July brings sun & smiles

Emma Rose's smile pretty much sums up how the past month of summer has been with the kids! 

We've spent 5 out of 7 days in the week at the pool, in the back yard pool, at the indoor pool, and lounging in the sun.  Porter and Emma Rose LOVE the water.  Porter's been in swim lessons and loves to pretend to be a turtle, swimming for 5-10 feet underwater at a time before coming up for air.  And Emma Rose is an absolute fish.  The girl floats and turns and kicks and swim with a grin the size of Alaska the entire time.

This is the little slide that I caught Porter blocking other kids from going down until Emma Rose was safely at the bottom!

Porter flexes his muscles after a long "turtle" swim.

I love this picture because EVERY time we go to the pool, Emma Rose does this.  She climbs on my back, hugs me, and says, "I lub you, Mommy.  I so proud of you."

We've also had fun exploring different play sites when it has been just too hot to go outside.  Porter fell in love with this place, with human-sized building blocks, and of course, Emma Rose was at his side to help him out!

And we've also spent hours on bikes and scooters this summer.  Porter has been so proud of his new, big bike, but he refused to take off the training wheels...

... then one day, when Corey and I were busy working on the front yard, we looked up and Porter had picked up the neighbor's bike, sans training wheels.  Guess that strider bike payed off! (Thanks to my cousin, Erin, for the recommendation!)  We've since taken him on bike rides without training wheels!

This picture so makes me smile: Porter in his Spider Man jammies and "working boots" on his bike:

Corey and I got to get away together without the kids for a couple days in Fort Collins, where we got some hiking, beer-tasting, and LOTS of sleeping in!

New Belgium Brewery

I've also been lucky to spend some good evenings in the company of dear friends, whose kids are favorites of my kids!

...And we did get a nice hike in this month.  The kids had a blast jumping off rocks and looking for wildlife on the way to St. Mary's Glacier.

We've had a great month... and we had a fun trip to Long Beach, Washington, in the midst of all of it (another blog soon-to-come...)  

So many days of sun and smiles!!!