Jul 1-31: July Catch-up

This post is going to be a super quick update on the entire month of July.  We got back home from our wonderful trip to Quebec on June 29; we spent the first week just recuperating from that trip & learning how to live without the assistance of grandparents!  We celebrated the 4th of July on Friday, the 3rd, with a group of friends at the Cochran's home with supper, cake, presents for the July birthday boys (Erik & Adam Deininger) & fireworks.  We also celebrated Elin's birthday that weekend at Sabbath School and with a family party on July 6 (see post "June 20: Elin is 2 Years Old!" for photos).  The rest of the month was fairly quiet - we had swimming lessons, we visited our friends the Huffman's at their new beach condo, we went to the zoo with Heather & Devin Cochran, we ran errands and we played as much as we could.  We ended the month with Erik's birthday celebrations (see post "July 30: Erik is 4 Years Old!" for photos).

But first, here are some favorite photos from our family photos that we took in mid-June:

Celebrating our nation's Independence (only Elin was brave enough to try out the sparklers!):

Really, is there a better way to eat cake?

Cake Face

Going to see the Huffman's at the beach:

A super excited cutie pie!

Trying out the kayak

Pool time!  Both kids have done amazingly well in their swim lessons this summer.  Erik has learned how to do the American Crawl, the Backstroke and how to breathe by turning his head to the side!  He loves to dive down to pick toys up from the bottom of the pool - it's his favorite thing to do!  Elin is super good at holding her breath, swimming under water & getting to the side of the pool.  She is also learning how to do the crawl, though we currently call it "reach" and how to lift her head out of the water to take a breath!

We ran errands - the kids love to go to the grocery store & to Costco - and did chores around the house/yard!

Erik wanted to help pack the car after a Costco run

The kids found a fun car on a visit to Toys R Us - perhaps a Christmas gift idea for us to remember?!

A favorite Sunday activity for the kids - riding the tractor!

Taking a trip to the zoo with Heather & Devin Cochran.  We fed the giraffes for the first time on this visit; the kids were so excited though they were a bit leery when that giant tongue got too close!!  We also went to the splash park at the zoo, but neither kid was that excited about running through the sprinklers & water spouts:

Going to Church & Sabbath School:

We spent some time reading:

Reading in the car

Elin has pulled out just a few books to read!

And, finally, we played!  Elin has developed a habit of lying down while she plays!  She also loves to get "horsey" rides and will take them from anyone willing to provide them!

Getting a horsey ride

Another type of horsey ride!

Kent had 2 business trips this month - one to New York City and one to Texas & Kentucky. Here's a picture of him and a few of his co-workers after seeing the show, Jersey Boys, in New York.