August 2013

Oh August! How I loved you and hated you! The final month of summer offers so much fun, but also provides an ample amount of heat and humidity! We found a way to have plenty of fun - even if we were sweaty and sticky the whole time! We took frequent trips across the street to the elementary school for picnics and playing on the equipment and letting the kids ride their bikes on the asphalt. Samantha and Ben are both working on their pedaling skills....Samantha is doing a great job! And Ben is getting better and better at balancing:) James just hangs out with mom and tries to not be too hot!

Little did we know before moving to the east coast that there would be great beach experiences for our family! I never knew the Jersey shore was so close to Philly, nor did I know that the Atlantic Ocean was so warm. Sam took the kids for the first time while I was at Serenity's wedding, so I made sure we went again right away so I could have a chance to see it! A bunch of people from our ward actually did a beach day together so it was super fun!

Sam trying to catch a seagull...he is pretty intense eh?

Just playing with the settings on our camera....pretty bright spiderman boogie board eh?

LucyMae was being brave!

Funny little creatures...this one was dead...they're all over the beach, and alive in the water:)

Isn't it gorgeous!?

I took the kids to a free concert at the Mann Center..."the Black Violin". It was cool, but too loud and not very good acoustic balance....fun to go there though! and for a free concert:)

This is about how interested they were....

Samantha and James have a special little bond! I think they are kindred spirits in a lot of ways....and it sure is funny trying to get a normal smile out of Samantha for a picture...she just can't do it if someone is watching.

She sure does like lovin' on her brother:)

We made our first family trip to the Smith Playground and Playhouse....yet another awesome free thing to do in Philly! We obviously LOVED this giant wooden slide....keep in mind as you see how many pictures I put on here that this is for ME - my record keeping and I like all the pictures:)

I love Samantha's face in the one below....she didn't really like being on there with LucyMae...nor did Ben....just not as good at balancing yet, and LucyMae wanted to be crazy:)

Tire swings are the best!

But this swing was pretty dang awesome too!

But apparently Samantha didn't like that one very much either, so she let this other little boy take her place.....

...while she did her own swinging:)

Can I just say that I LOVE the diversity that my kids are getting to grow up in for a bit.....coming from Utah I didn't have a lot of non-white friends and always felt a little jipped...I am kind of enjoying that we are the minority out here:)

Such a cool playground huh? And then we drove around Fairmount Park for a bit....lots of geese and my kids love to chase geese...

We have lots of strange dress-up moments in our house...this is just one of the awesome ones:)

And one of the highlights of our month was taking the kids to a children's theme park - with everything kids' size! It was the reward for LucyMae finishing her "100 reading lessons", and the kids earned about $30 for our Family Fun Jar from doing their daily jobs.

This was LucyMae's first time on a real ride! She was super excited b/c she was the only kid tall enough for this ride. I love this ride, but Sam gets sick on it, so I got to go with her. It was fun to see her excitement overcome her fear. She was definitely nervous, but so excited that she just did it! And of course she loved it!

There will never be another FIRST time seeing and riding on all these rides. These kids were in HEAVEN!!! They never knew such fun existed...but...now they know....

Sam's first and ONLY attempt to go on a spinny ride with the kids...he almost puked...the spinny rides are mine from now on...:)

The first roller-coaster ride...

And then the BIG roller coaster....up, up, up....LucyMae was the only one tall enough for this one too...she was excited. But half way through the ride, after I had been laughing and screaming, I looked over at her and she had this look of hal-terror, half-"I think I like this", "what did I get myself into?" on her face. She did get brave again after lunch and do it again...and then she wanted to do it over and over and over again!

The log ride was fun...but also kind of boring...:)

LucyMae getting brave again...she loves physical thrills:)

Big girl in a little truck.....

Such concentration on the  most boring ride I've ever seen...

I love the pure, unadulterated joy on Ben's face here....Samantha, on the other hand looks upset for some reason...maybe that's why Ben's face is gleeful...

Bumper Cars! I think this one was more fun for mom and dad than the kids...

And I LOVE these kind of spinny rides....Sam, on the other hand, does NOT! So I get to go on these with the kids:)

Catching the last few rides before the park closes...we stayed til the better end...

We also made a few trips to the zoo:) We've loved having our zoo pass since living here...even James is smiling about it!

The zoo here has this fun slide/playground thing that the kids love over and over and over again...

We took a nice family walk in Valley Forge....so many beautiful things to see here!

Nice way to cool off...and Sam being the crazy dad these kids love!

The Schuylkill River running through the park...so beautiful!

Ben had to get in on the action of James' first bottle...in his words "I'm a big brother to James", which essentially means "leave me alone, I got this".

My crazy little girls! So cute and growing up so fast!

Some awesome friends, the Woolleys, let us tag along to the aquarium with them...our kids are good friends so it makes for a fun day all around!

I love watching my kids when they are fascinated with something new like this....

James was such a little trooper...and doesn't that bug-bite in the middle of his forehead look miserable? I would hate to be a baby and not be able to scratch it!

The shark-tank...I love that shot above...and I love the kids' faces in the one below...

The view of Philly from across the river at the aquarium in Camden, NJ - one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S....glad we were there in the middle of the day...

Sitting up in the bumbo...this kid is growing up way too fast! But he is my smallest baby too...so I'm appreciating that he is still so snuggable!

A temple trip to DC! We got a hotel room and I did a session on Friday night and Sam did one Saturday morning. I love that our kids are going to remember (at least they better!) taking trips to the temple...to this temple....I hope that stands out as a distinct memory for them...

After the temple on Saturday we spent the day seeing a few sights. We started with Arlington National Cemetery. A cool place to visit...but maybe not the best place to visit on a blazing hot and humid day with 4 ornery, hungry and thirsty kids saying "I'm too tired"...and one hot and ornery mom...I HATE heat and humidity! But it too will be a good memory for our kids to have right?

And then we hit the Lincoln Memorial. Kids loved this one. And Ben nearly died climbing around on the steps...but luckily a total stranger saved his life as he almost fell off one of those things on the side of the stairs...thank you stranger!

Well, that pretty much sums up our hot and humid month here...Not a lot of details in between the fun. Just a lot of violin practicing, playing outside, sweating, cleaning up spit-up (poor little James and his reflux), taking care of a HUGE yard (go Sam!), and having fun.