July's Photos

We went to a surprise birthday party for your cousin Preston. His mom threw it together in just a few hours and luckily we live close by so we could come! Preston's reaction when he saw all of us in the backyard was the best. He was so surprised that he was actually scared and jumped backward. 

Swimming at Cherry Hill with friends:

Park day one morning with cousins:

Hammer found these glasses in our park bag:

This is just to remember that we went to visit my friend Allie. Hammer took this photo of her doggy and it's the only picture we have from our visit:

The first backpack trial around the neighborhood:

TJ is loving tennis, and the otter pops:

Another party for your cousins, this time for the twins! You had fun doing slip n slide:

After that party we went up to Honeyville to swim in your cousins' pool:

Lulu finished painting her owl that was a paint by number:

Cousin Emma came over to play one day while Laura was at work:

While the boys were backpacking we bought treats,:

celebrated "pie and (root)beer day" with homemade raspberry pie,:

and played at a new park. This one says it has a view of the valley. You can see the view, right there above my van ha ha. Fish still had fun playing in the sand though:

We went to church on Sunday too. This was our fist time going in masks:

And just like that we're into August. Crazy. We're having a fun summer! Sure love you,

Mom

Pluto's Instagram Debut

It's me again!

I reluctantly dragged you guys out of the house the other morning. We have been spending too much time just watching tv. I usually make sure that you have done a chore, read, done some math, and practiced piano before the tv comes  on, but that still leaves many hours in the day. One morning I decided we needed to get out and we went to explore a new park. We took Pluto with us. You guys love watching him stick his head out the window while we drive. His ears flap flap flap in the wind. Even though people weren't excited about the prospect of a park on a hot morning, we chose the perfect location. It was shady and there were easy trail with wild blackberries and we found a small stream with pretty rocks in it.

The amphitheater section was pretty fun to play on! The grassy area in front looks like a dog park, I told you guys. So Fish thought maybe the big steps was a stage for dogs to do tricks on. 

While Lulu and I were just relaxing on the steps and the boys looking for rocks in the stream, Lulu said that we should start an Instagram account for Pluto. I thought that could be a fun idea so we started it right there. We named his account Pluto's Places and his tagline is The World's Friendly GSP. Here is Pluto's first picture that is now his profile picture:

Here are a few more pictures from our excursion, most of which we posted to Plutos Places:

Pluto loved this place and you all ended up loving it too! 

Thanks for adventuring with me!

Love,

Mom

The Zoo!

Hi!

We went to the zoo in July. It was hot and we had to wear masks but the train and the merry go round were running again so that was great! Once we were inside the zoo we did take the masks off for some of the time. It is not fun to wear masks when it is so hot outside. TJ especially hates wearing them. The seals and otter were showing off and being funny. Fish wanted to look at the gift shop as much as he wanted to look at the animals.

I thought it was funny that the animal statues were also wearing masks.

Here are some pictures of our fun day, ending with a visit to Nana's house. 

You guys played a song on the piano for Nana and she loved it. We hadn't seen her since Christmas so it was nice to visit. I love her. Laura got to ride with us to the shop to pick up her car, so she got to see Nana too!

Lulu went home with Gramma after the zoo for a sleepover! Of course the girls had a tea party:

The rest of us got to swim at Cherry Hill:

I love summer days like this. We love getting out and having fun!

Love,

Mom

Fernwood Hike

Hi guys,

We met our friends for a hike at a place called Fernwood:

First we checked out this huge house with a fancy estate. It's kind of hard to tell from all of the trees how fancy it is:

After that we hiked and explored. You guys especially loved getting in the creek and finding butterflies:

See the mansion back there above the trees?:

We love these friends. We weren't ready to say goodbye but it was also getting hot, so we went back to their house and you guys jumped on the tramp with the sprinkler on. We played until it was down the wire with getting home and making dinner. 

It was a fun day! 
Love,

Mom