She finished today!

Perfect for my collection!

Shake!

 

Busy Bee on Liatrus

Big Brother, Little Brother

This year little brother wanted to participate in the Egg Toss game.  He thought it was great to toss that egg at his big brother! It was an absolutely beautiful, picture perfect, day at 'The Farm' yesterday for the reunion, and I got some great pictures.  For so many reasons, this is my very favorite.

Family Reunion

And, this is only a few of them...we have so lucky to have such a huge family!  :-)

'Pop a Squat'

What a great find!  We were starving after the track meet, and I saw an empty parking spot in front of this street vendor's cart named Danny's.  We debated for a minute or two, but then decided to give them a try.  Boy, are we glad that we did.  The girls had super yummy grilled hot dogs, (They will make them any which way you want!) and I had one of the best burgers that I have eaten in a while.  They are located on the 'Green Mall' in Brunswick, which is a great little park to enjoy a picnic, complete with a seagull to toss extra food to!  

A Strong Finish & A New Personal Record

The kiddos have gotten so much better at pacing themselves that they can 'fight' off challengers coming down the backstretch to the finish line!

Her Triple Jump efforts today ended with a massive leap of 29 feet 2 inches!

They have a new baby!

Huh. Who knew?!

I was so surprised when we saw these stations while traveling through Connecticut last spring.

Well, we were driving through nearby Norway this afternoon, and look what we found.  

Imagine that.  We have them available locally!

Sisters

Emily's Run 5k

This morning we completed the second race in the LA Triple Crown Series.  Everyone was there to have a good time, and we did. The kiddos ran very well and had great stories to share afterwards, and I am a little bit closer to my goal of running a 5k in less than 30 minutes.

The best part of this race were the firetrucks spraying water on the course and at the finish line!

Paris Hill Founder's Day 2014

We look forward to this Saturday all year long!  It's the only time we get to visit all of our favorite cars...

And, of course, our annual tradition... 

When did they get bigger than the 'Gone with the Wind' carriage?!!

What a beautiful evening for a ride!

The temperatures cooled off this evening, so the girls and I packed up our bikes and headed up to Paris Hill.  The little village is getting ready for their Founder's Day celebration this weekend, so all the yards are decked out in flowers and perfectly manicured.  We rode around and around, saying, "Hi!" to friendly neighbors, chit-chatting with each other, taking pictures of the sights and each other, and enjoying a gorgeous sunset.  We were having so much fun that when the church bell tolled 8 o'clock, we really wished that we could keep riding.  The girls were shocked when I checked my gps and discovered that we had ridden more than 8 miles!

Creative Architect in the Family

Cute rig!

First Solo Project

As her teacher, I am super proud of her!  She stitched this lemon from start to finish with absolutely no help from me at all.

She did a great job, and best of all, she's already picked out another pattern and started stitching again!

Keets

Our female guinea hen has been missing for a few weeks, so we were afraid that she had gotten eaten by a predator.  I didn't want to give the kiddos false hopes, but I was really hoping that this day would come.  And it did.  This morning she came out of the bushes with a whole bunch of little keets tagging along behind her!

There's always a 'Plan B'...

This evening we were planning on biking at a course in Bethel, but we got held up in-town, so we couldn't get there in time.  Instead, we had Dad drop us off at the end of Old Sumner Road, and we biked our way home.  We had a great time laughing and racing each other on the downhills; and, laughing at each other as we struggled up all the hills!  It was challenging, but those are the rides that feel the best when we get home.

Their first time exploring the trails...

Harrison Run by the Lake 5k

Every Wednesday my neighbor, her little girl, and I meet in the evening for a 3 mile run.  She asked me if this week I would like to run a race instead.  My answer? "Absolutely!"  It's so much more fun to do a workout with a big group of runners & friends.  I invited my boss along as well because she had never run a 5k race before!  (Even though she is an avid runner and ran 2 half-marathons last year.)  I maintained my usual race time despite extreme heat, humidity, and hills, although I do wish that I had pulled out the phone camera and captured the rainbow that we ran towards at the finish line.  It was amazing!  My friends did great & my boss even won her age group!  Pushing that heavy stroller up all the hills didn't slow my neighbor down much and she was satisfied with her time.  

The best part was that every runner received a whoopee pie as a reward.  We sure enjoyed those!

 

Catalpa Tree in Full Bloom

It must have been a fun weekend...

Just one more adventure, please!

This morning we packed up our campsite and headed out, but before we left we rented kayaks and a canoe for a quick trip out on Natanis Pond.

We found some mud!

The older kiddos and I headed out on the trails on our bikes this afternoon.

Thanks to the recent rains, there were plenty of deep mud puddles to play in!

Celebrating Independence Day

We're here!

Yup.  Those are excited faces! The boys, my husband, and I know what a wonderful place Natanis Point is, but it's the girls' first time camping here and they are looking forward to a great weekend playing in the Great North Woods.

Everywhere we go...

Our animal loving family finds a critter to love on!

Hot & Muggy Day

But, we found a nice, cool spot to enjoy lunch, a delicious summer salad from Maurice Restaurant, at Snow Falls!