Bridging, Blueberries, a (Half) Birthday, and the BEACH!

Leah recently had her Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony and End of Year party, and our dear Daisy is now a Brownie!   The girls chose to have their celebration at Smith Hollow Farm and went horseback riding before they bridged.  Siblings were invited to ride, too, and it was a fun evening for everyone:

Here's our little Peanut, walking across the bridge and officially becoming a Brownie:

Since families were included, Leah's best friend, Connor, was there to celebrate his older sister (who is in Leah's Girl Scout troop).  These two are the cutest friends, and have such a sweet friendship:

This next picture is completely unstaged and melts my heart.  Smith Hollow Farm is the site of many weddings/receptions, and Leah and Connor independently posed under this sign.  We'll use this picture at their wedding in about 20 years:

Since we're talking about farms, I forgot to include these pictures in last month's recap.  We recently returned to Lazy 5 Ranch and fed the animals as we drove through the safari tour.  This is such a fun place to visit, and always provides entertainment and giggles for us:

This emu stuck his head/neck waaaayyy inside the car!

I loved this mama/baby, but Mark said that we couldn't bring home a pig for a pet!

Check out the horns on this guy!

Llama, Llama!

The giraffes were incredibly gentle, and the kids fed them by standing up in our car and poking their heads through our sunroof:

 This picture makes me laugh.  Sometimes, animal breath can be a little stinky! 

The longhorns were really neat, too:

We concluded our visit to Lazy 5 by walking around the petting zoo.  It was a such a great day!

July also means blueberry season here, and we went berry picking at Blueberry Hill last week.  This is one of my favorite summer activities, and we came home with buckets of plump, ripe berries:

Someone celebrated her half birthday on Independence Day, so we used some of our fresh blueberries to make a festive treat.  These blueberry-strawberry cupcakes were the perfect patriotic dessert to celebrate our 7 1/2 year old!  

We celebrated the 4th with an all-American (porch) picnic and sparklers, and proudly donned our red, white, and blue:

And how lucky we were to begin the month of July at the beach!  We had a wonderful time at our annual Topsail Island beach vacation with family: 

Cousins under 40 (One of us won't make the cut next year!)

L&L with Danielle and Laura.

The kids had a blast catching minnows with this net, and ended up with quite a few in their bucket!

Topsail means quiet beaches, warm water, games on the deck, and lots of snuggles & family time:

Leah and Uncle Jef's dog, Toby, have been best friends for years!

Happy July!