Last Pool Day!

We had our last day at Northwood Pool on Wednesday, August 30th. We had a great time going there all summer and it was nice to have something to look forward to during those sometimes long summer afternoons!

Landon was glad this his friend Grant was there on our last day...

Abby had fun with her friends Ava and Amanda. Of course Nolan has a hard time leaving them alone too!

And what was Maylie enjoying?

Some snacks of course!

Maylie became quite the little fish this summer and loved swimming all over the place by herself with her "floaties." Nolan also became a much better swimmer after all those pool sessions. No swim lessons needed when you spend so much time at the lake and pool each summer!

Maryland Science Center

We had just a few weeks left until our Philadelphia Science Center membership expired, so we had to make it over to their partner museum, the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore to enjoy it one last time. We started out in the dinosaur area, digging for fossils and learning all about the creatures from long ago...

I think their favorite area was this building block area. Abby made a pretty awesome throne for herself!

Nolan wanted to build a tower bigger than he was and kept adding steps in order to get in even higher.

Jason pitched in to help and this was their final result!!

Abby also had fun creating this fun play castle too!

Then Landon had to try his hand at tower building too...

And one last creation from Nolan. We definitely spent most of our time just in this one area!

Learning all about the human body was far less interesting to Maylie than pretending to talk to two people at once with these headsets.

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Peach Picking

At the beginning of August, a ward member invited us over to their house to pick some peaches. Abby was at her summer party, but Landon, Nolan, Maylie and I all had a fun time picking these juicy and delicious peaches.

It was like a little jungle through all those trees!

Good job peach pickers!

Summer Party

Abby was invited to a special swim/campout party with some of her closest friends from Elementary school. All of these girls are doing into 6th grade next year at several different schools so it was fun to get together again before they all begin this new stage in their lives. Abby didn't spend the night, but went over for the activities that night and again the next morning.

I hope these girls always remember just how strong and beautiful they all are. This world has a way of making girls feel like they aren't "enough" but I hope they always hold dear these feeling of belonging and strength.

I think their favorite activity was spreading dish soap all over the trampoline and having quite the jumping/sliding/splashing party!

They also added some to a big camping tarp to create their own slip n' slide!

Family Kayaking

Jason took the day off from work last Friday and we borrowed a trailer and some kayaks from a friend to go on a family kayaking trip. We have two small youth kayaks of our own and we were excited to finally use them!

Jason and I took turns with Maylie riding in our kayaks and Nolan, Landon, and Abby were all able to paddle their own kayaks. 

They even took turns standing up and using them as paddleboards too!

It was a beautiful day to be out on the Antietam Creek and several of the kids declared that it was the best day ever!

I think we may have found a fun new hobby for our family!

Mermaid in the Sand

We spend every Tuesday morning during the summer at Greenbrier State Park with friends and people from our Ward. On Tuesday, August 1st, Abby and her friend Sydney made this fun mermaid tail from sand.

Great job girls!

Harry Potter Birthday

Our local bookstore held a little party to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday on Saturday, July 29th. They had a sorting hat, some games, wands, and HP trivia.

Landon and Abby have reread all of the Harry Potter books this summer so they were rocking the trivia game!

Forget Harry Potter though. This little girl was quite entertained just with the shopping basket!

Two days later on Harry Potter's actual birthday (July 31st), we held a little impromptu birthday party complete with snacks and watching the first Harry Potter movie together. 

Our snacks included "Fish from the Lake" (Goldfish), Firebolts (pretzel rods stuck in Rice Krispie Treats), Snitches (yellow candies), and Gringotts Gold (Rolos).

We also had gummie frogs instead of Chocolate Frogs but Landon still made some Wizard Cards to go with them. Butterbeer (cream soda) rounded off our spread!

We ended up having four friends to come celebrate the big event with us. Not bad for a last minute party!