Our first week of summer kicked off with Gymnastics Day Camp! The girls had a blast. The last day they had a short performance to the song 'Try Everything' from Zootopia, which they love. They even got to use the rhythm wands which they also love. It was lots of fun!
Saturday the girls and I headed out to an adventure while daddy was at golf. We found Barhart Beach, which we've never been to. The weather was cool and rainy but we weren't there for the sand and sun anyway - we were looking for the sand art craft offered by the Barnhart Nature Center. The girls made red, white, and blue flag art with sand and enjoyed the little project and time out of the house. Afterward we headed to the mall to buy daddy his birthday present and spent a few minutes at the arcade too. It was a fun day!
When we arrived home we found a little garter snake in our driveway, trying to get into our garage. I am terrified of these harmless creatures, but don't want the girls to be, because it's mostly just very silly. I tried to approach the snake to scare it off, but that only made it want to enter the garage more, as evidenced by it trying to climb the wall of the door. I tried to scare it off from the inside too, but that didn't work. I got out a rake, and tried to be brave. But honestly, the climbing of the garage door was just too much for me. Thankfully the neighbors were outside chopping wood so I called over Noah and asked for his help. Thank goodness for teenage boys! Ashton came over too, who apparently loves snakes, and he held the little, wiggly pest for a while in our lawn so the girls could take a closer look. They were both pretty much not interested though, and Claire quite scared. Later in the day when I was cleaning out our rhubarb patch I noticed a snake skin left behind. Yikes! I've asked daddy to buy some snake-away so we be startled like this again!
Sunday, after meeting our new pastor at Church, we went to Canton and spent a few hours at Donna and Shaun's 4th of July BBQ. While we missed seeing Payton and Kelsy the girls had fun playing with all of their fun lawn toys and Claire especially loved the pool! We had a sleepover at Grammie and Pa's afterward and Pa took them to the hot tub, which they also enjoyed.
Stella got quiet the shiner at the party playing around the tire swing. We always tell her though, that bruises are the sign of a fun childhood!
Monday afternoon we met up with family at Springs Park in Massena for a picnic lunch with Great Grandpa. It was nice seeing him enjoying himself outside in the summer warmth. And this holiday weekend brought a very special treat - Uncle Hank, Haley and Skye visiting from SC!
Aunt MJ and Uncle Neil spent a few days in NH/ME over the long weekend and hosted us all for a delicious lobster feed. I'm the only one in the family who really loves to eat lobster, but we all enjoyed the family time together! Afterward we swam in Lorri's pool and on the way over Stella told me about what a wonderful weekend we had listing off all of the things we've done. It's so nice knowing they are having fun!
We are making some efforts to keep reading throughout the summer. Stella is continuing to do a great job and really amazes us with her ability to (silently) sound out words. Before heading back to NY today we took a few minutes to read on the playground with Ronald!
