August re cap

After July's structure, it was nice to have a laid back August.  Among other things, we had playdates and pajama's days, picked peaches, visited a local bounce house and a trampoline park, went to water parks, hiked to a waterfall, completed the National Gallery of Art's art appreciation classes, toured Mt. Vernon, attended/ran the Activity Girls day camp, and started our back-to-school preparations.  By the end of the month I wished we still had another couple weeks because there were still so many things I wanted to do with the girls.  I was super sad when school started.

Lizzie blowing bubbles for Emma and Pepper (it was pretty adorable):

 Tax free weekend/back-to-school shopping: we went a little crazy with the shoes.  We came away with 5 pairs for Drew, 4 for me, 5 for Liz, and 2 each for Lainey and Ellie.  It was a bit chaotic and I think Drew was tiring of it in the end.  At Target I let Emma out of the shopping cart because she was fussing and she proceeded to pull boxes of shoes off the shelf.  Drew put her back in the cart and as soon as she got down on her hands and knees to clean up the mess, Lainey climbed up on her back.  Ah, the joys of fatherhood.  (Sidnote: both Lainey and Ellie were wearing Halloween costumes, a witch and cat.)

 We finally let Emma cry it out (in the middle of) one night.  Ahh, nights are so much better now.  Though the days are increasingly more difficult since she has started to climb.

 

 Peach picking with friends: the girls enjoyed themselves, though we learned that Lainey and Lizzie's skin is irritated by peach fuzz.  Ellie was very excited about soft the fruit was.  She pretended that they were stuffed animals and when we got home she kept hiding them so that they could be "stuffed animals" for her stuffed animals.

  

 Legos were a big part of our summer, but usually we played at home.  .  .  . 

 Hike to a waterfall in Shenandoah: it was a pleasant hike that all the girls were able to complete.  Only gliches were that Lainey was very afraid that we would encountered a bear and Ellie wet her pants.

2 days of Activity Girls Camp: we did it with another ward and it went very well.  The classes included modesty, cupcake decorating, positive attitude, friendships, scriptures, and music/dancing.  We found teachers for the mini classes instead of teaching them ourselves and the teachers were all wonderful.  It meant that camp, while more complicated this year than last year was so much easier to run (it also helped that we had a nursery for our kids and the children of the instructors).  The Activity girls also got to play get-to-know you and icebreaker games, decorate t-shirts, make friendship braclets, serve lunch to the sister missionaries, decorate cupcakes, and go swimming.  I feel like it was a great success and can't wait to plan another one for next summer.