Water... Sun... More water!!

Seriously, Where has July gone?!?

I just cannot believe it's over and that we are now on the countdown to school.

for the 4th it was a pretty relaxed day, went to church, took a nap, and watched fireworks. they do a pretty good show over at the high school so we parked along the road, camped out in the back of the pick-up and waited for the show... this year Aubree named all the fireworks!! the mountain of dolphins, long stick with tiny stars on top, the big little and 4th of July special are just a few of what we saw that night!

I wanted to make Aubree a 4th of July/summer dress.... well she helped pick out fabric and this is how it turned out, not so red, white or blue. But she likes it, and that's what matters!!

** I had to use this picture, I just can't believe how big they are getting! and when they stand next to each other like this you'd never guess Merrick is 4 and Aubree is 7!!!

Maybe the reason July has flown by like a jet plane is because we have spent almost every day at the pool, really just about EVERY DAY!!!

** Aubree playing with her friends...

** Merrick playing with his friend, all he does is throw his dive stick and go after it!! for how ever long we are there (2-3 hours) that is all he does!!! He loves JUMPING IN!!

we had two weeks of swimming lessons. YES, in addition to our daily playtime at the pool they had lessons every day for two weeks. -- but it was really good for them, especially Aubree! I put her in a little harder class this time (against the advice of the pool manager) but she did soooo well! - here she is treading water! she also learned how to dive and really sharpened her swimming skills. she can now swim the length of the pool. so the plan for next summer is swim team & she is so excited for that!!

Merrick was just happy to be in the water!!! He was so proud of himself when he was able to float "all by himself!" .. and of course when he got to jump off the diving board

this is where I camped out most of the month (probably next month too, if I'm honest) I love that the kids are good enough swimmers that I can just relax and watch them play. I do get in the water occasionally and throw the kids around -- but really I should have a chair reserved for me, (and my friends) so I can keep working on my tan! this is the first time ever in my life I have been so tan, it's kinda fun!!

I wanted to get something with the money I made from the yard sale last month. I almost got a new mixer, but when I saw Merrick lifting up the swing set one day I thought maybe the kids were getting a little too big for it, time to get a new one! It took us (mostly Marc) about 7 hours split between 2 days to get this thing together, so when we're not at the pool they've been playing on this new toy!

and just in case we haven't had enough time in the water, We were invited to go along with some of the chemical guys from Automated dairy. One of the guys parents had a place out on Murtaugh lake ( google it, It's really out in the middle of NO WHERE) they had all kinds of toys for every age

* Aubree waiting to go for a ride on the tube...
*Merrick going down the slide for the 1,000,000,000th time

I even rode on a tube!!

there were some guys out there with snowmobiles (aka boats) going across the lake. one guy never sank his but the rest did.... Marc spent most of the day helping them gets the sled to dry land.

We had a fun day, and once again I forgot to put sun block on the kids! I have one more month to get it right.