Week #3

Aside from celebrating the Fourth, our third week of summer was full of fun activities.  We started off the week with a long playdate with friends who were visiting from Africa.  Lizzie was especially excited to see her friend, Maeve.

Our attempt to get a group shot of the kiddos:

Our attempt to get a decent picture of the moms (not such an easy task when the photographers are a bunch of kids and mine was just using my phone):

We finished off the week with a day-long playdate with some friends.  Liz went to one house and the little girls and I went to another and we all had a fabulous time.  The little ones and I checked out the newly-opened Jones Point Park.  We especially liked the butterfly garden (though Ellie was a little afraid of the bunches of butterflies initially).  The playground area has no shade we didn't linger long (maybe more of a fall and spring play area).  Back at Jessica's house the kids played in the sprinkler and with the water table.  The shot below was taken right after Ellie accidentally poured water on Lainey's head (her open water bottle was in her hand when she reached up to pull down the stroller shade).

 Ellie & her friend, Maeve (we saw the only two Maeves we know in the whole world in the same week):

This last week we also went to the movies (Yogi Bear) and Pirates Cove water park.  Lizzie went to her Creative Friends club and on Friday night, just before dinner time our power went out (along with most of our neighborhood).  As soon as Andrew finished reporting the outage, we ushered the kids into the shower, and then off the dinner at Cafe Rio.  I was impressed to see that Dominion Power had already arrived to fix the problem before we had even left for dinner (within half an hour of Andrew's call to them).  By the time we returned a couple hours later our power was back on.  Thank goodness.

Our Fourth

We started our day with patriotic pancakes (though our "red" and "blue" were very pastel).  Liz arranged them on a tray to look like a flag and added white stars with whipped cream.

Liz really enjoyed the spray whip cream.  She kept giving herself mustaches and licking them off.

 After breakfast we tried to make patriotic tie-dye shirts using sharpies and rubbing alcohol and this tutorial.

The shirts looked really cool until we ran them through the wash to set the colors.  Most of the red/pink washed away and left only reddish-brown lines (some blue faded too).  We tried again and let them air dry.  This time the pink stayed wherever the red marker had bled, but the red lines again faded to brown.  In the end we deemed the shirts too unsightly to wear and trashed them, but the kids had fun with our attempt and I might try once more with other colors.

Since it was a crazy hot day we don't have regular access to a swimming pool we decided to stay in until it was firework time.  The kids spent time playing with their toys and watching t.v.  They also played with Jello "sensory bin." 

So far we have only done rice, noodle, and cloud dough bins.  They're nice because they can be used over and over (until the kids have spilled so much on the floor that there's not enough left in the bin to make playing worthwhile).  The Jello was a one time use, but fun.

 When I made it I embedded various little toys (pre-washed, of course).

 The girls got to dig them out and eat the Jello at the same time.

In the late afternoon we went to a barbecue at a friends house (and were amazed at their delicious and extensive spread), then joined them at a Pentagon parking lot to watch the national firework show.

 

Lainey was tired and a little grumpy.  She didn't like the load noises the fireworks made.

Liz, on the other hand, love them, exclaiming, "Isn't it magical!"  She watched most of the show from the roof of our van (it was the first time she has been allowed to climb up which I'm sure added to the magic of the night).

Elles Belles

Ahhh, the joy of edible jewelry.

Week #2

Liz spent a big chunk of her second summer week at Vacation Bible School, but still had time for a playdate, her "mother's helper" job, and play time with her sisters.  I tried to make the time Lizzie was gone, fun for the little girls too.  One day we went to open play time at a semi-local gym.  Ellie's favorite was the trampoline.  For Lainey it was a tie between the tramp and the rings.

This last week the girls also got haircuts.  It was Lainey's second and Ellie's first.  Gabrielle did wonderful.  I was surprised by how still she sat.  Alaina was fine after I promised that she would be able to keep her hair "long like Rapunzel's" as per her request.

I intended to do a science experiment with the kids every day, but this is the first one we've gotten to (and we watched it all week).  The girls loved seeing the leaves change colors.  I need to get a hold of some white carnations for round two.

We had some nice afternoons at home and an evening barbecue with friends.  Also, I enjoyed attending one of my book groups, a baby shower, and a family birthday party (the last two with Liz in tow).

 One evening the girls gave everyone massages (the karate chop to your back kind).

Thursday evening Lainey started to run a temperature.  Needless to say, we stayed home Friday.  Lainey was sick enough that she asked if she could take a nap and then actually fell asleep.  In the afternoon Lainey "wrote" notes to everyone in the family, saying she was doing it so people would know that she loves them.  Later she decided that Drew's love note was actually a birthday card and asked us all to sing "Happy Birthday" to him at dinner.  Since it was such a sweet request and she was sick earlier we indulged her.  I stuck a candle in Drew's tortellini and Alaina helped him blow it out.

Friday was the hottest June day on record (142 years of records) which helped set the stage for the massive and destructive thunder storm that hit later that night.  It downed trees, flooded roads, left millions without power, and resulted in multiple deaths.   The kids slept through the whole thing, but Andrew and I sat on our bed and watched the amazing lightening (despite official warnings to stay away from windows).  I'd never seen anything like it.  The entire sky lit up.  It was like someone was flipping a light switch off and on in quick succession.  We were fortunate--our power stayed on.  Also, Saturday morning we were relieved to see that our trees were in place and our cars and home had not suffered any damage.  More about our area's derecho here and here.

More camping pictures from my friend's cameras

 Around the campfire:

The boys show Lainey a bug:

Participating in various camp activities (laser tag, golf, animal show, wagon ride, & the bounce pillow):