Grandma Bs

The girls and I had tons of fun this year visiting with Grandma B, sisters, aunts, cousins, nieces and friends while in Illinois. We got to go swimming, shopping, watch a movie in the park, a trip to the zoo and of course lots of eating out.


Ella lost her first tooth (the bottom middle one) while at Grandma Bs. She was actually with Aunt Jane, Brittany and Olivia so I missed this first but she was VERY excited that the tooth fairy visited her at Grandmas.

Enjoying the day at the zoo with Brittany, Olivia and Aunt Jane

Pool fun at Aunt Becky's
Ella coming off the slide

Taylor on the diving board

Emma with the horse at Grandma Bs

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park

We planned a weekend "camping" trip with our great friends at the Jellystone Park in Indiana http://www.jellystonesbest.com/ the last part of July. Many people do not consider camping to be a cabin with air, satellite TV, full kitchen, bath & shower, etc....to be camping but I do. We rented the cabin for Friday and Saturday night and had a blast doing so many things.

Emma's souvenir tye dye shirt

Rental bikes that we got to ride around the campgrounds

The kids fishing

The guys playing poker

Emma, Ella, Ashley, Tanner and Taylor

Pool fun

Country Lane Tree Farm

The girls and I had the chance to visit The Country Lane Tree Farm http://www.countrylanetreefarm.com/ with Sheila and her class. This is a real working farm with so many animals and incredible things for the kids to explore. The girls got to milk a real cow, bottle feed goats and lambs, ride in the barrel train, hold baby chicks, pet bunnies, feed the llamas and run thru the hay maze to name only a few.

Mimi's Visit

We were soooooo excited to have Mimi visit with us. It was only for a short time, now that she is part of the "real working world" but we managed to fit in many fun activities. We spent some time at Side Cut Metro Park at the river, spent the day at the zoo with a guided monkey tour thanks to Kristen and Mimi spent some time with the girls alone which allowed Dave and I to go out on a date....thanks Mimi!

Safety City

Emma & Ella participated in the local Safety City Program in July that is put together by the Waterville Police Department for kids entering kindergarten. It is a 1/2 day week long program that focuses on a different daily safety topic ie....stranger danger, walking on sidewalks/crosswalks, bus safety, bike safety....Unfortunately Ella was sick for the last 2 days of the program but I was very excited that Emma happily went alone and had a great time. Ella would not take part in the week end graduation program where the kids sang songs they learned and were presented with a shirt, new bike helmet and a certificate of completion but again Emma took part and had super fun!