Lately- July

It's no secret that I love summer the mostest most most. Here's a recap of some of the sunny moments from July that were captured with my phone camera. 

A fun little 4th of July bike parade that June's friend puts on each year. It was a big turn out this time!

My parents were here visiting the 4th of July weekend as well and here were a couple photos that I didn't have in that festive post:

Haben, Winta, and I learned how to do the braid extensions! So Haben practiced on Hazel and we gave her some rainbow hair!

I'm jumping ahead here, but she had the braids in for a couple weeks or so and then we took them out and she had awesome, poofy hair.

I decided to have a Shirley Temple night for fun. So we made and drank Shirley Temple drinks and then watched a Shirley Temple movie. We chose "The Little Princess" and the girls were revited the whole time! To make a Shirley temple drink you simple mix lemon lime soda with cherry grenadine syrup. I also like to add some vanilla syrup as well. ;)

July was the month for June and Hazel to have swimming lessons!

Hazel and friend Davis living their "best life." (and getting some more photos in for that wedding slide show that we're going to make in 18 years.)

For like a week straight, Johnny demanded he wear this Goofy hat every day, backwards.

We got invited on a group date on someone else's boat! Buck got to try wake surfing for the first time too!

Fun times at the dentist.

But not for me.... but in my defense this was not a result of not brushing or flossing my teeth, of which I do religiously. This was from a dentist, many years ago, not filling a cavity right and that eventually lead to a root canal that was also not done correctly and now another root canal that I am hoping was, finally, done correctly. (And so, okay I guess when I trace this back to the beginning that cavity was a result of probably not brushing enough hahah.)

Buck's parents took June out for birthday dinner and then shopping!

And birthday Sunday dinner!

Our neighbors opened up the first shave ice shack in our city! And Winta and Haben got jobs there!

Lots of morning bed thieves in this house.

June loves to bake. She made these mini pies.

Costco cuties.

And a couple cute little doctors.

Johnny's first professional hair cut!

I had gotten these funny photo marshmallows for Buck for Father's day but they got lost in the mail and ended up showing up a month late.

Roasting them was funny and weird....

I took my little Minty Rose on a date to meet Elsa and Anna! She got to sing with them, have treats and do a craft as well.

The cutest matching dresses made by my sister. One was originally June and the other my niece Ginny's, but now they fit Hazel and Rose.

Johnny is a wild man! But I can't help but love him to smithereens!

And, as always, a feature of my beloved cats. Guys, I really love them so much.

I also love all animals. There was a nest by our front door and I became far too invested in the little family. I would spend time outside observing the nature and patterns of the mom and her way of mothering. I knew what her different sounds meant and what bugs she was feeding them and the places she would perch at different times of the day. I also got the ladder out a few times to take some peeks and show the kids too. And when the babies started plopping out of the nest, I maybe put them back up a few times. And maybe I held them for a long while and thought for a second about making them my pets.

You know what I don't love, however? Mice that get into the house.

So Buck and I locked ourselves in the study room trying to catch it while the kids all pressed their faces to the glass door, trying to watch the excitement.

That mouse! It was SO FAST and sneaky and would seriously disappear or turn invisible at certain times. We even caught it three different times because it kept getting away! I discovered that I am useless in this kind of situation. I just kept screaming and jumping. I was surprised because when I've been outside I haven't been scared at all to catch them. But there was something too startling about being shut into a room with the scurrying little thing popping out of corners and climbing up computer cords.

While on the topic of animals, for any of you animal haters out there, may Johnny inspire you. We stopped by the animal farm one day and he was all scared and wouldn't even touch the plastic, fake cow. He'd coil back his hand and scream with fear. So what did I do? I forced him on a pony. His body went stiff in protest and I tried to bedn his legs and get his bottom on the saddle. He screamed and went red faced! But a minute later as the horse started to walk, he calmed down and by the end of the ride he was holding on by himself and smiling! And after the ride was over he even pet the horse's muzzle and said, "Tant you horsie!"

A birthday picnic for Giannina!

 Playing with my vintage Polly Pockets

 
And of course, some boating photos:

 
And that's a wrap! Sadly. Oh how I wish that July could last forever!  

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