New Bike, Reservoir Fun & Gymnastics Blitz

Amelia holding her sister while I treat the plants.

(Colleen is yawning).

Austin received a hand-me-down bike from some friends. He chose his new helmet and spent an afternoon scooting around the garage.

Amelia spent a considerable time giving him instructions on how to ride.

Sweet girl relaxing in the tent while her sister and brother are in the reservoir with Daddy.

Free fun at the reservoir after the work day

Holly & Mike, who had moved away to California just before we returned to NJ in 2013, have recently moved back to the area. The new Chick-fil-a is exactly halfway between our homes; we plan on a routine meet-up and playtime there.

The "girls' side"

Christian LOVES babies.

Amelia took a 1 week "gymnastics blitz" at the YMCA; for a half-hour each day, she got to tumble around an obstacle course and learn a little bit about the uneven bars and balance beam.

This girl is trying out the bumbo seat.

We made it to our favorite pizza place for the Friday Classic Car night. It had been a raining for days and we made it out when there was a small break in the rain.

Green truck!

The kids love to ask Daddy to hold them up to look in the cars and then always comment on something inside.

We had plans to try to chase down a hot air balloon after pizza, since this was the Hot Air Balloon Festival weekend. But the weather had other ideas. We had dropped off our leftovers at home and purchased some treats from the ice cream truck just before the dark clouds started rolling in. We saw a few balloons in the air while we ate our treats and tailgated. But the balloons quickly descended and the rain started.  The entire festival was canceled for the second evening due to rain.

Colleen supervising my first quilt finish since her birth. It's been done in 10min intervals and some early morning (4-6AM) bursts, but it will soon be in the mail!

It never gets old.

We headed over to Dan & Jess' house for dinner on the rainy Saturday night. All the kids happened to be on the couch while I read them a book, so a photo was necessary.

Hot Summer Playdates

More of a heat wave hit our area and we lived out at parks and the splash pad for the week.

We met one of Amelia's friends from preschool, Cody, and his sisters for a picnic.

This girl takes her easiest naps at parks.

Michelle has been learning more on how to use her DSLR camera, so she took a bunch of photos of our kids at the splash pad and forwarded them to me.

Emma LOVES "babeee Coweeeen"

We went for our weekly library run and discovered that they were hosting a program on nutritious foods. Although we had not registered, the librarian told the kids they could stay around. So they were able to taste some yummy smoothie, date balls and homemade gatorade. What a treat! 

She holds her sister now 2-3x each day for 10-15min; this lets me get a lot done!

Tummy time!

One hot afternoon I filled up buckets and gave the kids sponges. Easy entertainment for the entire afternoon.

Amelia's second KiwiCrate arrived - a Pinball Machine.  The kids had so much fun building it (even if I didn't get any good photos).

A quick video

Rohit's parents have been visiting for a few months. Just before they left, the invited us over for some tea and treats. The men played Uno.

Colleen let Mrs. Vijay hold her for a short moment; Colleen was off her nap schedule this day so she was attached to Mama.

I had not been in the pool all summer. So Patrick took Colleen for a few evenings, and I took the kids to the pool. It was the perfect temperature and a fun time!

Another summer concert at the park

Whirlwind Weekend in MD & VA

We went to visit the kids' Great Grandparents in Maryland - this trip is always an excellent excuse to visit as many of our MD/VA friends as possible.  We are so grateful for the gracious friends who welcome us into their homes or meet us to catch up on the time that has passed by. Our last visit to see Great Grandma was in May of 2015.

We left after work on Thursday evening and hit a decent amount of traffic which resulted in our arriving at Carrie & Pat's house after bedtime.  But the kids loved seeing Joey & Josh the next morning for the couple of hours we had before we had to leave.

The current basement game is to pretend that there is hot lava everywhere and you have to go around without touching the ground (couch cushions in important locations). So the kids had fun climbing around in a circle.

Pat made amazing French Toast for breakfast!

These two had fun writing messages.

Plasma car inside? yes please!

Attempt at a group shot

 

 

Joey got in on the cuddles-for-Colleen

 So there is this photo of Amelia, Joey and Ethan climbing up the stairs in our VA house that we tried to recreate with these kids. Turns out, they run too fast to get a good non-blurry shot. But this is the best I got. 

Thanks Pat & Carrie! We look forward to your visit and getting to play some board/card games!

We headed to visit Great Grandma and she got her Colleen cuddles.

Waiting on the bus to go to the cafe.

This simple bus ride is the highlight of the kids' visit.

Playing tic-tac-toe

From there we headed to Clemyjontri Park - I had always wanted to visit it before we moved away, but we never made it a priority. I wish we had; it was an awesome park. Jim was so kind to meet us and catch up while watching the kids play and even had supper with our circus at a great Thai restaurant. We missed Martha, but she was getting sweet cuddles with her new grandson!

On Saturday morning we headed to Amy & Brad's house for a fun lunch with Ethan & Aiden.

Aiden & Austin needed to see everything that was going on in the kitchen.

Amy got in on the Colleen cuddles.

Delicious lunch!

They invited us to swim in their community pool. It was a perfect pool day.

I promise they had a blast, even if they are all giving us the "we need a nap" stare. :) 

Those clouds behind Patrick ended up bringing thunder which closed down the pool.

 The pool must have a direct line to an ice cream truck. As soon as everyone had to get out of the pool, it showed up.

Yay treats!

She loves hot days!

They let us in one more time but then it thundered again and closed for good.

We left the pool as the storm blew in and headed toward Briana & Ryan's home.  The kids were thrilled to get to see Delaney & Sawyer again.

Our last day with them was full of art projects,

more Colleen cuddles,

delicious food,

books, 

and pretending camping.

We spent Sunday morning at one of their community parks. Austin got an introduction to basketball from Sawyer and Ryan.

Professional baby holder

Before we left, we shared a treat at Sweet Frog.

 

It was a packed-full weekend in which we made many sweet memories. We are grateful that the kids are great travelers, sleeping in a different bed every night and that we have so many friends who welcome us and embrace our circus. These times are life-giving to our hearts and hopefully our children are learning the value of investing in relationships.