Summer Fun

These I took on August 1.  Just another fun evening in the backyard.  The kids always LOVE it when PC or I jump with them.  Shortcake loved standing on her climber/slide and yelling at everyone on the tramp!  She yells, "DA-Dool!" We still don't know what that means, but she says it a LOT!

 After we drop Tink off at the high school, we have about an hour to kill until we need to pick her up.  We sometimes stop at the park.  Shortcake would stay in the swing the whole time and be happy about that!

On August 8, we had another concert in the park in our neighborhood.  They had hula hoops out, which my kids absolutely loved.  It was great because a lot of their friends were there with them.  Goofy thought he was the coolest because he could run and do the hula hoop at the same time.  It was pretty awesome!

And we love any time we get to see cousins! Especially baby cousins!

Roller Skating

 Aunt Maggie was able to stay a few extra days after the reunion, so we took all our kids to Skate City one day.  Her kids had never skated before, so it took them a little while to get the hang of it, but they all had fun in the end.  And we stopped for ice cream afterwards as well.

Tink tried to help Uncle Johnny, but he held onto her arm so hard she couldn't go too far. It was sweet though.  

Bucko helped his cousin up after she fell.  It was so sweet how he held her hand and skated with her for a while until she was ok.  Love these kids!

Dirty Dash

Tink and I ran in the Dirty Dash this past weekend.  It was so much fun, but Tink bruised her tailbone at the end of the slop-n-slide.  She had a hard time walking after that.  She walked for about a half mile, then I carried her on my back for another half mile.  We found a worker who drove us in his truck.  He let us stop at the mud obstacles so we could still get those in.  We had a lot of fun and I would love to do it again!

Back to School

School started back up August 1st.  Here are their first day of school pictures.  Shortcake had to have her picture taken too.

Tink is in 8th grade this year.  I have to run her to the high school every day for geometry, as they do not offer it at the middle school.  She is also running cross country this year.
Bucko is in 5th grade, so the top dogs at the elementary school.  I can't believe he will be in middle school next year!
Minnie is in 3rd grade, and has Thomas's old third grade teacher who we love!
Goofy is in 1st grade and growing up too fast!
Shortcake and I are having fun during the days, but it is quite a bit quieter than we are used to!

Wedding

It was so great to have the wedding in the Denver temple.  Five of the Coleman siblings have been married/sealed in the same room in the Denver temple.  That was pretty cool.  And it was so nice to have everyone there.

This is my favorite picture!

The Coleman crew

Wedding couple with all the grand-kids (their nieces and nephews)

All the Coleman ladies, plus the wedding couple

I stopped with the kids at Wendy's on the way home.  We needed a snack, so we all got Frosty's.  This was not a great idea for Shortcake.  I even got her a Frosty milkshake, thinking that would make it less messy for her, but with  no adult to help her, she went crazy.  What a cute mess, though!

Family Reunion

The end of July brought the Coleman family reunion to town. It was so great to spend time with family.  Nana's brother and his wife were even able to come in for it and that was a real treat!  We stayed busy with lots of activities and fun.

 Shortcake loved having baby cousins around!!

 We went to the park one day and had lots of fun.  The kids loved the swings!

 Afternoons brought some down time, to include naps!

We even had a wedding on Saturday and we were able to throw a bridal shower Friday night at our house.  It was lots of fun, and so great to get to know our new sister-in-law better.  We love her!

Girls Camp

Girls Camp was amazing!  We had rain, hail, wet sleeping bags, lots of crafts, and lots of fun!

Fireworks

We had fireworks this year for the 4th of July!  It was so nice.  They did a great fireworks show in our neighborhood on the 3rd.  I had class that night, but met up with PC, the kids, and Nana and Papa to watch the fireworks.  I had on a skirt though, and it was chilly (in the 50's) and misting.
For the 4th, we had some family over.  Shortcake loved her baby cousin.  It was nice to just relax and enjoy each others company.

 We "babysat" our neighbor's/friend's two hamsters for them that weekend as well.  Shortcake loved them. One of them warmed up to us and came out and played the last night we had them.  The kids loved having them.  I'm still not sure I'm ready for a pet though.

 I just love it when Shortcake sits and reads with one of her older siblings.  Tink has really helped out a lot with Shortcake, and they get along really well together.

 I signed up to be a House Party host and got selected for the Hasbro game night. They sent me three brand new games to try out for free.  We had a party with a few friends and had a lot of fun playing them.  My favorite was the new Catch Phrase.  It has eras to pick from and uses words from that specified era.  I have also had a blast with Bop It Beats.  So far, no one has beat my high score.  Simon Swipe is fun, and thankfully they put a volume button on that one!  

Pirates Cove

Next summer, I am going to make sure I am having my school break when my kids do.  I felt like I didn't get to do a lot of fun things with them this summer because I was always needing to do my homework.  I did take them to the pool a few times.  We had a very mild summer with lots of rain, so I didn't feel too bad about not going almost every day.  One day at the end of June, though, we went up to Pirates Cove for the day with friends.  We had a blast! Though we all got a little sunburned, we had a blast and were there for over six hours!  The Lazy River was my favorite.  Tink loved going down all the water slides with her friend.

 Shortcake loved the spray park part.  She would go through one and clap every time.  She started putting her face right into the ones that sprayed up from the ground.  She would get a face full and laugh so hard.  She is just the funnest kid!

Camping

Back in June, we went camping with Nana, Papa, and Johnny.  We had a great time.  The weather was perfect, and we had the best camping spot possible.  We had booked a place right by the lake, which was beautiful but without shade.  Papa talked to some people and they were able to let us have this very special, secluded spot in the woods.  It had a little creek that went through it and no one could even see our site.  The shade was very nice and the kids had so much fun exploring.  The girls loved hiding from the boys, and as long as they didn't go too far, they were able to roam as they pleased.

 This was our first campsite. There were ducks on the lake and it was gorgeous, but right in the sun. The bugs were out and biting by the lake as well.

 There was another lake we could get to from the site where we ended up.  I just like this picture of me and Shortcake.

 This is the little creek that went through the camp.  The boys loved having water close by.

 PC brought his hammock.  What is a camping trip without some relaxing in the hammock?

 And Papa serenaded us with his guitar.  Minnie loved it and would applaud after every song.  I think Papa liked it too.

We made cowboy dinners for dinner.  They were really tasty.  And of course, Nana brought all the fixin's for s'mores.  

 

Everyone helped clear the site when we were done.  And I do mean everyone.  It was a great trip!

Oh! I forgot to mention, there was a bear too!  Nana was the only one who heard it (well, maybe Thomas too.  He swears he heard it.) but it got into the big trash bin by the port-a-john we used.  Someone didn't lock down the bear bar and he stood on one side, opened the top of the bin, and dug through for treasures.  It was a mess the next morning!