July Flew By!

We started the month with a drive up to Baltimore.  We met friends for breakfast at a funky diner.  Callie was a dear friend to both Ryan and I at OBU.  It was great to see her and spend time getting to know her family!

After breakfast, we headed to our appointment for the Compassion Experience.  If you have the opportunity to participate in this event, we highly recommend it.  

The kids and I spent one morning at the Native American Museum.

Helping out at the Capitol Area Food Bank garden.  Hillary, the resident gardener, is gracious to find jobs for my crew that allow us to come and get our hands dirty while talking about hunger issues.

We love the library, especially when we get to share some of our favorite books with friends!

Mousie.  As loved as ever.

We've loved having a pass to our neighborhood pool this summer!  It's always fun to meet up with friends

I'm always still amazed when things actually grow from seeds we plant.  The kids and I haven't had great success with our community garden plot this year, but the lemon cucumbers and cherry tomatoes are fun to harvest! 

Free slurpees on 7-11!

We took part in a three-day homeschool practicum.  The kids had their own learning and playing going on while the parents met and discussed.  Bridgette's lily pad art:

Gretchen helped lead her group in singing the states and capitols:

We live close enough to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens and rode our bikes for the Lotus Blossom Festival - gorgeous!

This haircut was momentous.  We still have no idea why, but for the past three years, Bridgette has been extremely afraid of having anyone but Mom cut her hair.  After the last time I cut her hair, I told her I couldn't do it any more - I do a horrible job!  So we talked about it over the course of several months and then, as if it hadn't been a struggle for THREE YEARS, she was okay with going to the salon - hooray!      

It's good to have a sister who still fits in the shopping cart with you and will read to you.  And it's good that Mom only had a few things on the list, included new towels to cushion the cart!

The kids and I stopped to check out a farmers market in a nearby neighborhood and left with peaches that were juicy and sweet!  Everyone wanted a picture with Mom eating their peach. =)

Rooke and Gretchen both experienced their first "camp" this summer.  Gretchen and two other neighborhood girls did a half-day music camp.  Rooke and one of his neighbor buddies did a week of full-day basketball camp.  Bridgette had plenty of fun with special playdates and one-on-one with Mommy (see below!).  The schedule meant a lot of driving for me (though it could have been far worse without carpooling), but also included a morning by myself(!) and so much fun for all involved!  We all enjoyed a frozen yogurt treat after basketball pick-up one day.


Bridgette and I spent one of our mornings alone checking out the rides at SIX FLAGS!!  It was so much fun to experience the rides with her - she is brave and loves a good thrill!

After riding the pirate ship several times, my stomach couldn't take it anymore.  Bridgette decided she wanted to sit in the back, by herself, to go just one more time!

Gretchen's music camp culminated with a Friday night performance of the musical they'd been working on during the week.  The show was great!  The lyrics to most of the songs were Bible verses, which makes hearing them sung a bajillion times before, during, and after the performance a little better =)  We're grateful for sweet friends to share in fun experiences like music camp

No summer is complete without jumping on the trampoline with the hose and friends!

Friends from our church in England were able to visit for a weekend!  It was wonderful to host Mark and Clare and their son, Sam.  Our days together were spent touring D.C. and catching up on life.  Rooke and Sam are close in age and became reacquainted quickly!  We spent Sunday afternoon at the Portrait Gallery - another amazing Smithsonian museum worth visiting.  It was our first visit and we were all delighted with the beautiful courtyard.  The water scrims were fun!

The kids took a break in front of a massive Thomas Moran painting.


Ryan was able to take Monday off from work to do some more touring.  Before doing some of the more popular monuments, we went to Theodore Roosevelt island and enjoyed walking on the trails  (only about 1.5 miles around the island).  We managed to forge our own trail that eventually ended in a swamp - oops!

Boccee Ball was a fun way to spend our last evening together.

July 4th (or 3rd) - Concert at the Capitol

We pulled into DC last year on July 5th, just missing the Fourth of July celebrations.  This year we took full advantage of Ryan's day off and living in the nation's capitol!  Instead of braving the crowds on the 4th, we joined a smaller group for the Concert on the Capitol rehearsal on the 3rd.  With take-out dinner from two of our favorite eats on the Hill, we headed right in to find a spot on the lawn and catch the show.  We ended up sitting with friends for the second half of the show and decided this is the way to enjoy the Capitol's Fourth of July celebration!  Heading back to our car, we caught the fireworks from the Nationals stadium, making our pre-fourth night complete!

 Gretchen was feeling patriotic on the morning of the fourth while I read:

A slow morning for everyone . . . it's good to have a sister.

Dinner at Steve and Vallerie's house with Great Gramma!!

Highlights from June

Our school year didn't wrap up until the end of June, so we took school outside on the especially beautiful sunny mornings . . .

After jumping on the trampoline with the hose and our neighbor, the girls had some important matters to discuss on the deck =)  It is my absolute joy to see their friendship growing.

One of our neighbors organized a night for several of us on our street to go to a minor league baseball game together!  The kids had a blast!

Our friend, Rachael, put together a little tennis class for her daughter and several other 3 to 5-year-olds in our neighborhood - Bridgette was invited to join the class!  Rachael did a brilliant job teaching the kiddos about the basics of tennis once a week for four weeks.   

And during the last tennis class, Rachael's husband, Jaron, came to the park and took on Rooke in an intense game of one-on-one! 

An afternoon playdate with our neighbors turned into me putting them to work at our community garden plot!

The time when I lost complete control during grocery shopping!

A quiet afternoon at the Arboretum - one of our favorite places to venture when we need to get outdoors.  We explored a new trial until the storm clouds started rolling in.  Thankfully, one of the kids was already whining asking to go back to the car, so we turned back sooner than I'd planned and ended up missing most of the heavy rain.

Another fun reason to visit the Arboretum: summer concerts in the park!

We took the bikes and scooters to a nearby park

Field trip with friends to the Postal Museum, which might be my new favorite museum of all that we've visited!

One morning, the kids were up with extra energy and wanted to go for a bike ride - ok!

All three kids took swimming lessons twice a week for the month of June.  Rooke honed his skills on several strokes, and the girls gained a tremendous amount of confidence in their swimming!

Ryan got to come for the last swimming lessons and we treated the kids to frozen yogurt afterwards!

Playing the fountains after a speech appointment for Bridgette

Sweet friends ready to jump in during a pool party with families from the exercise class I go to in our neighborhood!