I can't believe it's the last day of July...This month has flown by! We have had such a nice rhythm of activities, with a couple of weeks of morning camps for the kids, pool time in the afternoons, play dates with friends, and a trip to Pennsylvania/Daddy's birthday sprinkled in at the end. Here are some of our July highlights:
Luke returned to U.K. Elite Soccer Camp, which is held at our elementary school each summer. He has gone for several years and loves this week-long morning camp. Leah also decided to attend soccer camp for the first time, and I was delighted to have both kids there! This year, the weather was incredibly hot... it was in the mid to high 90's all week, and I was very anxious about my babies being outside running around in the heat for three hours each day. However, L&L were all smiles, and even received "double popsicles" on the really hot days! Soccer camp was a hit for everyone, and was a great first experience for Leah, who absolutely wowed her coaches with her skills and positive attitude:
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| Oak Ridge U.K. Elite Soccer Camp 2017. |
Another week in July consisted of Lego Robotics Camp for Luke at the Greensboro Science Center. The theme this year was "Shark Survival" (please note his adorable coordinating attire), and Luke was once again thrilled to have his two best friends in his programming class.
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| Luke and Aiden giving their demo of the robot that they programmed/created. |
Leah's Science Center camp theme was "Icky, Sticky Science", and Peanut came home each day bubbling with details about all of the fun experiments that she did in her class. We carpooled with our friends, and after camp was over on Friday, we took the kids out to lunch at Cugino Forno (a new, authentic Neapolitan pizza place in town). The chefs let our kiddos make their own pizza, and they watched their creation bake in the 800-degree oven from Italy!
Another highlight of Luke's month was going to see Despicable Me 3 at the cinema (yes, that's what my kids call it) with Aiden. These best friends have their own minion language and were in their element at this movie.
Leah has had her share of play dates this month, too, and this special day with her buddy was bittersweet, as his family moved to Virginia the next week. We will miss this sweet friend and are thankful for a great year in kindergarten/Chess Club with Isaac:
Mimi and Gawa stopped by and spent the night at our house on their way back from the beach midway through the month. No visit is complete without fishing at our neighborhood lake for Gawa (who the kids declare is an "expert fisherman"), and this time, Leah was the one with the biggest catch!
We also went to a Winston-Salem Dash game that evening, and enjoyed a cooler evening at the ballpark!
We've spent many afternoons at the pool, and this summer deserves special note as it is the first time that I have been comfortable enough to read a book while my children swim. Parents of young children understand what a momentous milestone this is... After years of being within arms' reach of toddlers/preschoolers in the water and eyes on my little swimmers at all times, we have come a long way! The kids love swimming with their friends at the pool and it's been a July favorite of ours.
Last week, our family also participated in "Quest for the Golden Deac", an alumni scavenger hunt at Wake Forest. This was such a fun evening on campus, and we won 4th place for our successful completion of the questions and creativity in posing for a picture which epitomized "Go Deacs!"
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| We may have snuck onto the WFU practice football field for this one! |
Our July trip to Pennsylvania included some familiar favorites as well as several new adventures. We returned to Indian Echo Caverns, where both kids adore gem mining, and this was Leah's first time to tour the vast, underground caverns:
We also visited the Amish House and Farm in Lancaster. This was an adorable, idyllic and educational place. We learned so much about Amish culture, and the kids were VERY well behaved for the informative 1+ hr tour through the Amish house... Thankfully, there were lots of interactive outdoor exhibits as well, and we really enjoyed touring the grounds:
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| This silly racing game in the barn had Luke and Leah giggling uncontrollably! |
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| Amish Buggy. |
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| Feeding the goats on the farm. |
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| Amish children's scooters. |
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| The Scooter Run was one of their favorite things! |
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| Leah takes a front row seat in the Amish One Room School House. |
Our family also went tubing for the first time while in PA. This was a blast, and we will definitely repeat this activity soon. We didn't have our cameras/phones with us during our 1.5 hour ride down the creek in our tubes, which is just as well, since Luke & I came within 12 inches of a black snake who was hanging out in a tree... and I screamed like a little girl. Leah and Daddy are convinced that we made the whole thing up, but some things are just better left unphotographed and hopefully erased from our memories SOON! The rest of our tubing experience was much less eventful, and we loved it!
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| Getting ready to go tubing! |
Yesterday was Mark's birthday, and we had the perfect summer family day celebrating our birthday boy: Sunday School & church, going out to lunch, bike rides, playing at the park, picnic dinner on the porch, and a bonfire after the kids went to bed (Shh- Don't tell them!)... Life is good!
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| Love her party hat! |
As you can see, our July has full of summer fun, and we still have four weeks before school starts to pack in our August adventures!
