing noise cancelling headphones for her.
My show buddy
The long line of the reunion gang
Then back to the condo for more fun and games
I complained about having to walk uphill in the parking lot at Silver Dollar City the next day and the greatest thing in my life happened - I was carried by my children!
It was a bit terrifying but no one fell and I am eager to try this again someday soon. Also, it seems it would help if I could do the splits because the boys kept walking further and further apart as we walked. Things went a bit more smoothly for Juliet with her Eleanor ride.
Laura forgot to pack her shorts for this trip so I lent her a pair - and then I wore some very similar colored shorts and we were matchy twins for the Silver Dollar City morning.
Finn is awesome and has been the best kid yet about going along with me asking him math problems for fun when he's bored and needs something to do.
More rides for tired kids. My turn to carry Patrick.
It was really rainy and everything was closed - we were a bit foolish for timing our Silver Dollar City trip of the day for the morning.
But we did get to go back to my least favorite store.
Juliet found a sword that she's obsessed with and desperate to get for Christmas or a birthday.
Evening cards!
Juliet and Katie are quite the duo
Juliet ditched out for actual mini golf but Katie had a good time with Grandma and Grandpa.
Lots more arcade time at the end of the trip!
Then I made kids dance for treats at the pool and got in some swim time for myself.
It was a pretty great reunion.
Time to say goodbye!
Then we sent Patrick to super toasty lacrosse practice with his neighbor friend Chance the day after we got back.
The cousins were still around until Monday and Bradley was rather impatient for Emmett to come over and hang out.
The crew came over to swim and I got a picture of everyone lined up in age order because I cleverly bribed everyone with a popsicle. I love this picture quite a bit!
This photo is fabulous because you don't notice Juliet and her crazy at first
The cousins appreciated getting some animal loves
This pool has been so amazing
One night we had the kids watch shows after dinner and Nathan and I got to have the pool to ourselves. It was fantastic.
Bradley went with me to deliver banana bread to his Sunday school teachers in honor of them having a new baby. He loves babies so much, it was a great visit.
We call this our summer war paint. The kids have been really good about sunscreen all summer.
Eleanor has face paint and the creations she comes up with when she's with her friend Naomi are quite amazing. Please note the all-seeing eye on the center of each of their foreheads.
Grandparent activities didn't stop, there was a trip to Oceans of Fun during this week as well.
And we had the Rutherfords over for a swim and Patrick taught Olivia how to play Yamslam.
Swim gang!
Nathan took Juliet and Bradley to visit his mom for a weekend. We talked about taking everyone but it's so much better with just one or two kids. A single hotel room for all six of us is pretty brutal.
Meanwhile, Patrick and Eleanor were introduced to the Lemony Snicker show, which was medium traumatic to start but then got more and more fun and now they are thoroughly invested.
And Eleanor made us her very fancy cupcakes she learned how to make at summer camp.
They have ruined the dog and she now expects popcorn during shows. Look at her staring at Eleanor as she eats.
Callie and Remy thought underneath Patrick was the best place to play one afternoon
Callie likes to chase bunnies
If only Callie got enough love
Bradley's foot is on the left, mine is on the right. We went on a run and he was really whiny the entire time about his feet hurting, apparently his tennis shoes were three sizes too small. We have shoes that fit him now.
I love having pets.
Remy came over to play one morning and then we had trouble convincing him to go home
Bradley is a big fan of reading or playing games on the chair in my room. Meg thinks it's pretty okay too.
The cats managed to pick up a few fleas from Callie after she must have brought them back from Woof's while we were on our Santa Cruz trip. So there was a bit of trauma when they needed a flea bath. Sookie was the sweetest and most compliant.
Meg was louder and more desperate
And Layla hated it the most.
But the cats were better after that. Rejoice! Evening cuddles and kitty videos
A neighborhood happy hour was cancelled so we hosted a few neighbors over for a pool party instead. Juliet was in little girl heaven.
Non flea bitten kitties
And then a Girl Scout pool party was held. We are certainly using the pool enough.
But overall the end of summer has been full of lazy hang out time and cuddles with animals. It has been fantastic.
Juliet is so blonde with all the sun she's getting. She's also just a little bit scary.
And it's amazing when the boys take Eleanor up on a challenge of her choosing.
