July wrap-up

July! So many thunderstorms. A lot of swimming and a lot of outdoor time. We went to the beach, the girls performed in a theater camp, and we generally enjoyed a more relaxed summer schedule!

Ben made us all spaghetti for dinner:

We watched a few World Cup games in the pool:

Rosie got put in a cap for kid in a cap at swim practice:

Chris and I dressed up as basketball players for a friend's birthday party:

Sally stealing my shoes!

Jane with a starfish her swim buddy made her:

Antelope and Grandma took Ben and Rosie to Water Country one morning and they loved it!

Chris set one of the daily records at Water Country:

Rosie and Ben dressed up as Forkie and Dinosaur respectively from Toy Story for a friend's birthday party:

Chris and I went on a date to Fat Canary downstairs for our anniversary:

Ben hiding:

Rosie passed out after a late night swimming:

The kids got Insomnia cookies from the summer reading program at the library:

Ben and Chris got to go to a Tribe Men's Basketball meet and greet:

More pool time:

Rosie the laundry monster:

More Busch Gardens time...Ben has gotten super brave this summer, riding Pantheon, Loch Ness, and Alpengeist for the first times!

We got to see Kinetix and the Drone Show!

Ben's Washington Commanders Etch-A-Sketch creation:

One night the kids did "secret sidewalk notes" and left chalk notes at the end of every driveway on our street after dark. It was very sweet!

Another summer bucket list item was doing "secret sand bucket" exchange with their siblings - which was basically like a secret santa. They had so much fun exchanging gifts.

Onward to August! We still have lots of summer left, but things are starting to gear up already for the new school year! Orientations, try outs, school supplies, etc. are landing in my inbox daily!

Fourth of July! 250th

This was a very special 4th of July for our country! Since we live basically in the nation's birthplace, people from ALL OVER came to Williamsburg to celebrate. That meant lots of crowds. We decided early on not to leave our neighborhood for the day so that we could really enjoy it without worrying about traffic and crowds. As special as all the celebrations were, our kids weren't super excited about being shoulder to shoulder with 70,000 strangers. We had never stayed in our neighborhood for the evening though so it was a new experience for us - and maybe the start of a new tradition!

We did a morning work out with friends:

Then it was off to the neighborhood bike parade! This is a very sweet tradition where the kids ride their bikes around the lake with a firetruck leading the way. Neighbors who aren't biking all come out and line the streets to watch!

Cousins came and biked in the parade with us!

From there we decided to head down to the marina.

It was SO hot though and then a thunderstorm rolled in.

We went to our neighborhood picnic at the pool after a break at home while it rained.

And then when the picnic ended, a group was heading down to the marina so we wandered down there. We had decided not to do any big fireworks shows this year due to the traffic, but we were pleasantly surprised that our neighbors shot off a few so we didn't miss out!

Happy 4th of July!